yesterday I was mainly .. .. ..

.. .. taking in the full brewing experience with the chaps at Adur Brewery. I've had to sign a series of non-disclosure forms to prevent me from divulging their trade secrets but I can tell you that the day was a lot different to the one I was expecting.

I was impressed by the sheer magnitude of their state of the art facility hidden away in a rural location and they were already well underway with the activities of the day as I arrived. Fingerprints and retinal scans were taken and paperwork signed before they allowed me to enter the main brewing arena.

I was overwhelmed by the quantity of high-tech devices that they used in the wizardry of turning the local water into a glorious alcoholic beverage. I felt like a child in Willy Wonka's factory .. .. .. ..

*Ahem*

Ok, well, maybe some of that is a little bit exaggerated .. .. ..

I turned up at half eight in the morning and they had already begun the process of hydrating the barley. Once that was finished it was left in the mash tun while we all sloped off for breakfast. On our return the liquid, a very sweet liquor, was removed and transferred to the copper where it was brought to the boil and left for another lengthy period of time. During that wait the fermentation tank was thoroughly sterilised and the mash tun emptied and cleaned. Hops were added to the copper to give a bitterness to the sweet liquid and also for flavour.

Then another lengthy wait as the copper was drained into the fermentation tank and some of the energy from that captured and used to heat fresh water ready for the next brew. Yeast was added to the top of the fermentation tank (by me!!!) to begin the transformation into the product we know and love before the whole area and all the equipment was cleaned down ready for the next run. We finished by 4:30 pm; leaving just enough time for me to drop into the local butchers to pick up some steaks for my supper.