From The Sputnik – Oct. 12, 2011. Also ran on the CUPWire.

The following story ran in The Sputnik October 12, 2011, and was picked up by the CUPWire. It’s about beer. Yum.

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The Grand River Brewing Company’s brewery does not look like much from the outside. Instead it looks more like something of an old factory.

The reason for that is simple: it was the old home of the Galt Knife Factory. And though remnants of the old factory still remain both outside and on the interior, significant changes have been made to sway the focus of production inside the building to one thing: beer.

How it’s made

Zac Tremaine, the assistant brewmaster with Grand River, explained the process in which the delicious beverage known as beer is actually made.

The first stage of the brewing process is to prepare the malt, or as Tremaine called it, the “backbone of your beer.” Depending on the style of beer being created, such as a lager or an ale, different amounts and types of grain are loaded into a machine called a mill. Bright yellow and resembling a wood chipper, the mill crushes all of the grains. There is usually one constant grain that provides most of the foundation for all beers, and then specialty grains are added to create different flavours and colourations.

The rollers of the mill open the husks of the grain but leave the body intact, and the grains are then augured into a mash tun and mixed with warm water. Once the proper temperature is reached, the grains sit for an hour to attain starch conversion.

After the hour is up, something called wort has formed at the bottom of the mash tun. Tremaine defines wort as “the sweet and malty liquid that forms the foundation of beer in your glass.” The wort is circulated to the top, and then the brewmasters lauter the beer, meaning they separate the wort from the grains and move it to a kettle.
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