Okay folks. Time to dive headfirst into the intricacies of the brewing of Avery beer. On occassion, the paragraphs that follow might get a wee bit technical. This wealth of detail is for all you homebrewers out there, woot woot! Those of you who aren’t homebrewers, well, you’re about to learn a thing or two! Regardless of who you are, sit back, pop an Avery brew, and read all about what we brewers do day-in and day-out. Get really into it and one day you may find yourself asking our favorite question here at Avery Brewing Company, “Do I really get paid to do this?”
The Brewhouse:
There is an old saying in the brewing industry that “Brewers make wort, yeast make beer,” referring to the fact that it is those microsopic little cells that work the real magic in creating beer. Well, the brewhouse is exactly that spot where brewers make the wort, and a lot of it. Brewing begins with malted barley (which will heretofore be referred to as simply “malt” in this piece). Malt is simply raw barley that has been modified via a system of steeping, germinating and drying. While there are a couple of brewers in this country who malt their own barley in-house, it is a very complex process unto itself, and most craft brewers prefer to purchase their malt from another source (see Breiss for more info on the malting process). The majority of malt used at Avery Brewing Company is pale two-row barley sourced primarily from mid-western Canada. Specialty malts from boutique maltsters are sourced from the United States, Canada, Belgium and Germany.
Fermentation:
Enter saccharomyces cerevisiae and saccharomyces pastorianus, also known as common ale yeast and lager yeast.