The first step in the beer-making process is mashing, in which the grist, or milled malt, is transferred to the mash tun. Mashing is the process of combining the grist and water, also known as liquor, and heating it to temperatures usually between 100 degrees Fahrenheit up to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Mashing causes the natural enzymes in the malt to break down starches, converting them to sugars, which will eventually become alcohol. This process takes place in one to two hours. Mash temperatures can be gradually increased or allowed to rest at certain temperatures, choices which are very much part of the brewer’s art.

Different temperature levels activate different enzymes and affect the release of proteins and fermentable sugars. Proteins play a smaller role but are important to the creation of foam in a finished beer. For heating, most brewers use steam.

Sparging is the process of rinsing the spent grain with heated water to get as much of the sugars as possible from the remaining grain for the wort.

After sparging, the spent grain is commonly recycled as feed for cattle and pigs, or can be used to make bread.

Once a brewer has wort, it is sterilized through a boiling process in a brew kettle, which halts enzyme activity and condenses the liquid. During the boil, which typically lasts from 60 to 120 minutes, hops are added.

The qualities of aroma, taste and bitterness that hops impart to beer depend on what point they are added. Hops can be added early in the boil for bittering, with more time boiled resulting in more bitterness. They can be added mid-boil for flavor, or late boil for flavoring and aroma.

The key to hops' bitter taste in beer is alpha acids (aka humulones). These alpha acids vary in content depending on the hop variety. When exposed to the boil, alpha acids undergo isomerization, resulting in the formation of different forms of humulones. It's these iso-alpha acids that are responsible for the distinctive bitterness found in beer.

Hops can also be added at stages after the boil during whirlpooling (flavor/aroma), fermentation (dry-hopping for aroma) or maturation (dry-hopping for aroma).

Once the boil is complete, the whirlpool phase further clarifies the wort by removing protein and hop solids through settling. These solids are known as trub. Although the boiling kettle can also be used as a whirlpool, many brewers use a separate, specially designed container.

A hop back is a type of vessel for whirlpooling that employs fresh hop flowers or cones in a sealed chamber for filtering the trub, which adds more hop aroma compounds to the wort. A hop back is often employed when whole hop cones are used in the boil. A standard whirlpool is better at collecting trub created from hop pellets.

Next, a heat exchanger is used to reduce the wort to the temperature desired for fermentation. Water heated by this exchange is often used by brewers to start a new brewing cycle.

Wort is transferred to a fermentation vessel and the yeast is pitched, or added. Ale yeast rises to the top of the wort and lager yeast generally collects in the bottom. This stage is the primary fermentation - the conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide that lead to an ale or a lager, depending on the type of yeast used. (Hybrid beers also use one of these two types of yeast.)

Once yeast has been pitched at proper temperature, the beer is generally maintained from 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit for ales, and 50 degrees Fahrenheit for lagers. The process of the yeast converting sugars to alcohol generates heat and is monitored closely by brewers. The higher temperatures employed for ale yeast result in more esters, or fragrant organic compounds.

Racking involves transferring beer from the primary fermenter, leaving behind the yeast sediment. If the beer remains on this yeast layer for too long, the dead cells could decompose, leading to off-flavours in the beer—a phenomenon known as autolysis.

After the beer has been conditioned and matured, it moves to the final stage in the production process: packaging.

We transport our beer in a sterilised tanker to our bottling plant where it is packaged and ready to ship to our customers.

All the hard work has been done! Now it's up to you to enjoy your well earned pint at home or in your favourite pub or bar. Cheers!