Chicago Brewing Company Brewing Process

The four main ingredients in beer are water, malted barley, east and hops. Our barley is stored in a silo located right outside the building. Barley made ready for the brewing process is referred to as malted barley or malt. The malt is transported via an auger to a roller mill (A). the mill cracks the grain to expose its inner starch contents. The cracked malt or grist is then transported to the grist case (B), which is suspended from the ceiling above the mash tun.

The next step is called mashing in. This process occurs when the grist is dropped into the mash tun (C) and mixed with hot water, which is stored in the hot liquor tank (D). Natural enzymes in the barley will then convert the starch contents into simple sugars. The sugars are what the yeast will need as food in the fermentation process.

The sweet liquid, called wort (pronounced wurt), is separated from the mash tun to the kettle through a false bottom of the vessel which holds all the remaining wort until the kettle (E) is full. The wort is now brought to a boil and hops are added. Hops provide a bitter flavor and aroma profile needed to balance the sweetness in the wort.

After a long boil (approx. hour and a half), the hopped wort is cooled through a heat exchanger (F), oxygenated (G) to enhance yeast performance, and transferred to the fermenter (H). At this time, the yeast is added to the wort and the fermenter is filled.

If all the previous steps were executed properly, fermentation will occur. The yeast will metabolize the sugar in the wort and create mainly two byproducts: carbon dioxide and alcohol. Other flavor and aroma compounds are created by the yeast's activities.

Carbonating can be done naturally by sealing off the fermenter and allowing the CO2 to absorb into the beer, or artificially after being filtered or transferred into the serving tank.

All of our beer is filtered through D.E. (diatomaceous earth) filter (I), except for our Weiss beers. The filtering process removes yeast and haze producing compounds that would otherwise make the beer a little less attractive. the serving tanks (J), located behind the bar, hold the final product and can be used to serve direct to the public.

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