A lovely sunny July morning saw Skeleton key and I take a relaxing mooch around the Sleaford Bass Maltings in Lincs.
The History
Sleaford ‘Bass’ Maltings was specifically designed to encompass the three key stages in the production of beer. It is easy to imagine just how impressive these buildings must have been in their heyday.
The three stages of the beer making process begins with the harvesting of the Barley Malt when the grains are dormant, they contain high concentrations of un-degraded starches. Alcohol production from the malt requires two important ingredients; nutrients to promote yeast growth, and natural sugars like maltose. These are obtained through 'malting', a complex procedure involving steeping, germination, and finally kilning.
Steeping, is roughly a two day process that involves soaking the malt in water and subsequently increases the water content of the kernels from around 10% to 50% and thus stimulating the metabolic processes. The water is periodically drained from the steeping tanks allowing fresh oxygen-rich water to be introduced, and the malt is turned to remove carbon dioxide. As soon as chitting occurs the process is complete.
The next critical step is germination, when the wet Barley kernels are spread out on a malting floor. This four to five day process takes place under strict temperature controls and regular turning to ensure a carefully controlled air flow is introduced to remove further carbon dioxide preventing the rootlets from matting together. Once germination starts, the starches begin to break down into simple sugars. It is these sugars that need to be retained so kilning take place to prevent the loss of these sugars by reducing the moisture in the malt to roughly 4%. This is achieved by blowing hot air through the malt to stop growth, the colour and flavours of the final brew are determined and, by varying the temperature at this point.
Considered to be of special architectural and historical interest, the Sleaford Bass Maltings were Grade II listed in 1974, only to suffer considerable damage two years later when a severe fire spread through the central area. Despite the intensity of the blaze, the structural integrity of the buildings remained intact due to the quality of the original construction, and this fact probably played a key role in saving the building from demolition when an application was made in 1982.
Externals
Internals
Thanks for looking
The History
Sleaford ‘Bass’ Maltings was specifically designed to encompass the three key stages in the production of beer. It is easy to imagine just how impressive these buildings must have been in their heyday.
The three stages of the beer making process begins with the harvesting of the Barley Malt when the grains are dormant, they contain high concentrations of un-degraded starches. Alcohol production from the malt requires two important ingredients; nutrients to promote yeast growth, and natural sugars like maltose. These are obtained through 'malting', a complex procedure involving steeping, germination, and finally kilning.
Steeping, is roughly a two day process that involves soaking the malt in water and subsequently increases the water content of the kernels from around 10% to 50% and thus stimulating the metabolic processes. The water is periodically drained from the steeping tanks allowing fresh oxygen-rich water to be introduced, and the malt is turned to remove carbon dioxide. As soon as chitting occurs the process is complete.
The next critical step is germination, when the wet Barley kernels are spread out on a malting floor. This four to five day process takes place under strict temperature controls and regular turning to ensure a carefully controlled air flow is introduced to remove further carbon dioxide preventing the rootlets from matting together. Once germination starts, the starches begin to break down into simple sugars. It is these sugars that need to be retained so kilning take place to prevent the loss of these sugars by reducing the moisture in the malt to roughly 4%. This is achieved by blowing hot air through the malt to stop growth, the colour and flavours of the final brew are determined and, by varying the temperature at this point.
Considered to be of special architectural and historical interest, the Sleaford Bass Maltings were Grade II listed in 1974, only to suffer considerable damage two years later when a severe fire spread through the central area. Despite the intensity of the blaze, the structural integrity of the buildings remained intact due to the quality of the original construction, and this fact probably played a key role in saving the building from demolition when an application was made in 1982.
Externals
Internals
Thanks for looking
