Menu
Cart

Beers

Old-Coast-Road-Brewery-and-Distillery_0014_2

Beer Terms Defined

Ever wondered what all those beer acronyms mean? Let us explain.


Original Gravity (O.G)

Is the specific gravity measured with a hydrometer, of the beer right after it was made but prior to fermentation. It gives an approximation of how much fermentable sugars have been extracted from the malted grains, and therefore an idea of how strong the final beer will be in terms of alcohol. It is expressed as a comparison to water at 20C, which has a specific gravity of 1000.

1030 – low

1050 – medium

over 1070 – high.

Final Gravity (F.G)

Is the specific gravity of the beer after fermentation. It is a measure of how “heavy” the beer is in terms of its taste and mouth-feel. Beers with high final F.G’s will generally be fuller on the palate than those with low F.G’s. By comparing O.G to F.G one can ascertain the amount of alcohol in the beer.

1007 – low (eg A light and refreshing lager or Pale Ale)

1015 – medium (eg. Stronger Ales and wheat beers),

1025 – high (eg. An Irish Stout)

Alcohol By Volume (A.B.V)

The amount of alcohol in the beer expressed as a percentage of volume.

2.5% – light

3.5% – mid

5% – full strength.

International Bittering Units (I.B.U)

Is a measurement of the bitterness of the beer that is based on the amount and strength of hops used in the recipe. Note that a higher IBU beer does not necessarily translate into a more ‘bitter’ beer as darker beers tend to carry some residual sweetness from the malt which balances out the bitterness.


For example our PBH Porter is our highest IBU beer, but because the Porter is a dark beer it does not taste as bitter as our Harris Bitter which is our bitterest beer.

< 20 – low

20-40 – medium bitterness

> 40 – high.

Standard Reference Method (S.R.M)

Is a colour rating of beers measured by using a photometer to measure the absorption of a specific wavelength of light through the beer.

0 – water 1-5 – light lagers and pilseners

5-20 – most Pale Ales 20-40 – Amber Ales

>40 – Porters and Stouts.

Filtering

The large commercial breweries filter their beers routinely in order to provide the consumer with a crystal clear product. Unfortunately all that filtering comes at the cost of flavour. We normally don’t filter any of our beers that we serve direct from our tanks… We’d rather leave the full flavour in there, and you can see how it tastes direct from the brewery!

OCRBCans

What type of beer is it?

The two major classifications of beers are ales and lagers. 

  • Ales date back to antiquity whereas lagers are relatively new (only a few hundred years old).

  • Ales are fermented for short periods of time at warm temperatures, while lagers are fermented for longer and in cold temperatures.

  • Ales are fermented with top-fermenting yeasts  meaning the yeasts rise during fermentation whereas  lagers are fermented with bottom-fermenting yeasts  meaning the yeasts settles on the bottom during fermentation.

Those two categories are then broken down into different types including Pale Ales, Brown Ales, Indian Pale Ales (IPA), porters and stouts, and Pilsners, Dark Lagers and Bock.

Hybrid and specialty beers

Hybrid beers are emerging as a cross over between ale and lager. For example a beer fermented at cold temperatures, using an ale yeast or a beer that\’s warm fermented using a lager yeast.

When it comes to specialty beers the possibilities are endless. Typically these beers are brewed in a classic style such as a porter or a wheat beer but with added flavours. Turning an ordinary beer into a specialty is as simple as adding fruit, herbs, spices, honey, maple syrup, molasses, liquorice, or hot peppers or anything else that tickles your fancy. Brewers the world over are experimenting with specialty beers with mixed results.  Sometimes a new brew is palatable and other times its destined for the train. The fun is in the experimentation.

 

Brewery2

The Brewing Process

The brewing process is thousands of years old, and while there have been innovations, the basic process and chemistry remains the same. Anyone can brew beer, but it takes some skill and experience to brew good quality, award-winning beers. Old Coast Road Brewery prides itself on producing fresh, preservative-free and wholesome beers.
Stirring-the-Mash
Malt-from-the-Bag

Our brewer, Andrew Harris, doesn\’t mind having a yarn about our brewing process and take sit as a compliment when a home brewer wants to copy one of his beers. Outlined here is a typical bew day.

We brew in batches of 1000L and use a very hands on process. This gives us ultimate control and makes each hand crafted batch slightly different. We are an all grain malt brewery. We don;t use malt extracts or sugars in our beers. We use a 2 vessel British brewing method rath than the 3 vessel German brewing method. The 2 main vessels are the Mash Tun and the Kettle.
Out-of-The-Mill
The-Mash
The first step is to mill the malted grain. We use a 2 roller mill and it takes 30 minutes to mill 300kg of malt. We use only top quality malts that are matched to the style of beer we are making. The same goes for hops. We only use filtered, UV sterilised water for our brewing. After this, the malt is moved via a pencil auger into the Mach Tun along with hot water. The mash temp is around 66C and it takes 90 minutes for all brews. This is called the Single Step Infusion Mash method.
The mash is then sparged (washed) with hot water and the run-off (wort) is transferred to the kettle for boiling. Hop additions occur during the boil depending on the beer. The wort is then run through a heat exchanger system to cool it quickly before being transferred to the fermenter tank.
And-Boil
Oxygenating-the-Wort

The wort must be oxygenated and then the yeast goes in. We oxygenate to 9ppm oxygen concentration. Temperature control is extremely important for lagers. This beer is fermented at 12-15C for 7-10 days. Then the beer is racked off into a serving tank, chilled, conditioned and carbonated. It\’s ready to drink in about 2-4 weeks. 

Back To Top

Address

1238 West Break Road, Myalup
TEL: 1300 792 106

Hours

Thursdays from 11am - 3pm
Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays from 11am - 5pm
Kitchen closed from 3pm
Private Functions 7 days/nights a week

© Old Coast Road Brewery 2024