Artesian wells
What’s so special about them, and what role do they play in brewing beer? It is widely known that water is one of the most important ingredients in the process. The water we use for our beer is obtained from 300 meters deep wells reaching down to the tertiary substratum of the Äeské BudÄjovice Basin. At this depth we get access to unique, soft water from an underground lake formed 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age. Water drawn from these deep wells has a near perfect composition, requires no chemical treatment, and its purity meets the strictest criteria stipulated for water intended for infants.
But the water needs to be married with other important ingredients – cones of the finest Žatec hops, select Moravian malt, and original Budvar yeast.
Of course, also essential is the skill of local people, original recipes, tradition, and the wisdom of generations of brewers. All these factors together have helped in winning copyright protection for the terms ‘BudÄjovické pivo’ (Budweiser Beer) and ‘ÄeskobudÄjovické pivo’ (Beer from Äeské BudÄjovice) in the EU and beyond.
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Artesian wells
What’s so special about them, and what role do they play in brewing beer? It is widely known that water is one of the most important ingredients in the process. The water we use for our beer is obtained from 300 meters deep wells reaching down to the tertiary substratum of the České Budějovice Basin. At this depth we get access to unique, soft water from an underground lake formed 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age. Water drawn from these deep wells has a near perfect composition, requires no chemical treatment, and its purity meets the strictest criteria stipulated for water intended for infants.
But the water needs to be married with other important ingredients – cones of the finest Žatec hops, select Moravian malt, and original Budvar yeast.
Of course, also essential is the skill of local people, original recipes, tradition, and the wisdom of generations of brewers. All these factors together have helped in winning copyright protection for the terms ‘Budějovické pivo’ (Budweiser Beer) and ‘Českobudějovické pivo’ (Beer from České Budějovice) in the EU and beyond.
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The brew house
The brew house is aptly named. This is where the beer is produced. Or rather, this is where the foundations of the beer are laid, using high quality water, select Moravian malt and the finest Žatec hops – a special strain harvested relatively early in the season from the unique red soils of Žatec. The mixing of these ingredients results in something called hopped wort. Wort is the name given to an infusion of malt before it is fermented into beer.
The brewing process takes approximately 10 hours and includes three phases – mashing, straining and the boiling of the wort.
Mashing, which lasts about 5 hours, results in the transformation of non-fermentable malt starch into fermentable sugar. The principle is in mixing ground malt with water and heating always one third of the volume (the mash) to a precisely determined temperature. Mashing is repeated twice.
Straining, which takes 3.5 hours, follows in order to separate the wort from the malt residues that were not boiled. The resulting mash wort then enters the final phase known as wort boiling.
During the 90-minute wort boiling, the resulting mash wort is boiled with the cones of the finest Žatec hops. This creates the expected, pleasantly bitter taste that makes taking sip after sip so tempting. The end product of wort boiling is called hopped wort. For a better idea – the concentration of the extract in the hopped wort intended for the production of the lager is 12%. The beer then leaves the brew house to undergo the main fermentation process. Let’s take look at what happens at this stage.
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The brew house
The brew house is aptly named. This is where the beer is produced. Or rather, this is where the foundations of the beer are laid, using high quality water, select Moravian malt and the finest Žatec hops – a special strain harvested relatively early in the season from the unique red soils of Žatec. The mixing of these ingredients results in something called hopped wort. Wort is the name given to an infusion of malt before it is fermented into beer.
The brewing process takes approximately 10 hours and includes three phases – mashing, straining and the boiling of the wort.
Mashing, which lasts about 5 hours, results in the transformation of non-fermentable malt starch into fermentable sugar. The principle is in mixing ground malt with water and heating always one third of the volume (the mash) to a precisely determined temperature. Mashing is repeated twice.
Straining, which takes 3.5 hours, follows in order to separate the wort from the malt residues that were not boiled. The resulting mash wort then enters the final phase known as wort boiling.
During the 90-minute wort boiling, the resulting mash wort is boiled with the cones of the finest Žatec hops. This creates the expected, pleasantly bitter taste that makes taking sip after sip so tempting. The end product of wort boiling is called hopped wort. For a better idea – the concentration of the extract in the hopped wort intended for the production of the lager is 12%. The beer then leaves the brew house to undergo the main fermentation process. Let’s take look at what happens at this stage.
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Lager cellars
Welcome underground! Here final fermentation and maturation take place. The result is a gradual ‘rounding’ of the beer’s taste and aroma. The process goes on in special lager fermenting tanks at a low temperature – around 1°C. At a slight overpressure, the beer is saturated with the carbon dioxide, froth forms, and the yeast sediments. We never accelerate the fermentation and maturation process. Budweiser Budvar lager likes to rest and take its time maturing for an exceptional 90 days. But that’s nothing. The special strong beer called Bud Super Strong (In the UK known as Bud Premier Select) matures for a record-breaking 250 days. After all that, it really is super strong!
Next we filter the completely matured beer to make it a perfectly transparent, sparkling brew.
The filtration process completed the beer runs to the keg and bottle filling plant or is tankered to the can filler.
Click here to add text
Lager cellars
Welcome underground! Here final fermentation and maturation take place. The result is a gradual ‘rounding’ of the beer’s taste and aroma. The process goes on in special lager fermenting tanks at a low temperature – around 1°C. At a slight overpressure, the beer is saturated with the carbon dioxide, froth forms, and the yeast sediments. We never accelerate the fermentation and maturation process. Budweiser Budvar lager likes to rest and take its time maturing for an exceptional 90 days. But that’s nothing. The special strong beer called Bud Super Strong (In the UK known as Bud Premier Select) matures for a record-breaking 250 days. After all that, it really is super strong!
Next we filter the completely matured beer to make it a perfectly transparent, sparkling brew.
The filtration process completed the beer runs to the keg and bottle filling plant or is tankered to the can filler.
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Filling plant for bottles
Finally, the beer is bottled (under an overpressure provided by carbon dioxide) in both returnable and non-returnable formats. The bottles are first washed after which their cleanliness and integrity is tested using optical electronic equipment. Once filled and crowned, the bottles are pasteurised. This is followed by an inspection (of the fullness) of fill levels, labelling and packaging. Each of the two automated bottling lines can fill 38,000 bottles per hour.
In addition to bottles, beer is also filled into (cleaned and sterilised) 20-, 30- and 50-litre kegs as well as 0.33- and 0.50-litre cans.
Once in the brewery’s logistics system the beer travels to 60 countries on 5 continents.
Click here to add text
Filling plant for bottles
Finally, the beer is bottled (under an overpressure provided by carbon dioxide) in both returnable and non-returnable formats. The bottles are first washed after which their cleanliness and integrity is tested using optical electronic equipment. Once filled and crowned, the bottles are pasteurised. This is followed by an inspection (of the fullness) of fill levels, labelling and packaging. Each of the two automated bottling lines can fill 38,000 bottles per hour.
In addition to bottles, beer is also filled into (cleaned and sterilised) 20-, 30- and 50-litre kegs as well as 0.33- and 0.50-litre cans.
Once in the brewery’s logistics system the beer travels to 60 countries on 5 continents.
