Technology

In the Velké Popovice Brewery we produce beer using experience gained since 1874. Come and take a peek under the lid of this brewery in a small town in central Bohemia, which represents a happy combination of tradition with modern business trends and technologies.

How and from what do we brew our beer?

Water

Beer is a mildly alcoholic and tasty beverage, produced from water, hops and barley. We get the water from forest springs in the vicinity of Velké Popovice. The water is under constant strict laboratory supervision, and guaranteed against any possible pollution.

Hops

The hops come to our brewery in two forms. We take the so-called hop pellets chiefly from the Žatec and Ústí regions. The hops are dried, ground and pressed and give our beer its traditional aroma. The hop extract gives the beer bitter acids and aromatic substances.

Barley

Barley comes to our brewery in the form of malt, as required for the brewing of beer. The malt is derived from selected malt barley by a process of soaking, germinating and drying. We take several types of malt that differ in their colour, which depends on the temperature at which the grain is dried in the malt houses.

Brew house

We now have all the raw materials in the right quality and form in the brewery. Let's now go to the brew house. Here, the crushed malt is mashed at high temperature in the mashing tun. Part of the dense liquid - the mash - is released into the mash boiler. After being boiled it is drained back into the mashing tun. The whole process is called mashing. At strictly controlled times and temperatures the starches break down into dextrins and sugars.

In the brew house we use enzymes that originate through germination in the malt house. The malt is crushed, mixed with water and heated to technologically important temperatures so that the starch and proteins separate into simpler substances that the yeast can process into alcohol and aroma.

Wort lautering

In the lauter tun, the extract acquired from the malt - the wort - is separated from the husk and run into a wort copper, where it boils for one hour with a precise admixture of hops. Through boiling the bitter substances transform into a solution that we call wort. In the lauter tun there remain the husks and indissoluble parts of the malt - the so-called spent grains, which make excellent cattle feed. From the brew house the hot wort is passed to a whirlpool-tank, where, by boiling, the expelled deposits settle at the bottom and are thereby separated from the wort.

Fermenting room

Using a plate cooler, the wort is then cooled to the fermentation temperature of 10 °C and passed to the open fermentation tanks. Clean brewery yeast is then added to the wort. Velkopopovický Kozel cultivates and uses its own yeast strain, which is constantly monitored in the laboratory. This unique strain is a characteristic factor in our beer's enduring quality. The section in which the main fermentation takes place is called the fermenting cellar. During fermentation, the brewery yeast breaks the sugars down into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The main stage of fermentation takes 7 days. At the end, the yeast settles at the bottom and, after being washed with clean water, can be used for the next brew.

Storage tanks

From the fermenting room the green beer goes to the cellar. Secondary fermentation takes place in closed storage tanks at low temperatures with no access for oxygen for several weeks. During this period, the beer is saturated with the naturally occurring carbon dioxide, and the turbid and rough-tasting substances are expelled. The beer gains a delicacy and hoppy bitterness - the taste grows finer and more balanced.

Filtration

The finished beer is drained into a filter. During filtration any remaining yeast and cold breaks are removed from the beer, thereby giving it its sparkle. From filtration the beer passes to the so-called bright beer tanks.

Bright beer tanks

The bright beer tanks are used to store the filtered beer until it comes to be bottled, put in casks or cisterns.

Bottling plant

The beer is pasteurised in the bottling plant, guaranteeing its absolute microbiological purity, and then filled in casks. In the case of bottled beer, the beer is pasteurised directly in the bottles.

Expediting

Beer is transported from the Brewery to thousands of customers in the Czech Republic and abroad. Exceptional emphasis is placed on environmental matters during the whole process of production. The Brewery has its own waste water treatment centre and a modern boiler house.

As you can seem producing beer is a complex and demanding process. Since the time of František Ringhoffer, the quality of the beer has been a matter of prestige for our employees, as is proven by the domestic and foreign prizes that the brewery wins year upon year. Otherwise, you are very welcome to make up your own mind by visiting the Velké Popovice Brewery. You can obtain further information on trips to the Brewery here.