BREW TOUR

THE 4 MAIN INGREDIENTS IN BEER ARE: MALTED BARLEY, HOPS, YEAST AND WATER.
Malted Barley is the seed of the Barley Plant. The seed is germinated to create starches. After germination the BARLEY is place in a large Kiln oven or Roaster. Some of the BARLEY is caramelized and roasted to create color. The color spectrum ranges from a golden yellow, red, and brown to black.
MALTED BARLEY GIVES BEER ITS COLOR, SWEET FLAVOR, AND SUGAR.
First the BARLEY cracked open by passing it through a Mill. The grain (Grist) is introduced into the MASH TUN and mixed with hot water (160 degrees). This converts the STARCHES from the BARLEY into SUGAR. The higher percentage of sugar, the higher amount of ALCOHOL. Sugar is measure by SPECIFIC GRAVITY. A HYDROMETER measures the density of solution or the percentage of sugar in solution. There is an ORIGINAL GRAVITY (OG) and an FINAL GRAVITY (FG) that determines the percent of ALCOHOL. The average amount of BARLEY is about 600 pounds. The average amount of hot water is 250 gallons. This will create about 13% OG and will finish at 3% FG producing 28 kegs of 5% beer.
SPARGING:
The MASH TUN (pronounced: Mash tune) is a cylindrical vessel with SCREENS in the bottom. The SCREENS hold back the grist so the Brewer can extract only the colored sugar water (WORT, pronounced WERT). The Brewer sparges (sprays hot water) on top of the grain to extract as much of the WORT from the BARLEY as possible. This procedure is similar to brewing a pot of coffee.
BREW KETTLE:
The SWEET WORT is transferred into the BREW KETTLE and is brought to a BOIL. HOPS are added for flavor. HOPS are similar to a spice. They offer the beer a floral, piney citrus flavor. Hops are sometimes a dominant flavor or just balance the sweetness of some beers. Most beers are made with 3 HOP additions to a 90-minute boil.
FERMENTATION VESSEL:
The HOPPY WORT is transferred to the FERMENTATION VESSEL and is chilled to 70 degrees as it passes through a HEAT EXCHANGER. YEAST is added to the WORT and it ferments (consumes) the sugars creating ALCOHOL. There a 2 types of Brewer's yeast: LAGER and ALE.
LAGER VS ALE:
LAGER YEASTS ferment at 50 to 55 degrees and they take about 21 days to complete the FERMENTATION process. ALE YEASTS ferment at 70 to 75 degrees and they take 4 days to complete the FERMENTATION process.

LAGERS are known as BOTTOM FERMENTING beers. The YEAST stays in the bottom of the FERMENTATION VESSEL and slowly ferments the WORT. Light colored BARLEY and mild HOPS are used to produce this light bodied, dry, crisp, clean beer. LAGERS have a level of 4% to 6% ALCOHOL BY VOLUME (ABV). Pilsner, Marzen, Vienna, California Common, Schwartzbier, Bock, and Maibock are examples of LAGER beers.

ALES are known as TOP FERMENTING beers. The YEAST interacts with the WORT, moving up and down slowly as well as YEAST on top of the WORT fermenting it rapidly. ALES tend to be aggressive in both sweet and hoppy flavors. ALES can vary from 3% to 20% ABV. Mild, Blonde, Kolsch, Hefeweizen, Bitter, Pale Ale, India Pale Ale, Belgian Style, Wit, Strong Ale, Lambic, Scottish Ale, Barley Wine, Brown Ale and Stout are examples of Ales.
BRIGHT BEER:
After fermentation the beer is cooled to 33 degrees and most are CLARIFIED (BRIGHTEN). There are 2 processes to BRIGHTEN beer. The most common way to make a beer BRIGHT is to filter it. The cloudy, cold beer is passed through a PLATE and FRAME filter and transferred into a SERVING VESSEL (BRIGHT TANK). The beer in the SERVING VESSEL has a little bit of natural carbonation. CO2 gas is forced through a CARBONATION STONE creating tiny bubbles and under pressure CO2 is absorbed into the beer and carbonating it. The beer is now ready to drink. The SERVING VESSEL holds 14 BREWER'S BARRELS (BBL). 1 BBL holds 31 gallons of beer (2 Kegs).

REMEMBER: BEER IS GOOD!