Malt

The main source of fermentable sugars for our beers comes from 2-row pale malted barley. Wheat malt, Pilsner malt, and rye malt are also used to create unique, specific profiles in our beer. We also use a variety of specialty malts that have been malted and roasted to bring out specific desirable flavor and coloring characteristics. The majority of these are barley, but occasionally a brewer may use a specialty roasted wheat. These specialty grains are roasted in a similar to coffee beans with some roasted slowly at low temperatures, while others are roasted quickly at high temperatures.  Grains have been roasted to achieve a specific hue, a color rating in the industry known as "Lovibond".  This rating allows a brewer to chose accurately among many variations of colored carmel, and dark/black roasted malts and thus exercise tight controls while designing and producing consistently colored & flavored batches of the same standard recipe.

Malt

As mentioned, malt colors are rated on a scale known as "Lovibond" and are frequently referred to as "L". For example, our pale malt is about 1.8L, while the crystal malt used in Hammerhead to give it the nice amber/red color is 80L. The black barley used in Terminator is about 500L.

As with the hops, a brewer has a wide cross-section of of varieties and brands when deciding which grains to use in a mash. Everything is dependent on the style of beer chosen.  A brewer will generally work backwards from the original vision of what their beer is supposed to be to determine the type and amount of grains to be used as the basis of the recipe.

Hops

McMenamins is fortunate to be based in the Pacific Northwest, where a large portion of the world’s hops are grown. We have access to the freshest, finest hops available, and many of our beers showcase hops for this reason. New hop strains are developed each year it seems, and you can be sure that if we can get these new strains you will be able to sample them in our beers.

Though a bit more primitive than most modern brewery practices, we still use only whole hop cones, not processed pellets, plugs or oils. Hops fall into two main primary classifications – aromatic and bittering.  Many varieties can and are used in both applications to some degree.

Hops

Many factors affect the hop profile of a beer:

• Type of hops used
• Amount of hops used
• When the hops are added
• Freshness of the hops
• Malt profile of the beer
• How vigorous of a rolling boil the brew kettle can produce
• Amount of evaporation during the boil
• Dryhop/no dryhop

Hops

There is an infinite number of ways to hop a beer and brewers are constantly trying to figure out ways to maximize the hop utilization rate in all of our beers.  Dry-hopping, late-hopping, wet hopping you name it and we've tried it.

Although each hop has unique properties, they generally fall into three aromatic/flavor groupings: citrus, floral & spicy.  A few examples of our widely used hop varietals and their categories are:

• Citrus – Cascades, Chinook, Centennial
• Spicy – Sterling, Crystal, Tettnanger
• Floral – Amarillo, US Goldings 

Yeast

"Brewing yeasts may be classed as "top cropping" (or "top fermenting") and "bottom cropping" (or "bottom-fermenting"). Top cropping yeasts are so called because they form a foam at the top of the wort during fermentation. Bottom cropping yeasts are typically used to produce lager-type beers, though they can also produce ale-type beers. These yeasts ferment more sugars, creating a dryer beer, and grow well at low temperatures."

--From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Though McMenamins uses primarily our own proprietary yeast strain, many other top and bottom fermenting cultures are incorporated annually.  Many locations produce lagers, Bavarian-style weiss & bock biers; and Belgian styles -- all which depend on yeast characteristics to remain stylistically accurate.

Water

Water is used for many purposes in the brewing process, such as cleansing, cooling and, of course, is the primary ingredient used in the production of beer. Beer contains approximately 90% water and, consequently, water exerts a predominant influence upon the type, quality and character of the finished product.

The kind and amount of minerals found in solution are the factors by which water is determined to be "hard" or "soft." Here in the Northwest we are fortunate to possess excellent water for brewing, much like that found in Pilsen, which is softer in character. Knowing the composition of their water,  brewers can use brewing salts/minerals to adjust it to fit the style of beer they are producing.

The Mill

The malt mill is used to crack the malted grains used in brewing. Whole grain kernels are dumped in through the top of the mill, called the hopper. As the grain is poured into the mill, rotating plates shear the grain open, breaking the husk and exposing the inside of the kernel where the needed starch is located.

The Mill

The husk and the interior of the kernel - the endosperm - having been finely milled, fall into the mash tun where the 'grist' is is mixed with hot water and the conversion from starch to fermentable sugar begins.

Mash Tun

This large stainless steel vessel is where the milled grain ("grist") is mixed with hot water, a process termed in the trade “mashing in.” At this stage, the enzymatic activity created in the mashing process serves to convert the grains’ starch content into sugars, both “simple” and “complex.”

Mash Tun

These sugars contribute to the body and character of the beer as well as to serve as the food source on which the brewer’s yeast cells actively feed.

Mash Tun

Once the starch has all been converted to sugar, both of the fermentable and unfermentable variety the resulting “sweet liquor” from the mash tun is gently pumped over to the boiling kettle. Many critical body, flavor and color components of the finished product are determined during the mash stage of the brew, and the art of the mashing style is something that is unique to each who practices it.

Mash Tun

Precise temperature management is imperative in the mash; a misfire of two or three degrees can have a profound effect on the body and flavor of the finished product.

Boiling Kettle

The sweet liquid is pumped very slowly to the kettle from the mash tun, where the remaining sugars have been rinsed ("sparged") from the grain bed with hot water. Boiling the resulting liquid ("sweet liquor") adds further Melanoidin coloring, serves to sterilize and clarify the finished product, and initiates the precipitation and removal of unwanted molecular proteins.

Boiling Kettle

There are many important attributes associated with the boil.  This is where the hops and fruit are added to flavor the beer.  The most important part of the boil is the sanitizing effect it has on the wort.  By boiling for ninety minutes spoilage bacteria does not have much of a chance of surviving to taint your finished product.  This ninety minute boil will also drive off some undesirable by products of the mash (dimethylsulfide DMS) and purge all of the oxygen out of the wort.  Also, the pH of the wort (acidic) in conjunction with the physical kinetic motion of the boil forces proteins that were previously soluble to come out of solution.  These pieces will then combine to form big protein formations.  Brewers refer to this action as the “hot break”.  These proteins are then big enough to be screened out of the wort as it is pumped to the fermenter.  This is convenient because excess protein can negatively affect the flavor, appearance and stability of the finished beer. 

Boiling Kettle

When crafting fruit ales, ingredients such as raspberries, marionberries or boysenberries may also be added late in the boil.

Heat Exchanger

The heat exchanger, or “wort chiller,” is a set of stainless steel plates that are separated by rubber gaskets and are housed in” between two end pieces that frame the plates inside. The boiled wort is pumped through one series of plates in the heat exchanger while cold water flows through another series of plates. The rubber gaskets keep the two flows from mixing. The end result is that the cold water cools the metal in contact with the wort and the wort heats the metal contacting the water. As the wort passes through the heat exchanger, it is cooled to fermentation temperature and ready for transfer into the fermentation tank.

Fermenter

The “hopped wort” is rapidly cooled from the boiling point to 66 degrees F and transferred to the fermenter where it is either mixed with McMenamins’ proprietary strain of brewer’s yeast, or with a specialty strain where the yeast's specific properties are desired for the production of certain style-specific flavor components.

Fermenter

Pure oxygen (a vital yeast nutrient) is force-injected as the yeast and wort are mixed together, encouraging and nourishing the yeast’s metabolic processes.

Fermenter

The yeast cells will grow and reproduce until all of the oxygen has been consumed and then turn to the fermentable sugars created during the brewing process.

Fermenter

As the yeast consumes these sugars, the result is the formation of carbon dioxide and alcohol.

Fermenter

Careful monitoring of temperature during the fermentation cycle is critical to both the flavor profile of the beer and the health of the yeast, which will be harvested and reused on future batches.

Keg

When the fermentation cycle has been completed and the brewing yeast has settled to the bottom of the tank, the beer is ready to be transferred into kegs, a process called racking. The finished ale is gently pushed  from the fermenter into sanitized kegs (which have been purged of harmful oxygen and pressurized with compressed carbon dioxide) via stainless steel racking arms.

Keg

Occasionally brewers will add whole hop cones directly to the keg for extra aromatic intensity before they seal the cask for conditioning. Once the keg is sealed, it is put aside to settle for a few days, allowing the flavors to round out and mature. The beer is checked for proper carbon dioxide levels and cold-conditioned prior to serving.