technology

Stage 1

In the malt-house – not within the brewery – barley is dipped in water, then, malted. During malting starch and proteins inside the seeds partially become solvable in water under the influence of natural enzymes being activated. This is the so-called green-malt, which is to be dried, then, sterilised and kept until further utilisation.

stage 2

Malted barley is mashed in the mills of the brewery so that mashing water takes effect on a larger surface.

stage 3

In the boiling house the aim of mashing is to re-activate the different enzymes resulted from malting at various temperatures, after mixing the starch source with water.

Mashing is followed by sparging, i.e. the extraction of the fermentable liquid from the mash.

Sweet wort is put in a kettle and boiled while adding different hops to extract special flavour and aroma from them in line with the desired character of the beer.

Primary fermentation causes the characteristic flavour of the beer.
 

stage 4

In our brewery we collaterally use the traditional (5-16-week long) and the Unitank-ZKG (2-4 weeks) fermentation systems.

Fermentation is started when the boiled wort is cooled and it is mixed with special yeast either in open or in closed fermenters. The yeast turns the sugars in wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Secondary fermentation is arranged in a special vessel under pressure and at -1 °Celsius in order to further ferment the beer depending on the desired flavour and character. During this phase beer is carbonated by “natural carbonation”, its fine yeast structure settles, leaving the beer clear.

The new technology of tower-fermentation (Unitank-ZKG) has been introduced at many places in the world. The Brewery of Pécs owns 10 fermentation tanks, each containing 2,800 hectolitres net. With this technology beers can be ready for bottling and packaging in 2-4 weeks. Another advantage of the system is that it is closed, automatically cleaned and more easily controlled than in the traditional way.

stage 5

Fermented beer must be filtrated before storage. During this phase the yeast is extracted, leaving the beer clear, mirror-clean and fresh.

Filtration is preceded by washing the bottles (the capacity of our new washing machines is 27-30,000 bottles per hour), which is an important precondition to guarantee the quality of the beer. Bottles are then transilluminated checking how clean and mechanically intact they are. This is followed by filling and labelling the bottles, then, preparing them for transportation. Beer is put into casks according to the KEG system. There is one machine cleaning and filling up the casks at the same time. It has a capacity of 100 casks per hour.

Moderate beer-drinking can be refreshing due to the low alcohol and carbon-dioxide content of beers. As a result of the vitamins, proteins and minerals beers contain, they are proven to offer favourable physiological effects.

After all these we hope you will enjoy your second sip as much as the first!

Cheers!