How Beer is Brewed

The basics of the process are the conversion of the starch in the grain into sugars via the means of mashing, and the subsequent conversion of these sugars into CO2 and Alcohol by yeast.

There are a number of steps in the brewing process. Although the precise number of steps can vary a little from brewery to brewery.

The Malt House

Before malt can be processed in the brew house, it first has to be ground. This is done by passing it through roller mills in a Malt house. A mix of malted grains is sometimes referred to as “the grist”

Mashing

Once it has been ground, the “brewing malt” is mixed with water in a vessel called a “mash tun” at which point it is called the mash and it resembles a thin porridge. It is then heated to extract the starch from the malt and convert it into fermentable sugar.

Lautering

Once mashing is complete, the chuff (i.e. the husks of the malt grains) and other insoluble ingredients are separated from the solution, which is now called “sweet wort”, in the lauter tun, a wide, flat vessel with a slatted bottom.

Boiling

The sweet wort is then pumped into the “Brew Kettle”. At this stage hops are added and the wort is boiled to extract essential elements from the hop, terminate enzymatic processes and determine the strength of the wort. As a rough rule of thumb, hops that are added at the start of the boil provide the bitterness and hops at the end of the boil provide the aroma. The now “hot wort” may be pumped into a whirlpool which will separate any solids from the wort.

Heat Exchanger / Cooler

After the whirlpool, the wort is pumped into a Heat Exchanger and cooled.

Fermentation

The cold wort is then moved into a fermentation vessel, called “the fermenter” where yeast is added to initiate fermentation. The yeast converts the sugars from the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Fermentation with bottom fermentation yeast takes place at between 7° C and 9° C and requires some 6 to 7 days, whereby the yeast eventually settles at the bottom of the vessel. Carried out with top fermentation yeast, the process takes 4 to 5 days at 18 – 20° C, with the yeast finally rising to the surface.

Storage

After the main fermentation processes, the yeast is skimmed off, and the resulting so-called "young beer" is pumped into the storage or Conditioning tanks where it remains for several weeks to mature. Depending on the brewery or the beer type, storage could be for 3 weeks to 8 weeks or much longer for really specialist beers.

Filtering

After storage, bottom-fermented beer is filtered, through a beer filter and stored in pressure tanks for bottling or kegging.

The whole brewing process can take from 3 weeks to 8 weeks depending on the brewery and their techniques. For example, the Breconshire Brewery ales take approximately 3 weeks to produce, while the Hirsch Brewery allows 6- 8 weeks for their brewing process.

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