1. Milling
Grains (varieties of malted barley and wheat) are selected depending on beer style. The grains are milled or cracked, allowing us to extract the ingredients essential to making beer.
2. Mashing
The grains are moved from the mill room through a feed auger or bucket elevator to the mash tun. Hot water is added to form the mash. This process converts the grains’ starch to sugars.
3. Lautering
Hot water is passed over the grains to remove all sugars. The solution, or wort (pronounced wert), is sent through a hose from the mash tun to the brew kettle.
4. Boiling
The wort is brought to a full rolling boil, and hops are added for bitterness, flavor and aroma — giving each beer a distinctive profile.
5. Cooling
The hot wort is passed through a heat exchanger where it is cooled to a temperature appropriate for fermentation.
6. Fermentation
The cooled wort is transferred to a fermentation tank where yeast is added. Fermentation soon begins converting the sugars to alcohol and CO2. Depending on the type of beer, this process takes 14 to 30 days.
7. Conditioning & Filtering
After fermentation, the temperature is dropped to finish or condition the beer. Lagers are sent through a filter to remove all traces of yeast before being transferred to the serving tanks. Ales are clarified using finings before being transferred to the serving tanks.
8. Serving
Finally, the beer carbonation level is adjusted in a serving tank and sent directly to our taps. From start to finish, our beers travel less than 75 feet to get to you. How’s that for fresh?