The Brewing Process (Pitstop Bitter)
The malt is cured, or kilned, to produce the correct colour for the brew once the brewer has produced a sweet sugary extract; he then adds hops to give beer its bitter characteristic.
Beer is a highly complex alcoholic drink. The start of the brewing process begins in the barley fields. Unlike a grape, if you crush an ear of barley nothing happens. It takes the considerable skills of the maltster to turn the starch in each ear of grain into fermentable sugars. The malt is cured, or kilned, to produce the correct colour for the brew once the brewer has produced a sweet sugary extract; he then adds hops to give beer its bitter characteristic.
Malted barley and wheat is milled and mixed with hot water in the mash tun, the mash is left to stand until a sugary extract called wort is formed. The wort runs into the copper from beneath the mash. The brew is then boiled with hops in the hot liquor tank which gives the brew its bitter flavours and spicy, fruity aromas. The boiled wort is then strained again in the hop back to remove the hops. The brew is then cooled and transferred to the fermenting vessels.
The cooled wort is fermented with yeast in the tank. The fermenting wort and yeast are thoroughly mixed and then the fermentation continues undisturbed for four days. Over this time the yeast separates from the beer but residual yeast ferments the remaining sugar in the beer, producing a little extra alcohol and carbon dioxide which dissolves into the beer. This softens the flavour and produces a sophisticated taste that only cask beer can offer.
The beer is racked into casks where conditioning starts and then continues in storage both in the brewery and the pub cellar. A little finings are added during racking to help the yeast settle in the cask to leave the beer clear.
The final product,
Silverstone Pitstop Bitter is a light, golden, refreshing beer of 3.8 % ABV with a smooth, hoppy taste and fruity aromas.