Brewing

The Master Brewer mixes various types of malt that he crushes, turning the grains into flour. Crushing is done so that the straw and grain envelopes are preserved intact. The grain retains the ball (the envelope) so that it can later form a natural filter layer.

Then, malt flour is mixed with warm water to obtain a thick liquid paste. This is called mashing. This paste is gradually heated to a temperature of 78 ° C. The gradual heating promotes the dissolution of the soluble components of the malt and the conversion of the fermentable sugars in starches. In the tank a sugar filled juice that is known as mash is obtained.

This juice is then pumped into the filtration tank where the grains formed by the envelopes and grain straw is deposited on the bottom of the tank to form a natural filter. The grains are washed with hot water to extract all sugars. The filtered liquid, called wort, is directed to the boiling boiler. The grains are sold for livestock to feed on. At this stage, the wort is boiled for one hour.

Then only we add hops. The amount and variety of hops change according to the type of beer that is produced. We also add other spices (coriander, anise, orange peel, ...) that will give a special flavor to the beer. After boiling, the wort is decanted for 30 minutes to clarify.

It is then cooled to a temperature of about 22 ° C before being transferred to the fermentation tanks. At this stage, we can not talk about beer since the wort does not contain alcohol. At the Brasserie du Bocq, depending on the season, two to four daily brews are made in manufacturing; a brew represents about 22,000 liters or 220 hectoliters.