rrrom the best raw materials to the finest-tasting beer
Nowadays, perpendicular tanks
- known as 'apollos' - are used
for both fermentation and
storage.
lb heat up the mash to
75°C, a part of the mas,
pumped twice into thébrewing
kettle, heated up to hpilijigpoint
and then pumpedJmU
mash tun.
into the mash tun. In this way the tem
perature is raised in stages until it
reaches 75°C. That is the temperature
at which the enzymes can best perform
their task: dissolving proteins and con
verting starch into sugars.
Wort
The warm mash goes to the sparg
ing tun. The sparging tun has a double
bottom; the upper, false bottom is perfo
rated with thousands of tiny holes. The
mash is filtered in the sparging tun. The
'husks' sink to the false bottom and form
a layer which can sometimes be as much
as half a metre thick. In the same way
that a coffee filter works, the extract
passes through the filtration layer to
the real bottom. The dissolved extract
is known as the 'wort'.
The wort flows from the sparging
tun into the wort copper where it is
boiled. This boiling is very important as
it terminates the enzymatic activity,
sterilises the wort and ensures that the
excess of dissolved proteins is floccu
lated out. During boiling the hops are
added to the wort. Hops give the beer
its characteristically bitter flavour and
improve its aroma and brightness. In
addition, hops help to improve the firm
ness of the head of foam and the beer's
keepability. From the moment that the
crushed malt was mixed with water
until the boiling of the wort the brewing
process has lasted eight hours.
Cooling
The wort has to be cooled down
within a maximum of two hours to a
temperature of 6-10°C, because that is
the optimum temperature at which the
yeast will shortly be doing its work. An
ingenious system has been devised for
cooling the wort. The warm wort and
cold water flow past one another in
separate systems in opposite directions.
The wort cools down and the water be
comes warm. This warm water can be
used again in the brewhouse for sub
sequent brews.
During the cooling process the wort
undergoes one further treatment. The
proteins which have started to floccu
late out during boiling are removed by
means of a centrifuge system, whirlpool
tanks or filters.
Once the wort has reached the re
quired temperature it is pumped via a
pipeline to the fermenting vessels or
tanks. Yeast and oxygen are added to it
en route.
U F. 1 N E K