Ingredients: barley, hops, yeast, water, and optionally sugar.

Malting

The barley is transferred into malt by steeping the grain in water, and spreading it onto a large floor (the germinating floor) to germinate. When germination begins it is dried in a malt kiln to prevent further germination.

The malt is transferred to the brewery where it is crushed in a malt mill to crack the husks. This forms what is known as grist. The grist is put into a mash tun with warm water to convert the starch in the cereal into sugar. The resulting liquid is known as wort. The wort is collected in a tank called the underback, from where it is fed into the copper.

When in the copper, dried hops are added to flavour the mixture, which is boiled for one or two hours. Sugar is sometimes added, depending upon the type of beer. After boiling, the mixture is passed into a hopback where the spent hops are removed. The liquid is then fed into a cooler.

After cooling it is poured into a fermenting vat, and yeast is added. The yeast converts the sugar into alcohol. After fermentation the surplus yeast is skimmed off, and the beer flows into racking tanks, where it is conditioned. Sugar may also be added at this stage, depending upon the type of beer.

It is then poured into casks, and finings are added to clear the beer.