Saturday, September 05, 2009

Brew Tour

Microbreweries seem to be popping up all over more and more lately, and I like to visit them when we travel. The Williamsburg Ale Werks is a fairly new brewery, opening about 3 years ago. They offer tours to the general public, even though they do not serve their product on premises. They do fill growlers of their product and sell it bottled as well, at their store next to the brew house. Their ales are also available at several establishments as far away as Maryland. Of those I tasted, I have to say the IronRoad Imperial IPA is my favorite.

The tour, as most I have been on, included a lecture on the history of beer, ingredients, and various recipes specific to the brewery. The tour also visits the brew house where the brewing process is explained. I retain a little bit of what they tell me, but I'm there more to sample different recipes than to learn how to brew. :-)

So if I explain something incorrectly in my description here, please keep the above in mind.

alewerks 01
The hot liquor tank, basically a hot water tank used in the brewing process.

alewerks 02
The mash tun, where hot water from the hot liquor tank is mixed with the malt, after it has been milled. This is the mash, which becomes wort, after chemical reactions of the ingredients.

alewerks 03
The boil tank, where the wort is transferred to. The wort is boiled, and hops are added here. The wort is then cooled using a cold liquor tank (not pictured) which is located in the cold room.

alewerks 04
Seen here are the fermentation vessels, and a brite tank at the end of the row. The cooled wort is transferred to the fermentation vessels where yeast is added and the fermentation process begins. When the brew is finished fermenting, it gets transferred to the brite tank. I didn't get the whole gist of what all goes on with the brite tank, but CO2 is added there before bottling.

alewerks 05
Some product goes to kegs. He looks like he's having a hard time lifting, but it's just my bad timing with the camera.

alewerks 06
Seen here is the bottling machine, where the product is bottled before being shipped off...
How'd I do? Am I ready to become a brewmeister? Naaahhh, I'll leave it to the experts and continue to sample from time to time.

Cheers!!
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3 comments:

  1. And what was Bob's lovely wife doing while he was brewery touring? Bob's lovely wife sat in the car for 1 1/2 hours listening to her audio book, when she wasn't falling asleep from heat exhaustion! I chose to come with Bob to the brewery and not go on the tour, so I can't complain :-)

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  2. Sorry about that, dear. I think they were overwhelmed by the size of the group. I don't think they expected that many, and they commented that they never had that many before.

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  3. So who drove back to the hotel? :)

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