The brewhouse is part of the brewery. This is where the wort is produced. Wort is the liquid that is produced during lautering from the brewing water, hops and dissolved malt sugar. It is produced when the mash is separated from the brewing water in which the malt has been soaked. During lautering, the solid substances in the malt settle in the lauter tun. During production, a distinction is made between a hot block and a cold block. The warm block includes the first stages of beer production, such as boiling the malt and hops, malting and cooling the first liquid (wort). All further steps, such as fermentation, storage and bottling of the beer, are part of the cold block. This is where the beer develops its flavor and carbonation. The brewhouse is part of the hot block. As a rule, this still consists of the systems for raw material pre-treatment. The functions of a brewhouse are always the same.
This is the sequence of production steps in a brewhouse:
- Milling: The grist mill turns malt into fine dust
- Mashing: After grinding, the quantity required for a brew is transferred to the mash tun. There, the ground malt is heated with brewing water. Mashing processes are available with different temperature profiles. Infusion and decoction procedures are used most frequently.
- Lautering: The resulting extract goes directly into the lauter tun. There, the mash is transformed into a clear wort.
- Boiling: This is where the wort is brought to the boil. Heating sterilizes the liquid, concentrates the wort and evaporates base flavourings. This gives the liquid a beer-like appearance. The hops must be added for the taste. This is typically used in the brewing pan.
- Cooling: To remove the remains of malt and hops from the wort, the liquid is transferred from the brewing kettle to the whirlpool. There it is inserted tangentially into the vessel. This effect ensures that the particles settle to the bottom due to the bottom flow and centrifugal acceleration. The remaining wort is drawn off at various heights and, after a short detour, arrives at the wort cooler, where it finally finds its way to the fermentation and storage cellar. The yeast is then added, which turns the golden liquid into a real beer. After storage and fermentation, the beer is ready for distribution.
Overall, the process takes some time:
- Grinding: 20 minutes
- Mashing: 150 minutes
- Lautering: 3 hours
- Cooking: 1 hour
- Clarify: 20 minutes
- Cooling: 1 hour
