Shilling Brewery, Glasgow, Scotland

 

Bar with mash-tun at left.

Tonight, I am posting information on the Shilling Brewery in central Glasgow, Scotland.

This is a micro-brewery located inside a refurbished pub. The brewery’s mash-tun is actually located behind the bar and thus the first part of the brewing process is visible to customers.

Finished product for sampling

Brewing Process

• Key ingredients are water, malted barley, hops and yeast.
• Malted barley is mixed with hot water in the mash-tun to create the mash.
• The resulting mash is allowed to stand to produce wort. Wort is a liquid extract from the brewing process which contains the sugars that will be fermented by the yeast to produce alcohol.
• The brew is boiled with the hops.Latter provide a variety of complex bitter flavours and blend of aromas. The boiled wort is then strained to remove the hops then cooled before moving on to the fermenting vessels.
• The cooled wort is fermented using special brewers yeast in a special vessel.
• The fermentation process is allowed to continue undisturbed for between three and fourteen days. In this time most of the yeast separates from the beer and rises to the top.
• Beer straight from fermentation has a very bitter flavour which mellows over time. Residual yeast will ferment any remaining sugar in the beer to produce a little extra alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide dissolves in the beer, producing a balance of natural tingling carbonation, taste and aroma.
• The beer takes at least two weeks to condition.

Interestingly, the brewing process is nearly identical to the first stage of making whisky.

The brewery’s principal products are:Ay, Caramba! (5.2pct); Deckchair (4.4pct);Machine Gun Lager (5.00pct);Blackstar Teleporter (4.2pct); and Copperhead (5.0pct)

Fermentation in process at Shilling Brewery

Fermentation equipment at Shilling Brewery, Glasgow.

Bar and mash-tun at Shilling Brewery, Glasgow.

External view of Shilling Brewery, Glasgow, Scotland.