RAW MATERIALS
We only brew Black Sheep beers from traditional high-quality raw materials:
Crystal clear dales water from our own well
Maris Otter malted barley for extra flavour
Some wheat to fortify our beers’ natural head
A little roasted malt for colour and flavour
Generous amounts of whole English hops to make the beer really refreshing.
Such a material bill is more expensive than the average, but it is well worth the extra.
BREWING
First,l the malted barley and wheat is milled and then mixed with hot water in the mash tun. The resultant mash is allowed to stand before the sugary extract, called wort,liquid from it, a malt extract we call wort, is run into the copper from beneath the mash.
The brew is then boiled with hops, which provide both bitter flavours and spicy/fruity aromas. The boiled wort is strained once more in the hop back to remove the hops, before being cooled on the way to the fermenting vessels.
FERMENTING
We only use Yorkshire Square fermenting vessels. This systemof fermentation was developed in Yorkshire over 200 years ago. The cooled wort is fermented by our special yeast in a shallow chamber about 6 feet 6 inches (two metres) deep. Above the chamber is a walled deck in which the yeasty head settles.
In the first stage of fermentation, the fermenting wort is regularly pumped from the bottom of the chamber over the yeasty head, to keep the yeast thoroughly mixed in. After, this mixing ceases and the fermentation carries on undisturbed for a few days.
Over this time, most of the yeast rises onto the deck, separated from the beer. Some of the yeast is saved, stored and then used for subsequent brews.
This most unusual fermentation system yields beer with distinctive bitterness and a silky mouth-feel.
CONDITIONING & RACKING
Beer straight from the Yorkshire Square vessels still has a harsh flavour. In time, the flavour mellows. Residual yeast ferments remaining sugar in the beer, producing a little extra alcohol and carbon dioxide.This carbon dioxide dissolves in the beer thus softening its flavour and producing a wonderful balance of taste and aroma that only cask beer can offer.
At Black Sheep, conditioning is started in closed tanks at the brewery and, after the beer is racked (filled) into casks, continues during cask storage in both the brewery and pub cellar.
A little isinglass finings are added to our beers at racking to help the yeast settle in cask to leave clear beer.
Altogether, conditioning takes at least two weeks.
BOTTLED BEERS
Beers for bottling are drawn from brewery conditioning tanks and transported by road tanker to our bottlers. There they are chilled, stored for ten days, then filtered and bottled.
At the end of the bottling process, the bottles are pasteurised, labelled and packed.