Step 1: BREWING

What's involved?
Brewing begins with malted barley being milled, weighed and dropped into a mash tun where it is mixed with water to produce a mash.

Starches in the grains are converted to fermentable sugars by a carefully controlled time/temperature regime.

A spoon full of fermentable sugar.
The malted barley hangs out in the Mash Tun until the correct sugar content (a lot more than a spoonful) has been produced. Here's what happens next:

• The sugary mash is pumped into the Lauter Tun, which separates the solids from the liquids.
• The liquid, now called wort, is pumped into the brew kettle where the spicy hops are added.
• Then, the sugared and spiced wort is brought to a boil and boiled for a specified length of time.

Step 2: FERMENTING

Fermenting is essentially the process of making alcohol and CO2.

What's involved?
Fermentation begins with a liquid mixture called wort - which is boiled-down malted barley and hops. The wort is taken from the brew kettle, cooled and aerated in route to the fermenter where fermentation takes place.

Double, Double Boil and Bubble.

• En route to the fermentation tank, a special strain of brewer's yeast is added to the wort.
• In the fermentation tank the yeast grows, converting the wort's fermentable sugars into alcohol, CO2 and flavor compounds.
• Fermenting takes 8 to 10 days to complete, with the fermentation tank cooled and the yeast removed upon completion.

Step 3: AGING

Like bananas, beer is better when it's not green.

What's involved?
After fermentation, the filtered, fermented wort (a mixture of boiled-down water, malted barley and hops) is officially beer. But, you do not want to drink it just yet.

They call it mellow wort.

• At this stage the beer, or "green beer," as it is called, needs to ripen.
• This is where an aging tank comes in. The green beer sits in this tank, allowing its flavors to blend and mellow.
• The beer is tasted and tested to make sure it meets each brewer's high standard of quality.

Step 4: PACKAGING

At the packaging stage beer is ready to be bottled, canned or put into kegs.

What's involved?
The brew, now aged to perfection, is pumped from the aging tanks, through a filter, to the packaging release tank. Then, the beer is tested to make sure it meets the brewer's high standard of quality. From there it is pumped to a bottle, can or keg filler.

The complete package.

• Heat pasteurization involves warming the beer to 140 degrees and then cooling it down to room temperature.
• Pasteurization allows the beer to be stored without refrigeration, extending the shelf life to 17 weeks.

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