It feels damp, much like a bathroom after a shower, and has the sweet sticky smell of yeast. A room contains massive shiny tubs where beer is mixed. This is the brew room at Altitude Chop House and Brewery.
Members from the public were invited to go into the brewery Friday night and witness some of the secrets that make Altitude’s beer, a favorite among Laramites. The restaurant and brewery plans to make this a tradition and open their brewery for touring every third Friday of the month. They are free to the public, and yes, there is free beer.
“These tours are good for home brewers who want to pick up a few tips,” said Shannon Albeke, the assistant brewer who led the tour.
Albeke proceeded to explain the process of how beer is made. Cracked malt is added to water and then boiled into wort. Wort is an extremely sugary product so hops are added for bitterness. Once filtered the wort and hops mix is introduced to yeast, thus beginning the fermentation process. Fermenting takes about about a week to 10 days. The beer is filtered once again, and then ready to be consumed.
Computers monitor the whole brewing process to ensure that the beer is to the exact specifications desired by the brewer, said Albeke.
After explaining the brewing process, Albeke led the tour downstairs to the basement. Cracked plaster revealing brick walls, a low ceiling and the smell of malt greeted the tour.
Albeke explained that most of the quality barley comes from a company called Weyermann in Belgium; however, barley from all around the world is used in the brewery.
Each member of the tour was instructed to take a small pinch of malt, and taste it to determine how a beer made from that specific malt would taste. A dark burned looking malt had a distinct coffee flavor that would be found in a porter.
The more malt that is added to the beer during the brewing results in a higher alcohol content. Frequently, Albeke mixes different malts to create new flavors; however, his new beer coming out on Friday, “G-force” will be made exclusively with one kind of malt.
As the tour progressed, the group was led into a large industrial freezer jam-packed with massive kegs and large plastic bags filled with hops. Albeke explained that the kegs connected upstairs to the taps, and that massive amounts of pressure are used to shoot the beer all the way upstairs. He then started opening the bags of hops, and instructing the tour to take a pinch and smell it. The first hop presented to the tour was called Mosaic, and is one of the most popular hops in the craft brewing industry. Mosaic has a citrusy aroma to it. The second hop presented to the tour had a smell like dill.
“We can’t figure out what to do with that one,” said Albeke.
Abeke, being a home brewer himself, offers his advice to any other enthusiasts in Laramie, as well as allowing the use of Altitude’s miller and yeast.
