This is a brief description of how we make our beer and what we use. (Its not too technical so lets not start sending in too many corrections via e-mail). It should be noted that every piece of equipment must be kept completely clean to ensure quality, character and consistency. Black Oak is extremely careful about the production of our beer.

Ken and Adrian can go into greater detail and recommend some good books for further investigation. Email us if you are interested - Or better yet, come by the brewery for a tour and try our fresh beer. Please call ahead for the hours of our retail store or to set up an apointment for larger groups.

Mashing
Malt is ground using a malt mill to the right consistency and then augured into a vessel containing hot water. This vessel is called the Mash Lauter Tun (MLT). The Lautering part happens below. Malt is barley that has been allowed to germinate to a certain point and then kilned (heated) to stop the process. Malt gives the beer colour, head, and flavour. A sign of good beer is the even amount of head present and the brewer's lace that is left on the side of your glass. The amount of kilning will impart color and flavour characteristics to the malt. The germination process converts starches present into more desirable simpler starches by using enzymes present in the barley. We do add other grains to get our desired flavours and characteristics. This water is maintained at a temperature that will convert the starch into sugar.

Reverse Osmosis Water (RO H2O)
This is a unique process that provides Black Oak with almost pure water for brewing. It is a three-stage process: Carbon Filtration, Water Softening and finally processing in a reverse osmosis machine. The water is stored in a large holding tank and when we use it, an ultraviolet light gives the final treatment. These stages eliminate all of the extras in the water that we don't want. The basic idea is that we remove all of the stuff we don't want in the water and add back in the minerals that will make really good beer. This allows us more control over the brewing process. It also has the benefit of allowing us to brew virtually any style of beer. This flexibility may come in handy for future brews.

Lautering
Once the starch to sugar conversion is complete the liquid (which is now called wort, its pronounced "wert") is strained to separate the spent grains from the wort. This is the Lautering part in the MLT. After the liquid is drained the spent grains are shoveled out (a good workout for Adrian & Ken) and sent out for use as animal feed.

The Brew Kettle
The wort is transferred to the Brew Kettle where the temperature is gradually increased until a rolling boil is achieved. Hops are added at various times. The type of hops and the timing are top secret. The timing of the hop addition is associated with the recipe and flavours that we wish the beer to have. Hops impart a flavour character and also help to preserve the beer. The beer is also whirl-pooled just before the time in the Kettle is complete.

Heat Exchanger
Once the wort has completed its boil, the liquid is transferred to a fermentation vessel through a primary heat exchanger using a pump. The heat exchanger drops the temperature to a suitable level for the addition of yeast. The wort passes then passes through a second heat exchanger into a Unitank. This second heat exchanger is glycol cooled for additional control. At this point oxygen is added to give the yeast an extra boost.

Fermentation & Packaging