HOW DO WE MAKE OUR BEER

Water is one of our basic raw materials for beer brewing. We pump water from our Artesian wells that are 300 m deep.

Malt gives a body and colour to the beer. Our malt is made of Moravian barley that we choose very carefully. In our malt house malt is made from wet barley. After germination a controlled drying process follows.

The first stage of lager production is grinding, or simply grinding malt.

In the mash tun malt is mixed with water. A portion of the stuff, the so-called mash, is pumped into the mash kettle for sugaring. Boiling mash returns and the process is repeated once more. This is where the name "double mash" comes from.

In mashing, malt starch splits into fermentable sugars. Then the mash is boiled for a short time. The mash boiling translates into the distinct nature and good taste of most Czech lagers. Some breweries skip this boiling, but unfortunately with consequences for the resulting taste.

In the straining barrel wort is separated from the so-called wort grains – solid malt residues

Sweet malty juice, made by separating the liquid part of wort from solid malt residues.

On the wort pan the wort is boiled and hops are added – in three batches in Budweiser Budvar. This gives the beer its distinct bitterness, taste and aroma.

Hop is the spices of beer. It gives the beer its typical bitter taste and hop-like smell.

Wort boiled with hops.

To be able to add yeast into the hopped wort, it must be cooled down.

We use our own original yeast sort and, being a state-owned brewery, share them with other microbreweries.

Yeast shall convert sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Primary fermentation takes place in CK tanks and takes about ten days at a temperature of maximum 10°C. Alcohol and CO2 are the products of fermentation in beer.

The beer in the main fermentation stage is called green beer in brewery jargon.

Until the beer has matured, it is called "young beer".

Beer matures in horizontal tanks in lager cellars, further yeast is added and the beer is naturally saturated with carbon dioxide. It taste is refined and harmonised.

The natural beer turbidity is removed. It is done on a kieselguhr filter. The filter collects fine sludge and residual yeast. Filtration is not an essential step.

Heating up finished beer for a short time and subsequent cooling to its original temperature. Ensures beer conservation, i.e. protection against decay.

Budvar is bottled into kegs, tanks, bottles and metal cans.

Beer brewing is not the whole storey of the craft. Correct tapping is also essential.