The Draught Cask Ale Brewing Process

Milling

The malt is transferred to the brewery and then milled to produce a fine mixture of malt flour and husks called 'grisk'.

Mashing

The grisk is mixed with hot water (at about 65 degrees centigrade) in the 'mashtun' (traditional circular vessel made from copper, brass, gun metal and wood) and left to stand for about 90 minutes. During this time the enzymes in the malt break down the starch to release te sugars. At the end of mashing the clear solution (wort) is run off leaving the spent grains which are sold to farmers for animal feed.

Boiling

The wort is boiled (for a minimum of 30 minutes) with hops in the 'copper' to release the hoppy flavours. The wort is then cooled and aerated to dissolve the oxygen that the yeast will need at the start of the fermentation.

Fermenting

Yeast strain and fermentation are as critical

to brewing as the grape variety is to wine.

Yeast is added to the cooled wort in a

fermenting vessel. It multiplies rapidly as it feeds off the sugars and nutrients extracted from the malt, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol. The yeast collects at the top of the vessel when making cask ales. When most of the sugarshave been used up, the yeast becomes inactive and the fermentation is complete. The excess yeast can be skimmed off the top and a small sample is retained for the next brew.

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Conditioning

The beer destined for draught cask beer is run directly into containers, finings (used to help clear the beer encouraging particles to settle at the bottom of the cask) are added. As the name suggests this type of draught beer is conditioned in the cask (polypin, or mini cask).

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Cask Washing

Before casks can be filled they must be thoroughly cleaned and sterilised. This can be a long process if the casks have not been cleaned for a while and 'dry hopping' has been used in the previous fill.

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