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Most of St. Peter’s beers start their lives
100 metres below the brewery itself with pure water from the brewery’s
own deep well. This water, or liquor as brewers prefer to call it,
is ideal for brewing and is naturally filtered through a deep chalk
layer. It has an excellent balance of minerals but virtually no nitrates
– qualities which are very important throughout the beer-making
process and which contribute to the full taste and pure character
of all St. Peter’s beers.
Locally-grown floor-malted barley is used in pale, crystal and chocolate
forms and these three malts are carefully blended together according
to the individual beer recipes and milled to create the grist. In
addition, other more exotic malt types are used to make some of our
speciality beers.
The grist is then gently mixed with heated liquor (i.e. water) to
produce the ‘mash’. Control of temperature is critical here
as it affects the beer all the way to the glass. The mash is next
left to stand for one and a half hours while the starch and proteins
from the malt are broken down to form sugars and other nutrients that
the yeast will need during fermentation.
The nutrient-rich liquid which is produced is called ‘wort’
and this is separated from the solid components of the mash by a process
similar to coffee percolation - hot liquor is sprayed over the mash
surface and clear wort is drawn through the bed of grains and collected
in a vessel called a copper. Once all the wort has been washed from
the mash it is brought to the boil in the copper.
From this point hops are added at various stages to produce the characteristic
hop flavour and aroma of St. Peter’s beers. Challenger hops,
grown in Kent, provide a strong, typically English flavour while Goldings
give a rich and fine aroma.
Once boiling is complete the wort is separated from the hops and cooled
on its way to the fermenters. Here yeast is added and the wort is
left for four days during which time a small miracle takes place -
sugary wort is turned into beer.
The yeast used at St. Peter’s and which creates this miracle
was hand-picked from a collection of over 350 different strains held
by the National Collection of Yeast Cultures based at the Institute
of Food Research in Norwich. Our chosen strain gives all St. Peter’s
beers their unique character while the combination of yeast, malt,
hops and water all help to create beers of the highest standard, full
of English character.
The brewery itself has been constructed to the highest possible specification
to ensure quality and consistency while still maintaining traditional
brewing methods. Its design allows a variety of traditional ales to
be produced, as well as some new styles exclusive to St. Peter’s.
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