Brewing a Mudgee Beer

1.The main ingredient of beer is malted barley. The malting process takes place before we purchase the grain and involves wetting and sprouting the barley, then dry roasting it. Dark malts (as used in our porter) have been roasted longer or at a higher temperature than light malts.

2.To start the brewing process, bags of various malts are milled in the grain mill, which crushes the grain between two adjustable steel rollers. The goal is to crack the grain and separate it from the husk.

3.The ground grain, called 'grist', is placed into the 'mash tun' where it is mixed with hot water. The brewer stirs the soupy liquid with a paddle to aid the mashing process. This process activates enzymes in the malt and converts the starch to sugars. The sweet syrupy liquid, known as 'wort', filters to the bottom of the mash tun and is then pumped to the kettle, ready for boiling.

4.The wort in the kettle is brought to a rolling boil and hops are added to impart bitterness and aromatics to the beer. After approx 90 mins of boiling, the wort is circulated to form a whirlpool. This results in a cone shape forming on the bottom of the kettle which contains unwanted proteins and hop residue.

5.Next, the wort is transferred from the kettle to a fermenting vessel (large stainless steel container) passing via a heat exchanger to quickly lower the temperature.

6.Yeast is now added to the cooled wort in the fermentation vessel. This is where the fermentation process begins as the yeast turns the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The primary fermentation time is approximately five to seven days. The yeast is then separated from the beer, transferred to conditioning tanks (stainless steel tanks) and cooled approx two degree Celsius for about 5 weeks.

7. After the appropriate conditioning time, the beer can be kegged or bottled to be enjoyed by all.