As of late for some reason I have become obsessed with Adjunct Lagers, and I have found a plethora of great information. However, very few information into how the actual beers produced in ABinBev, Heineken and Molson Coors are made. I know that due to trade secrets and those corporations infantry of soldiers any really in depth information cannot be discloused, however, if at all possible, can any ex or current workers of the macro brewries give even a small modicum of information into how those beers are made?
Can any ex-macro beer workers shed some light into how the maco beers are made?
- Thread starter Jaffy
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The best answer to your question is probably “as cheaply as possible”.
Like them or not, I'm impressed how the macros can churn out the large amount of beers they brew and maintain consistency between batches.
Jacob_Marley
Well-Known Member
you might check out this article ...
https://beveragebeaver.com/this-is-how-budweiser-is-made-exactly-ingredients/
https://beveragebeaver.com/this-is-how-budweiser-is-made-exactly-ingredients/
What on earth is 4-Row Barley?
Given the low overall quality of that blog post, I wouldn't take anything it said as gospel.
Brew on
Wayne1
Well-Known Member
Jaffy,
What exactly are you looking for?
I worked for COORS 1995-1997, mostly at the SandLot Brewery at Coors Field. We were operating under the brewing R&D section.
I did spend some time at the main plant in Golden and I did help with a trial batch of Coors Banquet in the Pilot Brewery.
At that time, Coors was perhaps the only large brewing company that malted it's own barley. There still is a large malt house next to the main plant. All the barley was sub-contracted to farmers through out Colorado and Idaho. Coors would give them the seed and then inspect the barley to make sure it made the grade for their use. Anything that didn't pass was sold to feed lots. The barley was their own strain of "Moravian Two Row".
The adjunct used in Banquet was rice. They had cereal cookers in each brew line that would cook the rice under pressure and then add it to the mash. I understand that in the 2010s the cereal cookers were removed and now all the adjuncts are syrups added to the kettles.
Coors uses only whole hops, not pellets. The beers are fermented in glass lined, horizontal fermenters that were made on site. Banquet is cold filtered through very old Enzinger filters. These are made of brass. PBW was first developed to clean the Enzingers as caustic would dissolve the brass.
Let me know what else you might want to know.
What exactly are you looking for?
I worked for COORS 1995-1997, mostly at the SandLot Brewery at Coors Field. We were operating under the brewing R&D section.
I did spend some time at the main plant in Golden and I did help with a trial batch of Coors Banquet in the Pilot Brewery.
At that time, Coors was perhaps the only large brewing company that malted it's own barley. There still is a large malt house next to the main plant. All the barley was sub-contracted to farmers through out Colorado and Idaho. Coors would give them the seed and then inspect the barley to make sure it made the grade for their use. Anything that didn't pass was sold to feed lots. The barley was their own strain of "Moravian Two Row".
The adjunct used in Banquet was rice. They had cereal cookers in each brew line that would cook the rice under pressure and then add it to the mash. I understand that in the 2010s the cereal cookers were removed and now all the adjuncts are syrups added to the kettles.
Coors uses only whole hops, not pellets. The beers are fermented in glass lined, horizontal fermenters that were made on site. Banquet is cold filtered through very old Enzinger filters. These are made of brass. PBW was first developed to clean the Enzingers as caustic would dissolve the brass.
Let me know what else you might want to know.
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You take 6 row barley, then add in 2 row barley and you got 4 row when you average them out. Yeah, 3 should be the correct average, but they use common core math there. Nothing adds up correctly.
EDIT: Whoops.....4 is the correct answer. I should quit drinking or go back to school...........
Red over White
Well-Known Member
Given your experience with Coors, how much truth is there to Coors light being fermented warm under pressure? I have heard it repeatedly second hand many times. The expression of a fresh silver bullet, I am almost prone to believe it.
Awesome! I mostly wonder what type of mash schedule did those adjunct lagers follow, what percentage of adjunct there was there in the grain bill, and if the lagers where pressure fermented. I hear that other breweries use some sort of 6-row to help with conversion of the adjuncts, but from what I read Movrian Barley is a type of 2-row, so did Coors, at least back when you worked, not use 6-row? Also I thought Coors Banquet used corn, never knew! Last thing, I read that modern Coors uses hop extract which, I understand as with inflation and whatnot, price cutting measures had to be done, but when you worked there what hops did they use?
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Wayne1
Well-Known Member
All I can answer is what was done in the mid 90's.
At the Golden plant, all the fermenters are not pressure vessels.
6row is not used in Banquet.
Banquet used rice. Keystone used cornstarch.
When I was there all hops were whole cone.
Adjunct in Banquet was 30%
At the Golden plant, all the fermenters are not pressure vessels.
6row is not used in Banquet.
Banquet used rice. Keystone used cornstarch.
When I was there all hops were whole cone.
Adjunct in Banquet was 30%
Red over White
Well-Known Member
Thank you sir!
Awesome! Thank you so much! One last thing, do you remember anything on the mashing schedule?
Wayne1
Well-Known Member
I do not recall the exact temperatures. I believe the malt came in at a lower temp for beta rest, the cereal was boiled at a high temp (under pressure) and then added to the main mash to raise the total for an alpha rest.
Coors was unique in that they used Meura mash filters instead of lauter tuns. The malt was first run through hammer mills. I have read that they recently upgraded the mash filters to the latest mash presses for even more efficiency.
Coors was unique in that they used Meura mash filters instead of lauter tuns. The malt was first run through hammer mills. I have read that they recently upgraded the mash filters to the latest mash presses for even more efficiency.
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Wayne1
Well-Known Member
After I left Coors, I worked for a few different brewpubs. I had always brewed a variation of Banquet using what was available for a single infusion system. This beer usually did prove to be one the the most popular beers on the menu.
Aim for OG of 1.048
75% Colorado malt (I have used malt from Colorado Malting Company, Root Shoot Malting, and Troubador Maltings. If you cannot obtain any of these, Rahr 2 row Standard will work)
25% Briess Brown Rice Flakes (I have found that the Briess product does give a higher yield and cleaner flavor)
Rice hulls (however much as needed to prevent stuck sparge)
Mash at 148F for 75 minutes
12-15 IBU hops at 60 minutes. (I always use a 90 minute boil. The hops are added with 60 minutes left in the boil. Some variations have used Colorado grown Cascade hops. I have also used Hallertau Tradition)
I always use Fermcap to prevent boil overs. Yeast nutrient and Whilfloc added with 15 minutes left to go in the boil.
Most of the times I made this beer, I used US-05 fermented at 65F.
When FG is stable, (around 1.008) drop the temp to 40F and pull the yeast. Add Biofine Clear, drop temp to 32. After clarification, transfer to serving vessel and carbonate.
When I had the equipment, I would always filter this beer with a plate and frame filter using 3 micron media.
Cheers,
Wayne
Aim for OG of 1.048
75% Colorado malt (I have used malt from Colorado Malting Company, Root Shoot Malting, and Troubador Maltings. If you cannot obtain any of these, Rahr 2 row Standard will work)
25% Briess Brown Rice Flakes (I have found that the Briess product does give a higher yield and cleaner flavor)
Rice hulls (however much as needed to prevent stuck sparge)
Mash at 148F for 75 minutes
12-15 IBU hops at 60 minutes. (I always use a 90 minute boil. The hops are added with 60 minutes left in the boil. Some variations have used Colorado grown Cascade hops. I have also used Hallertau Tradition)
I always use Fermcap to prevent boil overs. Yeast nutrient and Whilfloc added with 15 minutes left to go in the boil.
Most of the times I made this beer, I used US-05 fermented at 65F.
When FG is stable, (around 1.008) drop the temp to 40F and pull the yeast. Add Biofine Clear, drop temp to 32. After clarification, transfer to serving vessel and carbonate.
When I had the equipment, I would always filter this beer with a plate and frame filter using 3 micron media.
Cheers,
Wayne
Wow, that seems like really low ibu. Not doubting you. I’d always seen 18-20 ibu and many lager recipes call for as much as 27. I’d seen where Miller High Life claims 7 ibu and I just can’t even.
So you were involved with Blue Moon. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve posted a few things about that also.
Wayne1
Well-Known Member
That recipe was used for larger production runs at a contract brewery that had full lab support. All aspects of the brew were tested. It came in at a measured 15 IBU. They once screwed up a batch and pitched a yeast that had been used to brew an IPA. IBUs came in at 24. We were able to sell it but had to rename that batch.
Indeed, I have said a few things about making Blue Moon over the years Blue Moon Clone
Yeah... i agree. Almost seems like a click-bait page to send links to various sponsors?Given the low overall quality of that blog post, I wouldn't take anything it said as gospel.
Brew on
Also, no mention of 'beechwood aging'. It's probably a gimmick, but they still throw chips/wood into thoose massive fermenting tanks...
This is a fun thread. I always marvel at the amazing science, man power, and processes that go into large scale production.
I can make a great hamburger at home. No way can i ever make the exact same burger time and again. McD's does it. Ditto for a Bud. No matter what brewery it all matches. From water to yeast. That's a feat- despite any opinion to the taste, quality, etc.
they blend 1 million gallons with a select few of another million gallon batches....there was a documentary about them?
any way they're all blended...if you want homebrew at that level, brew 20 gallon batches, keg 5. brew the same thing, then taste the other 3 kegs along with the current batch...decide how to blend.....i think?
(and so on, and on...you'll always have the blend ready if you have 4-5 batches of the same thing....just get good at blending! i just found out, this is the first time clips were used in music making!)
same clip, played over...
Thank You, Wayne
Northern_Brewer
British - apparently some US company stole my name
From a British perspective if you want to replicate mass-market lagers - use one of the common yeasts like 34/70 or S-189, brew a grist with 20% adjunct like maltose syrup, and chemicals like propylene glycol alginate for head retention, at ~15°C to ~8% ABV, bitter with the cheapest alpha extract you can find to 15-20 IBU in the final beer, "lager" for 5 days and then dilute 50:50 with water.
The BBC's "Inside the Factory" series went to the Carling factory in Burton but unfortunately the full thing doesn't seem to be available, there's a cut-down version for the US market which has been edited to give them time for adverts, and the transcript of the full-length version is here which is quicker to read than watching the video, but obviously you don't get the pictures. It glosses over some of the more ...economical... aspects of the brewing process, but the packaging hall at the end is just awesome, my favourite bit.
There was a more technical account in the IBD magazine in early 2019, if you're not a member this blog has some of the key points.
Bud has a virtual tour here :
and the packaging here, although the second half of that one is just greenwashing :
The BBC's "Inside the Factory" series went to the Carling factory in Burton but unfortunately the full thing doesn't seem to be available, there's a cut-down version for the US market which has been edited to give them time for adverts, and the transcript of the full-length version is here which is quicker to read than watching the video, but obviously you don't get the pictures. It glosses over some of the more ...economical... aspects of the brewing process, but the packaging hall at the end is just awesome, my favourite bit.
There was a more technical account in the IBD magazine in early 2019, if you're not a member this blog has some of the key points.
Bud has a virtual tour here :
and the packaging here, although the second half of that one is just greenwashing :
Steveruch
Well-Known Member
Step 1: lead the horse to water and MAKE him drink. 
