The preparation

The raw ingredients for a good beer are malt as well as a high-quality malting barley. Wheat Beer or Weissbeer additionally requires a special brewing wheat. Both are particularly well-sprouting cultivars.

Directly after harvesting, the corn is malted in the malthouse. For this purpose the barley is cleaned, sorted and then soaked for three days in large containers. The water requickens the corn. Afterwards our maltster lets it sprout in sprouting boxes.

After one week the inside of the corn is mellow and water-soluble. A slowly growing sprout appears. If the corn were allowed to continue growing at this point, a new plant would come into being. But our maltster now interrupts the process and dries the so-called green malt at temperatures from 85 to around 100 degrees Celsius. This procedure is called kiln drying. The higher the temperature is, the darker the malt becomes.

Malting has a decisive influence on the beer's character as well as on its taste, color, head and storability. Sprouting splits up the insoluble starch in the corn, so that it can transform into soluble, brewable maltose.

 

The brewing process

Now the malt is taken to the brewery. Here it is grinded in large mills and mixed in the mash barrel with water which is to be pure, soft and neutral to the palate. The brewer calls this procedure "mashing".

In two to four hours this mash is now gradually heated to various temperatures. At certain temperatures enzymes contained in the malt are activated. These enzymes break down the starch to maltose and the protein to amino acids. In the clearing barrel all solid components of the malt are removed from the mash.

This residue, the so-called draff, is used as valuable animal rations. The cleared wort now flows into the brew kettle where it is cooked for two hours and slightly evaporated. Then the hop is added. It adds the pleasantly herbal bitter taste and the characteristically fine flavor to the future beer.

The hop also makes the beer nonperishable and has a favorable influence on the so-called head of the beer. The cleared wort is quickly cooled down to 5 degrees and taken to the fermenting cellar.

 

The grand finale

At this point the yeast is added which immediately triggers fermentation. It transforms sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid. After about a week the main fermentation is completed and the yeast is withdrawn.

After thorough cleaning the yeast can be used for other purposes. Since it contains high-quality protein and most notably highly concentrated vitamins, it is also much valued in the food processing industry. The young beer now enters into the stage of maturation in the storage cellar, depending on the type of beer up to three months.

Three steps happen in the storage cellar:

First of all the beer's flavor is rounded off while the residual sugar is broken down almost completely.

Second the carbonic acid is bonded and adds liveliness to the young beer.

Third the residual yeast and the protein flakes form sediment at the bottom. The beer becomes clear.



In the end the finished beer is filtered and can be filled in bottles or barrels.

Either directly served in our house, through our catering partners or in shops it might very well find its way into your glass, too.