BREW PROCESS
The brewing day starts at 5.00a.m. with the checking of the malt and the temperature of the water.
The Malt
The finest Warminster Malt is poured into the Mash Tun simultaneously with hot water to create wort, which is the sugary liquid that is the base for beer. Brewers are often caught on cold mornings sipping the hot wort from the mash tuns!!
Setting the Taps
After 1.5 hours the malt is ready to start extraction of the sugary solution. At this time we begin sparging, which entails spraying hot water over the top of the malt. This in turn filters through the malt creating wort.
At the finish of the mashing in and running off of the wort the digging of the spent malt begins, which is removing the hot extracted malt from the mash tun which normally falls to the assistant or brewery lad! After digging all the malt from the mash tun it is driven to Marsh Gibbons local dairy herd which is heartily welcomed by the cows.
The Copper
From the mash tun the wort is dropped into the underback and pumped into the copper.
Once the copper is full the boil begins. We have a large gas fired copper which entails careful lighting!! We at this stage check the quality of the first hops, and selecting the finest, drop them into the wort. We then boil the beer vigorously for one hour adding further hops just before the finish of the boil.
The Whirlpool
At the next stage the wort is pumped to the whirlpool where the excess malt and hops are spun out. The waste is called the ‘Chub’.
The Heat Exchanger
After the wort leaves, the whirlpool is cooled, cold water from the depths of Marsh Gibbon is pumped through the heat exchanger and beer through the other side creating cool beer and hot water for the next brew.
Fermentation
From the heat exchanger it continues into the fermenters. Once the fermenters are full and are at the right temperature, the yeast is pitched into the beer causing that fantastic reaction. After a few days, and a careful eye on fermentation, the beer is ready for sampling and analysis.
Cask Racking
If all is well the beer is racked into casks ready for the publican to sell in their establishment.
Quality Control
On every brew one cask is put aside for sampling for colour, taste and quality, and a quick beer before we go home. Cheers!
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