All of our beers are made using pre-crushed malted Optic barley. The malt is delivered in sacks, which are stored in our malt store above the brewery. Malts that have been kilned for differing amounts of time obtain different colours and flavours, and these different malts are combined in a hopper, which feeds into the Mash Tun via a hydrating tube, (essentially water at a certain temperature is blended with the malt as it falls into the Mash Tun to create the mash at the correct temperature, around 65ºC). Pic1: Making up the Grist Different malts, (barley and wheat), are blended together to form the starting point for each beer.	Pic1
The mash is allowed to stand for between 60 and 120 minutes, depending on the beer to be brewed. This stand allows the enzymes within the malt to convert the starch of the barley grain into fermentable sugars. Therefore, the more malt in the Mash Tun, the more fermentable sugars produced, and therefore the stronger the beer after fermentation. Other non-fermentable sugars, (dextrins), are also produced by the enzymes, and these contribute to the flavour, body and mouthfeel of the beer. Pic2: Sparging When the mash has been allowed to stand for the required amount of time, the sugars need to be extracted from the Mash - this is done by sparging - essentially hot liquor (brewing water) is sprayed over the Mash and the sugars are leeched out (like a giant coffee percolator).	Pic2
When the mashing stand is complete, the wort, (the sugary liquid), is drawn off the base of the mash, (the Mash Tun has a false floor allowing the grains to float above the base of the vessel). This is pumped to the Copper, and fresh hot liquor, (all brewers call their brewing water Liquor), is slowly sprayed over the top of the grain bed. This process, called sparging, ‘washes’ all of the sugars out of the grain bed. At the end of sparging, the remaining wort is pumped from the Mash Tun to the Copper, and the spent grains are eventually dug out of the Mash Tun and sent to a local farmer as cattle feed.
Transferring the wort to the Copper As the wort is drained off from the Mash Tun, it is pumped across into the Copper. Pic3 Wort being pumped into the Copper Already producing a fine head! Pic4
The Copper is fired directly by an Oil Burner within the vessel, which provides the essential, vigorous boil. The boil usually lasts for around 90 minutes, again dependant on the beer being brewed. Fresh hops, (we only use UK grown whole hops), are added at various times during the boil : at the start of the boil, hops add bitterness to the brew, whereas towards the end, mainly aroma notes are added.
When the mashing stand is complete, the wort, (the sugary liquid), is drawn off the base of the mash, (the Mash Tun has a false floor allowing the grains to float above the base of the vessel). This is pumped to the Copper, and fresh hot liquor, (all brewers call their brewing water Liquor), is slowly sprayed over the top of the grain bed. This process, called sparging, ‘washes’ all of the sugars out of the grain bed. At the end of sparging, the remaining wort is pumped from the Mash Tun to the Copper, and the spent grains are eventually dug out of the Mash Tun and sent to a local farmer as cattle feed.
Whole leaf hops are loosened from their packaging (vacuum packed to retain their freshness and flavour) and weighed out for each brew. Pic5 The hops are added into the top of the Copper when the boil commences Pic6
At the end of the boil, the wort is recirculated around the copper in order to reaerate it, and to aid the settling out of the hot trub - particulate matter (mostly proteins) that could lead to haziness in the beer if not separated out. The wort is then pumped through a heat exchanger in order to cool it down to around 20ºC, (and to regenerate Hot Liquor for the next brew), and piped to a Fermenting Vessel. Here, fresh Yeast is added, and these microscopic friends consume the sugars and produce the all important alcohol and Carbon Dioxide, as well as a host of other compounds which add to the flavour and character of the beer. Pic7: Towards the end of the fermentation, the yeast head subsides...	Pic7
At the end of fermentation, (when almost all of the sugars have been converted), which usually takes between 5 and 7 days, the beer is chilled to around 6ºC for at least 36 hours and then racked into casks. The casks are then kept within the brewery’s cold store for at least a week so as to allow the yeast within the cask to finish the fermentation of the beer. This process is known as cask conditioning, and means that the beer within the cask is alive - a living, fresh product, and therefore requires great skill by the landlord of your pub to nurture it and serve it to you in its best possible condition.
All the beers are checked before they are released to our customers - for condition. clarity, colour, aroma and most importantly, flavour!
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Hopefully you’ll agree its worth the effort…