a totally tropical session ipa

Grist (crushed Malt poured into the Grist Hopper) is mixed with hot Brewing Liquor (water) at a mashing temperature of around 65 degrees. At this temperature the enzymes in the starch are activated causing saccharification, this is the conversion of starch to fermentable sugars which metabolise in the yeast during fermentation.

After approx. 75 minutes starch conversion is complete. We then add more hot brewing liquor to extract all the goodness from the grain in a process called Sparging. The liquid we are left with is called Sweet Wort which is separated from the grain using a grid at the bottom of the Mash Tun, acting like a sieve. The wort is then pumped to the Copper.

The spent grain is given to the horses as feed.

The sweet wort is boiled in the copper at 100 degrees for 75 minutes. This boiling deactivates the enzymes and concentrates and steralises the wort, as well as evaporating volatile off flavours and developing the colour we recognise as beer. At different stages of the boil hops are added for bitterness, aroma and flavour. After which the hopped wort is whirlpooled to separate the hops and protein.

The wort is then passed through a heat exchanger where it cools to 18 degrees before making its way to the Fermentation Vessel.

Once the wort is in the fermentation vessel the yeast is added in a process called pitching. Over the next 3-4 days the yeast metabolises the wort, forming flavour notes and converting the wort sugars into alcohol and Co2.

At the end of fermentation, once the yeast has run out of sugars to eat, the yeast will have grown to create a thick creamy yeast head. We harvest this from the top of the beer for repatching in future brews. Once the ‘Green Beer’ is checked in the lab and we are happy, we then chill it down to 9 degrees to stop further fermentation.

Once chilled the conditioning phase begins in the same vessel. During the conditioning process Dry Hopping takes place to add additional flavours for some of our beers such as our IPA, Amber and Gold. Conditioning takes about 3 days.

Once conditioning is complete, we transfer the beer into casks and add finings. The casks are then put into the cold store.

The casks are now ready to go to our Thwaites properties and pubs where they will be kept in a cool cellar and go through a secondary fermentation through tapping and venting before dispensing through a hand pump when you order your pint of award winning Thwaites Ale.