This didnt really fit into any of the other sections so I figured I would post it here.
So through a contact I was put in touch with the head brewer for Red Hook brewery in New Hampshire. This past weekend a friend and I went up there and got a personal tour of the plant. I dont mean the regular tour that you can take when you visit the factory.
We got a one on one tour through the actual factory and brewing operations. All I can say is that it was awesome. I saw everything that they did in the beer making process and very detailed information on each step. The only thing I could have hoped for was that I could have understood more of the technical stuff
I probably only understood about half of what he was showing/teaching.
Its pretty crazy how similar alot of the equipment/process is compared to how we do it. Obviously theres is a lot larger and more expensive but compared to a single tier system Ive seen on here operationally pretty much equal.
A few things I thought was cool, they sanitize the same way I do with a huge vat of iodine solution they soak everything in. Their concentration appeared higher than I use the water had a definite red/orange hue to it.
They use the same briess malt that we can buy although their crusher is much better than anythign we can use. I guess it is a multiple step process that lets them initially crack the husks and remove and then further crush the grain to better sugar extraction. They can then recombine the husks to use as the filtering medium. Pretty sweet.
The mash tun is basically just like the converted kegs we use just a lot bigger and the false bottoms they use are a little different. The ones up there were machined with slits rather than holes. The brewer said hes used all types and that is by far the best hes ever used.
Filtering, something that I dont think many of us do at home. They have two ways they filter their beer depending on the type. The first one he showed us was an earth filter. Basically plates loaded up with a special type of earth and the beer is basically forced through the screens. The second one was a centrifugal filter which from what i understand spins the beer so fast that the heavier impurities fly outward and the clean beer is siphoned from the middle.
Overall the the place was really cool I had a great time and they have a restaurant/brewpub there so you can grab some food afterwards. If you live in the area or are planning on heading up definitely worth a visit.
So through a contact I was put in touch with the head brewer for Red Hook brewery in New Hampshire. This past weekend a friend and I went up there and got a personal tour of the plant. I dont mean the regular tour that you can take when you visit the factory.
We got a one on one tour through the actual factory and brewing operations. All I can say is that it was awesome. I saw everything that they did in the beer making process and very detailed information on each step. The only thing I could have hoped for was that I could have understood more of the technical stuff
I probably only understood about half of what he was showing/teaching. Its pretty crazy how similar alot of the equipment/process is compared to how we do it. Obviously theres is a lot larger and more expensive but compared to a single tier system Ive seen on here operationally pretty much equal.
A few things I thought was cool, they sanitize the same way I do with a huge vat of iodine solution they soak everything in. Their concentration appeared higher than I use the water had a definite red/orange hue to it.
They use the same briess malt that we can buy although their crusher is much better than anythign we can use. I guess it is a multiple step process that lets them initially crack the husks and remove and then further crush the grain to better sugar extraction. They can then recombine the husks to use as the filtering medium. Pretty sweet.
The mash tun is basically just like the converted kegs we use just a lot bigger and the false bottoms they use are a little different. The ones up there were machined with slits rather than holes. The brewer said hes used all types and that is by far the best hes ever used.
Filtering, something that I dont think many of us do at home. They have two ways they filter their beer depending on the type. The first one he showed us was an earth filter. Basically plates loaded up with a special type of earth and the beer is basically forced through the screens. The second one was a centrifugal filter which from what i understand spins the beer so fast that the heavier impurities fly outward and the clean beer is siphoned from the middle.
Overall the the place was really cool I had a great time and they have a restaurant/brewpub there so you can grab some food afterwards. If you live in the area or are planning on heading up definitely worth a visit.
