Made up of water, malt – specifically barley imported from temperate markets – hops, yeast and sugar adjuncts. Carib is made under the highest quality controls. Grain is stored in silos until ready for use and from there it is moved by conveyors to a malt screen which removes foreign objects (metallic are removed by magnets as they can cause explosions by sparking if they get into the mill). The g
rain is then weighed and delivered to the mill where it goes through three sets of rollers until the required texture of the grind is obtained. The ground malt (grist) is transported to the Mash Kettle, made of copper, where brewing takes place. The grist is introduced to a measured volume of water at a specific temperature and kept in motion by use of a paddle. The temperature is raised to about 50ºC at which point, protein is broken down. The amino acids produced are used by the yeast to grow and reproduce. After 10 minutes the temperature is raised to between 63ºC - 67ºC and held for an hour. At this temperature amylase enzymes break down the starch until there is no more. The entire mash is pumped into the Lauter Tun, which acts like a strainer, where the husk is separated from the liquid. A large volume of water is poured to trickle over the bed of grain and the liquid filters through into the boiling kettle. The grain at the bottom is used as cattle feed. The liquid in the boiling kettle is called WORT. The excess water is boiled off and additional sugar is added to the boiling kettle. Hops are boiled in the brew to extract its bittering substances and to isomerize them to form Isohumulones which are responsible for the bitter taste of the beer. The Isohumulones stimulate the precipitation of protein. However, since the foam of the beer is also dependent on the protein content, not all the protein is removed. The wort is then filtered through a hops separator to separate particles of hops, malt, and protein still in the brew. The wort is cooled by a heat exchanger which uses cold water at 4ºC in order that fermentation by yeast can proceed. From this point, great care is taken that no bacteria get into the product. The brew is pumped into a fermenting vessel – which holds as much as 35,000 gallons – and mixed with yeast. The yeast converts the sugar present in the wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. The yeast settles to the bottom of the tank and to assist this precipitation the tanks are cooled to 4ºC. Carbon Dioxide is given off, collected, and liquefied for carbonation of the finished product. When fermentation is complete the beer is pumped into storage vessels. The beer is stored in 8,800 gallon tanks at about 0ºC for about three weeks. During this time maturation of the flavour takes place, residual yeast settles insoluble materials precipitate, insoluble proteins settle and gases dissipate. The temperature is then held at 0ºC to prevent growth of bacteria. At the end of storage, the beer is filtered by passing through filter material which removes all the insoluble matter. The product is carbonated on the way to the tanks where it is held for bottling. The Carib bottle also passes trough a high degree of quality control being washed in caustic soda at 80ºC. The beer is pumped to the filler as the bottles are discharged from the washer; the bottles are then filled at 20 psi. under carbon dioxide atmosphere and sealed. After bottling, the beer is pasteurized by passing the bottles through a tunnel pasteurizer where hot water is used to raise the temperature to 60ºC. The bottles are held there for about 20 minutes then cooled by passing through cool water. Pasteurization increases the shelf life of the product. When the beer leaves the pasteurizer it goes to the labeling machine and then packed into cartons, ready for the distribution of Carib Lager Beer to you the consumer.
