Our brewhouse dates back to 1975 and has a capacity of 50 hectoliter (1 HL = 100 liters) per brew. In addition to the master brewer Roland Kundmüller, a team of brewers looks carefully after our Weiherer beer day in, day out. And this is a good thing because brewing is a complex process.
The Weiherer brewing process is divided into several steps:
Mashing: Mashing is the process of mixing malt grist with water and heating this mixture gradually in several temperature steps. These steps are also called rests. The temperature and length of the rests have a great impact on the result and must be observed to the last degree as stipulated in the recipe. Natural enzymes contained in the malt grains break down the starch into sugars, typically maltose. The sugar is very important when adding the yeast to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Lautering: The mash is now pumped into the lautering tun, separating solids and liquids. The remaining solid particles, i.e. the skin of the grain, are also referred to as spent grain. This spent grain is used by the farmers as high-quality and nutrient-rich animal feed. The liquid, known as wort, and all its valuable ingredients flow now into the brew kettle.
Boiling: The wort is boiled for about an hour and hops are added. The more hops used, the more pronounced the hoppiness of the beer. Brewers differentiate between bitter and aromatic hops.
Filtering: At the end of the boil, the wort is pumped into the whirlpool, where the final trub such as protein is removed by swirling the wort.
Cooling: The wort is now cooled down by passing it through a counter current plate heat exchanger where hot incoming wort is cooled by process water which is heated up ready for the next brew.
However, the work in the brewhouse is not yet complete. There is still a long way to go until the beer is bottled!
Fermenting: After the wort is cooled, it is pumped into a fermentation tank, where the yeast is then added to convert the malt sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. There is top and bottom fermenting yeast (see yeast). Fermentation of the Weiherer beer normally takes between four days to one week depending on the type of yeast.
Conditioning: Now the beer is allowed to mature. This is important because conditioning improves the quality of the “green” beer, which can now develop.
Filling: After six weeks of conditioning, the Weiherer beer can be filled into bottles and casks in our in-house filling facility and is ready for the final stage of its journey.
