5 Steps to brewing modern craft beers
Brewing craft beer is an enthralling blend of creativity, science, and passion. While every brewer may have their own individual approach, the brewing process itself follows a set of steps that transform simple ingredients into the refreshing beers we all know and love. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the 5 essential steps to brewing modern craft beer.
Step 1: Malt
Every great beer starts with malted barley. The malting process involves soaking grains in water, allowing them to germinate, and then drying them in a kiln. This develops the enzymes needed to convert starches into fermentable sugars.
Modern craft breweries carefully select their malt based on the desired beer style. Lighter malts create crisp pale ales, while roasted malts add rich flavours to stouts and porters. At this stage, the possibilities for creativity and experimentation can begin.
Step 2: Mashing
Once the malt is ready, it’s time to mill it and mix it with hot water in a process called mashing. The heat activates enzymes in the malt, breaking down starches into sugars. This sugary liquid, known as "wort," is the foundation of the beer.
In modern craft breweries, this step is highly precise. Temperature, water pH, and mash duration are all carefully controlled to ensure the wort has the perfect flavour and sugar content for the intended beer style. We use high end equipment to allow us to check finite details at this point, ensuring we create the best beer possible.
Step 3: Boiling & Hops
Next, the wort is transferred to a brew kettle for boiling. This step has two main purposes:
1. Sterilising the wort.
2. Adding hops to introduce bitterness, flavour, and aroma.
Hops are the star of the show here. Early additions provide bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malt, while late additions (near the end of the boil) contribute floral, citrusy, or piney aromas.
Modern craft brewers often experiment with unique hop varieties or combinations, creating the distinctive flavours that define their beers. For us, we love the use of new hops and experimenting with different combinations - beers like Alora DDH IPA which uses two 'new to us' hops in Alora and Sultana, known for helping to create really bold hazy beers.
Step 4: Fermentation
After boiling, the wort is cooled and transferred to a fermentation tank, where yeast is added. This is where the magic happens: yeast consumes the sugars in the wort and converts them into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Fermentation can take anywhere from a week to several months, depending on the beer style. Modern breweries use temperature-controlled fermenters to ensure consistent results, but even small changes in yeast strain or temperature can lead to exciting new flavours.
Step 5: Conditioning and Packaging
Once fermentation is complete, the beer is conditioned to refine its flavour and carbonation. Some craft breweries add additional hops (a process called dry hopping) or age their beer in barrels for unique flavour profiles.
Finally, the beer is filtered, carbonated, and packaged in bottles, cans, or kegs, ready to be enjoyed. This stage is where branding and design meet craftsmanship, as we present our beers to the world.
