The Brewing of Beer... For Dummies

One of the new placemats!  I can't remember any more where I bought the mini poster, but I suspect it is more than 25 years old, not yet faded because I kept it folded in a box.  Most likely at a place where they brew beer -- the abbey at Tongerlo in Belgium, where we visited a friar who was a distant cousin of AW's, whom I got to know in the early days of my genealogy project.

I'll try to translate the steps on the poster:
Gerst / Hop = barley and hops
1) After harvesting and threshing, the barley is soaked in the malthouse.
2) The water is drained and the barley is left in a damp room for a week in order to germinate.  This process helps in the forming of certain sugars which are essential for the brewing process.  The barley is now called 'green malt'.
3) The 'green malt' is heated up on a grill.
4) The grains are then crushed.
5) The malt is then poured into the boiling vessel alternately with water, and the brew is stirred, and heated up to 70 deg.
6) The mixture is now called 'beer batter' (?).  Impurities are taken out and the 'beer batter' is pumped into the wort kettle, hops is added, and the brew is allowed to cook for a few hours.
7) After cooking, the 'wort' is allowed to cool down to 8 deg. and then pumped into the fermentation vat.  During this part of the process, beer yeast is added.
8) After a week, the 'young' beer is poured into 'lager' tanks.
9) The beer is allowed to ripen for 6 weeks at 0 deg.
10) The beer is filtered.
There is a small note somewhere in the right that the process is slightly different in England.

The illustration is a little shiny in some parts because of the reflection of light on the lamination.  I shot it outside but I guess there would have been a reflection as well if I had shot it inside.

A very busy day with supermarket errands, ironing, kitchen duties, and a lot of MOOCking.  In the evening, AW stayed at home because Lavinia couldn't make it.

Tomorrow is National Windmill Day.  This means hundreds of windmills open to the public.  Can't afford to miss that, can I?  This will be followed by an evening in front of the TV.  I think you can guess why.

Thanks for visiting!  Enjoy your weekend!