Brewing Cask Conditioned Ales | Brewing Real Ale | Cask and Real Ale Brewing
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Brewing Real Ale |
The brewing of real ale.
How often have you sat at a cosy table in the corner of a a pub, quaffing a particular fine ale and wondered "How did they make this beer ?". Even id you haven't, we're going to tell you, because we think it will help you appreciate the brilliance of the people who make it happen.
So here is a brief story about the journey from barley to beer. |
Crushing.
It all starts with the malted barley being lightly crushed into a coarse powder known as grist. This is the point other ingredients like maize and wheat are introduced, too. The grist then goes through the mashing machine where it's mixed with hot water and turned into mash tun.
Wort an' all.
Excuse the bad pun, but it was to good an opportunity to miss. At this stage the natural sugars in the malt dissolve into a sweet brown liquid called wort, which is run off into a large vessel called a copper. Hops are added and the whole mixture is boiled. Spent hops are filtered from the hop back (a sealed chamber between the brewing kettle and the wort chiller), with the remaining liquid passing through the cooler. |
Patience.
In other words fermentation. The hopped wort is cooled and passed into fermenting vessels. Yeast is then added, which converts the sugars into alcohol (the good bit) and all those deliciously subtle flavours real-ale lovers like to talk about.
And finally .........
From the fermenting vessels, the beer goes into the cask where, if needed, dry hops are added for extra aroma. Finings are also added to bind the materials that create the haze and sink them to the bottom - leaving a clear beer.
So find a cosy table, order a pint and start quaffing. And if any of your drinking partners ask how their beer was made, you can be the fountain of knowledge. |
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Just Follow Me Ltd 2007
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