Great beer is in the making

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rewing great beer relies on the elements, the ingredients and the skill to create flavours of real depth and character. In simple terms, a lot of know-how and a little luck. Here’s what it takes to make great beer. (Unfortunately, there are classified Monteith’s secrets that we are unable to divulge at this time.)

RAW MATERIALS
Water ~ sparkling, clean water
Malt ~ malted barley kilned as required
Hops ~ dried hop cones (flowers)

The source is key to the flavours we create. So we are obsessive in ensuring our beers are born from the purest source.

We never rush a classic

The step-by-step guide to batch brewing:

1. MASH TUN

• Malt blend tipped into hopper.
• Malt crushed into mills.
• Malt and hot liquor mixed and heated to convert malt starch to fermentable sugars.

2. LAUTER TUN

• Sweet wort separated from spent grains.

3. WORTBOILER

• Sweet wort boiled with finest NZ hops, to give bitterness, stability, colour and sterilisation.

4. WHIRLPOOL

• Separation of spent hops and proteins.

5. WORTCOOLER

• Cooling from boiling to 10^oC.

6. FERMENTATION CELLARS

• Wort fermented by cultured brewers’ yeast, converting sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide over a 7-day period, at controlled temperature.

7. BEER STORAGE CELLARS

• Beer cooled to sub-zero temperatures and stored for flavour and maturation and yeast settling.

8. FILTER

• Residual yeast is removed by filtration to produce bright beer.

9. BRIGHT BEER CELLAR

10. MICROFILTRATION

11. KEGS AND BOTTLES

• Beer racked into 30 and 50-litre kegs or bottled and delivered throughout New Zealand.