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From Alaskan Brewing Company Press Releases JUNEAU, Alaska. (May 2009) – Alaskan Brewing Co. made US craft brewing history this year with the installation of a new piece of brewing equipment, a mash filter press. This new equipment maximizes the use of malt, hops and water – the three main ingredients in beer – while producing a more consistent and high quality craft beer. Alaskan is the first and only craft brewery in the country to utilize this Belgian brewing technology.
“The mash filter press fulfills the same brewing function and process as the lautering equipment it is replacing - to recover the liquid mixture of natural sugars from malt and water," explains David Wilson brewery operations manager, “but it requires considerably less water and provides a clearer and higher quality wort, the unfermented precursor to beer.” Before making any changes in the brewhouse, Alaskan made sure that they could maintain their high standards of quality and consistency would be met with the new equipment. “We had to ensure that our Alaskan Amber still looked, smelled and tasted like the Alaskan Amber we first brewed over 20 years ago,” says Geoff Larson, Alaskan’s co-Founder and President. In 2000, the brewery conducted a six-month trial period with a mash press prototype from Belgium-based MEURA (www.meura.com) for their original 10-barrel brew system. The Alaskan Brew Crew participated in blind taste panels with all of the brewery’s year-round and seasonal beers and could detect no discernable difference between the two modes of lautering. After seven more years of research, Alaskan installed the mash press in July 2008, but did not completely convert to the new vessel until February of 2009 when additional blind taste panels confirmed that they could create the same award-winning beer. The mash filter press provides significant efficiencies, a continuation of Alaskan’s tradition of innovation and environmental stewardship. With the new equipment, the brewery will use nearly one million fewer gallons of water and 65,000 fewer gallons of diesel fuel each year - enough for a full-size truck to travel around the world 50 times. “This new equipment allows us to grow as a company within our community without compromising on quality or increasing our footprint,” says Larson. Due to the specific demands of brewing in the remote coastal community of Juneau, Larson and the crew at Alaskan Brewing have sought the most lean, efficient and sustainable modes of production. In April 1998, Alaskan became the first craft brewery in the country to install and operate a Carbon Dioxide (CO2) reclamation system. This technology captures the greenhouse gas naturally produced in the fermentation process, then cleans and deodorizes the CO2 for use in bottling, kegging and other areas where most breweries must purchase and transport the gas from outside sources. The CO2 reclamation system saves approximately 783,000 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere each year. "We have the privilege of handcrafting award-winning beer in one of the most majestic locations on earth,” says Larson, "but it also brings special considerations and responsibilities in the way we brew. We find that both challenging and extremely rewarding." ### About Alaskan Brewing Co. Alaskan Brewing Co. has been making award-winning beer in Juneau, Alaska, since 1986. The Alaskan Brew Crew bottles the unique character of the Last Frontier with historic recipes, local ingredients and glacier-fed water. Alaskan Brewing handcrafts Amber, Pale, White, Stout, IPA, Smoked Porter, Barley Wine, Winter Ale and Summer Ale. Visit www.alaskanbeer.com. © Copyright 1997 - 2005 by Alaskan Brewing Company http://www.alaskanbeer.com |
