The Brewery

Time for some technical stuff. There are five steps involved in the production of our fine beers.

Malting

Barley is soaked in cold water and water is drained off. The wet grain is stirred and aerated causing it to germinate. This process produces several enzymes in the grain necessary for the conversion during mashing of starch into sugar. After germination the sprouted barley, now called malt, is kiln dried. By varying the heat, the malt can be roasted to from light to dark brown and the colour of the beer can be influenced this way. Our brewery purchases malt from various suppliers.

Mashing

Brewing starts with coarse crushing of the malt. The product produced ,called grist, is then mixed with warm water until it forms a mash of porridge like consistency. The mash is allowed to rest for some time allowing the enzymes to convert starch into sugar. The finished mash acts as a filter bed through which the liquor, now called wort, is drawn off. Hot water is run through the residue to rinse out or sparge the remaining wort from the spent grain.

Boiling

The wort is now boiled for a considerable time during which hops and other adjuncts are added. After boiling the hops are allowed to settle and the wort is passed through a heat exchanger to cool it and run into the fermenter.

Fermentation

To begin fermentation (conversion of sugar into alcohol), yeast culture is added. This culture is generally reserved from a previous brewing of the same kind of beer. Fermentation continues for a number of days, depending on the beer brewed. Once fermentation is complete, the yeast is allowed to settle and drawn off.

Cellaring

The beer is allowed to age for some time during which flavour develops and the beer clarifies. The beer is placed in a pressure tank to inject carbon dioxide and finally packaged in bottles for dignified consumption. A De Garve beer is a "live-beer"-unfiltered and unpasturised. Occasionally a slight haziness or sediment might form, this is yeast which is healthy and nutritious and adds to the shelf life of the beer. Whilst we recommend consumption within six weeks, after all beer has been made for drinking, storing the beer cool will ensure a shelf life of several months.