This is the top of the kettle. I'm afraid I couldn't take a picture of the inside, but it was bowl-shaped and copper. As I mentioned before, I don't think it could be much larger than 3 barrels.
This is the top of the kettle. I'm afraid I couldn't take a picture
of the inside, but it was bowl-shaped and copper. As I mentioned before,
I don't think it could be much larger than 3 barrels.
I believe that this may be all there is to the mashtun (i.e. that there
isn't a screen that fits into the bottom). The tun is about four feet in
diameter and just over three feet deep. I didn't look that closely,
but I don't believe that the bottom of the plastic liner is perferated
-- I think it's just a single hole in the side near the bottom. At
the time, the brewers were both busy, so I couldn't ask questions.
Then later, after a few Traquair House Ales, I forgot many of my questions.
Here's the baudelot cooler. It's made of copper and the wort runs down
over the outside of the cooler while cold water is run through the inside.
The wort collects in a tray and is then pumped through the wall to the
fermenters in the next room. When you consider the wooden "coolship"
and the exposed wort cooler, you might ask: "Isn't there a chance
for infection?" Well, the answer is yes, but firstly, they pitch a
lot of yeast, secondly, a small amount of wild yeast and bacteria are inevitable
in any brewery (the key is that you hope they lend pleasing flavours --
consider Lambic breweries!) and they are what add the "house flavour."
Finally, if all of what you have seen isn't enough to convince you that
local microbes play a role in the character of the beer, wait till you
see the fermenters.