The Brewing Process

Brewing Equipment Explained…

The brewing process is no easy feat, it takes time and a lot of effort. But if you can persist and master this skill, the world is your oyster! Check out the different stages in the process below to get an idea of what a brewers work week/month looks like. 

Mill & Grist Case- the Mill rollers crush the malted grains to prepare them for mashing, while the Grist case acts as room temperature storage (the previous process of turning barley to malt is usually not done in-house, brewers generally buy in malted grain)

Mash Tun- the malted grains are mixed with hot water to enable the enzymes in the grains to break down the starch and produced fermentable sugar, which is needed to make beer. This mixture of malted grains and water is now known as the mash

Lauter Tun- the laughter tun is basically used to separate the sugary liquid (mash) from the malted grains. Hot water is sprinkled over the grains to rinse out any additional sugars (sparging). In smaller breweries one tank may perform the tasks of both the mash tun and lauter tank

Boil Kettle- the boil kettle does as its name suggests, boils the sugary liquid in order to concentrate the liquid and sterilise it before it begins to ferment. Hops are added at this stage, which add flavour and aroma to the final product

Whirlpool- this stage of the process is used to separate the previously added hops, and any other solids from the boiled wort. A spinning action deposits the solids into the centre of the tank so the wort can drain down the sides of the whirlpool. Here again, this stage can sometimes be combined with the boil kettle at smaller breweries

Heat Exchanger- the filtered wort is cooled as it passes through the heat exchanger, so that fermentation is possible. The wort enters at around 82C (180F) and is cooled to about 18C (65F)

Fermenter- the yeast is added or ‘pitched’ at this stage in the brewing process which converts the sugar in the wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. May different flavours are developed here, depending on the yeast, and the previous ingredients added during earlier stages

Lagering Tank- this step is only used when making lagers as the name suggests! Beer that still contains yeast is cooled here down to about 1C (34F) and left to mature and develop flavour for between 2 and 4 weeks

Brite Tank- the Brite tank contains the final product, delicious beer. The beer can now be filtered, carbonated, and then packaged (kegged or bottled) before making its way into your glass!

(cicerone.org)

So there you have it, the brewing process from start to finish! While professional brewers use most of this large and expensive equipment, you too can make beer at home yourself. All you need is a few ingredients, a few large pots and an eye for detail. Brewing beer is very much a scientific process, and even slight changes in temperatures, or using a non-sterilised container can ruin your beer completely! Check out this Irish website which has great information as well as all the tools you need to start making your own beer. Good luck!

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/