I have a mental bucket list, things I would like to do before I snuff it.Over the years I have ticked off various things like doing the Settle to Carlisle Line, visiting Brugge or even writing a blog.
What hasn't been on my mental list is working in a brewery. Now Ive been on many brewery tours and have enjoyed every one of them, especially the sampling that comes at the end.
However, I was recently offered the chance to spend one day at a brewery and help
with making a brew. So there was no way I was going to turn an offer like
that down. Most of the tours over the years have been after operating hours when everyone has gone home, the kit has been
cleaned and most brews are fermenting away in a tank ready for the next
process.
So where did this happen. Well it was Maxim Brewery in Houghton Le Spring, Tyne and Wear. They were born out of the closure of the Vaux Brewery in Sunderland and Wards of Sheffield Originally, their flagship beer, Double Maxim, was contract brewed and sold only in bottles until the new brewery opened in 2007. The cask ales that are now produced also include Lambtons, Swedish Blonde and Maximus.
So it was an early 8am start to meet Glen Whale , the Head Brewer. After a brief tour it was on with the work. A brewing process consists of 6 stages; Malting, Milling, Mashing, Boiling, Fermenting and Conditioning. The malting and milling of the barley malt and other grains to be used had already been done off site so it was on with the Mashing.
For consistency, each beer has a menu and tick list to follow, listing ingredients and quatities. A brew of Double Maxim was about to be started and the first task was to empty into a large mashing tank the contents of sacks of primarily Pale Malt, plus some Crystal Malt and Roast Barley into the water ( called liquor). As I helped tip the contents into the top of the tank, I kept saying to myself " for Gods sake Ken don't let go of the sack, don't let go whatever you do". Thankfully my nerve held as I nonchalantly lifted the heavy sacks. Once done there was over an hour to wait for the mashing process to finish so it was time to move on to something else.
Maxim have recently won a contract to supply a stout called John Bull for the Wetherspoons Autumn 2015 
Beer Festival. At least 600 casks will be produced.
The job for most of the rest of the morning was to fill 72 of these casks. A long hose was connected to a large fermenting vessel which held 25 barrels of the stout. The other end had a trigger for filling the casks, each one of which been cleaned the night before. The trigger was inserted into a hole in the cask and pulled to fill with the John Bull. A plastic bung was then hammered into the cask, which was then lifted onto a pallet. Once 18 casks were completed they were whisked off on a fork lift into a cold store ready for dispatch. I had a try filling a couple of casks but nearly did my back in bending over so gave up and handed the hose back to the experts.
By now the mashing was complete so the Double Maxim wort had to be transferred via pipes into large copper kettles for boiling, during which Goldings hop pellets are added.
Still, the 72 John Bull casks were soon filled. After recovering the yeast residue from the bottom of the fermentation vessel it was time for some cleaning. Water with caustic soda was pumped through the now empty vessel. I noticed a lot of cleaning occurred with each process and remarked that a hell of a lot of water is used throughout the day. I wonder if they are on a water meter ? 
I had a wander into the cold store and spotted some wooden casks which when filled, are heavier than the more common metal ones.
Soon it was time for the first break and a sit down after nearly 4 hours. I reflected over a brief lunch how much hard physical graft is involved in brewing beer. You are on your feet most of the day.
Looking down from the first floor lounge I could see all the tanks, pipes, hoses and the various valves, pumps and switches that make up the fascinating jigsaw of how beer is moved from the start of the brew to the finish. You don't usually see anything happening on a tour so it was good that today I was actually experiencing it for real; either beer boiling away in a copper kettle, flowing through a hose, being transferred into casks, or some surplus stout being decanted into a plastic jug for the odd quiet sip ( that would be for me , not the real workers).
From the lounge I could also see stacks of bottled beer ready for dispatch to pubs, clubs and supermarkets. The brewery don't bottle their own beer, it is sub contracted. A brew is fermented in one or two 80 barrel tanks, then piped into a road tanker for transporting to the bottling plant. Maxim don't sell bottle conditioned ale so what is returned is filtered.
Refreshed after a brief break it was back onto the floor to follow the next task of transferring the Double Maxim from the boiling to the fermenting stage. Watching the flow through a glass panel in a pipe, I was standing in a small sticky spillage ( oh no, spilt beer !). Turning to move I found my trainers were stuck to the floor. It was like liquid Velcro. I just had to have another quick sip of the spare stout to recover from this little mishap.
Now, naively I asked what was next. Cask cleaning, ready for the next day, I was told. I was shown in a corner of the building two cask steam cleaners. After a brief instruction I was left to it. Lifting a cask from a pallet, stand on the cleaner, switch on, wait to be cleaned, switch off, lift off ( wearing gloves as red hot ) then when cool inspect internally to ensure no residue left, then hammer in a keystone ( a small plastic plug), then stack on a pallet. I think I did over 30 casks. I was sweating with all the steam and the lifting. Now I know why I was readily allowed to do this on my own.This was thirsty work , fortified by a brief sip of the aforesaid black stuff.
Remember the sack lifting at the start of this ? Well the residue from the mash was now being discharged along a corkscrew conveyor into a small hopper. Suddenly into the brewery walks a local farmer. He regularly collects the waste malt etc to feed his horses. I reflected that my first job this morning was about to end up inside a horse !
While I was slaving away the now boiled Double Maxim was being piped into the recently emptied and cleaned fermentation vessel. This would be ready to transfer to casks in about 3 days.
Soon, another 4 hours had flown by and it was time to leave. I was asked if I could come back the next day to clean some more casks ! I love little jokes like that.
Clutching some bottles of Double Maxim ( thanks guys) I staggered back to the car. Time for some more refection on the way home.
Clutching some bottles of Double Maxim ( thanks guys) I staggered back to the car. Time for some more refection on the way home.
Being a brewer is bloody hard work and requires total dedication to the art. They deserve my respect and I will forever think on that when I'm enjoying my next pint. I often wonder if founders of these new startup breweries that keep popping up very 5 minutes know what they are letting themselves in for ? There seems to me to be too many brewers chasing less and less pubs.
Maxim have a small shop for the purchase of bottled beer, mini casks T shirts etc. They also undertake brewery tours. See website here for contact details.
So many thanks to Glen, Alan and Mark for what was truly a memorable, if hard working day. I will not forget this experience in a hurry.
