Do you know how a craft beer is made?

In Spain, the craft beer market has multiplied by 7 in just a decade

And it is not surprising, since artisan production has fully conquered the national consumer, which in turn has caused many more people to be interested in knowing how this type of beer is manufactured.

For this reason, we want to share the process of making craft beer, although in general, since each brand incorporates its own modifications to this process, with the aim of obtaining a beer with certain characteristics that differentiate it from its competitors.

1. Malted barley

Malting refers to the germination of cereal grains (usually barley). That is, immerse them in water and then dry them quickly with hot air. During this first phase, a lighter or darker malt is achieved, which will determine the color of the beer. And this is achieved with said germination process in which the enzymes present in the grain are activated in a controlled way, which will be necessary during the maceration.

2. Milling of the cereal grain and maceration

After malting and grinding the cereal grain, it is mixed with water to prepare the brewer’s wort. As you may already know if you are a true beer fan, water represents around 85% or 90% of it.

And this maceration process is nothing more than mixing the malt and water at different times and temperatures, which converts the starch into fermentable sugars.

3. Wort filtration

Third, we must separate the liquid wort from the remaining malt. Now, how do you do this? We filter the must using a filter tank or filter press, which allows us to separate the liquid from the solid. The part that interests us in the first.

4. Cooking

Then we must bring the must to a boil in order to achieve the bitter taste that characterizes beer and the aroma present in hops. In addition, in this third phase the must is sterilized, proteins are coagulated and undesirable aromas evaporate, for which it takes about an hour, or more, depending on the type of beer we want to make. As we pointed out at the beginning of the post, each brand makes modifications to this production process.

And, before moving on to the fermentation phase, the must is subjected to a kind of centrifugation.

5. Fermentation

Now yes, the time has come for fermentation, which consists of cool and aerate the must to later sow the yeast. This fermentation process is necessary to transform fermentable sugars into alcohol and CO2. In addition, it allows to generate a great variety of compounds also necessary to flavor beer.

6. Ripening and filtering

With fermentation we get a liquid that is then subjected to a maturation period, subjecting it to low temperatures that help to achieve a specific and different flavor and aroma for each beer.

Y, finally, the beer must be subjected to a filtration process that allows the small particles of yeast to be separated from the compounds that are in suspension.

7. Bottling and tasting

All this process allows creating “unique” flavors, Finally, they are packaged and distributed for consumption, allowing Spaniards to continue enjoying the taste of craft beer.