Ingredients:
Malted Barley
British brewers have traditionally used barley as their main raw
ingredient for beer. It provides the sugar that yeast ferments to
alcohol. Malt can be roasted to create beers of varying colour and
flavour.
Brewing Water - 'Liquor'
The salt and mineral composition of the water used for brewing,
known as 'liquor', contributes to the character and body of the
beer.
Hops
Brewers as far back as the middle ages have used hops in brewing
to add flavour, aroma and to help prevent the beer turning
sour.
Yeast
The Rebellion Brewery's own beer yeast gives a unique
'signature' to our cask conditioned beers. Each week fresh, healthy
yeast is 'cropped' from the previous week's brews.
Milling
Malted barley is milled to break open the grain to allow access
to the sugar-rich, starchy inside.
Mashing
The malt is mixed with hot brewing liquor and held for 1 hour at
66°C in the mash tun. Natural barley enzymes convert the starch to
fermentable sugars. Colour and flavour are also drawn from the malt
during this hour. Once the brewer is happy that the starch has been
converted to sugar, the sweet liquid or 'wort' is separated from
the spent malt, which is then sent to the farmer as animal
feed.
Boiling
Wort is boiled for 1 hour in the Copper to kill off any wild
yeast and bacteria. Hops are added early during the boil to give
the beer its bitterness and towards the end, to add flavour. The
aromas and flavours can be chosen by using particular hop
varieties.
Late Hopping
The beer is transferred from the Copper to the Hop Back, where
it is sprayed over the hops, soaking through them and giving the
beer its aroma. Each hop variety is chosen for its aroma
characteristics, which can range from fresh citrus or tropical
fruit, to spicy, floral or piney.
Cooling & Aeration
To capture and hold the hop aroma, the beer is cooled quickly to
21°C in a heat exchanger on the way to the conditioning and
fermentation tanks. Air is mixed with the beer to help the yeast
during fermentation.
Fermentation
Yeast is added to the beer which converts the sugars to alcohol,
producing a complex mix of flavours and aromas. The temperature is
controlled between 21°C and 23°C. Primary fermentation last 3 to 5
days.
Conditioning
Towards the end of the primary fermentation, as most of the
sugar is converted to alcohol the beer is cooled to 6°C, slowing
fermentation down. The tank is sealed for 3 to 4 days to add
condition to the beer, as fermentation continues slowly and
sediment settles.
Racking
Clean and sterilised casks are filled, or "racked", with fresh
beer. The beer still contains small amounts of sugar and yeast
allowing secondary fermentation to occur in the cask, known as cask
conditioning. Finings are added to help the sediment settle once in
a cellar. The racked casks are moved to the temperature controlled
beer store held at 10 to 12°C. Cask conditioning continues for up
to 7 days before the beer is ready for delivery.
Bottling
After 2 additional weeks of maturation in tank, the beer is
passed through a series of fine filters to clear and stabilise the
beer. The beer is bottled under very sterile conditions through our
filling machine, which is capable of handling 1500 bottles per
hour.
Bright Beer
Beer destined for sale through our shop is transferred to bright
beer tanks, which allow clear beer to be drawn off and filled into
the various sized containers on offer, to be taken home and
enjoyed.
