Spring WATER
The principal ingredient in beer is water and the process requires water for boiling, heating, cooling and washing. Water within the brewery used specifically for brewing is referred to as liquor. Initially water was sourced from wells but in 1838 a spring to the west was tapped and remains in use to this day. The brewery continues to use its own spring water for brewing. Although not unique, the development of towns and infrastructure projects has made many breweries’ independent water supplies untenable forcing them to switch to mains supply.
Grains
Palmers beers are produced using Maris Otter, the king of malted barleys. All grains are brought to the brewery in sacks, hoisted to the malt loft on the third floor of the brewery and trucked by hand to the malt hopper which marks the start of the process. Neither augers nor compressed air are used to move the malt so as to avoid damaging the husks prior to milling.
GrIST
The grains are milled to crack open the husks. Precise, consistent milling is a crucial stage in process, the grains must have a coarse, self-supporting structure. Our grist mill, made by Allan Ruddock, was installed in 2009. Its predecessor which was in use for 124 years was made by the famous Robert Boby Ltd of Bury St Edmunds, where Allan served his apprenticeship. Once milled it is transferred by an enclosed bucket elevator to another hopper over the mash tun called the grist case, ready for the next morning’s brewing.
MASHING
Mashing is the process of combining hot liquor with grist to make the “mash”, in order for the beers to come out the same each week the brewer has to mash consistently. At Palmers this is a manual process, no computers, no automation. Consistency is achieved with experience, the help of a thermometer and chalk notations on the telltale – a float which measures the usage of liquor.
SPARGING
Once the mash has stood for an hour, wort - a sugar rich, malty liquid - can be drawn off from the bottom of the mash tun into a vessel known as the Underback. Old brass taps are set to control the flow. The surface of the mash is sprayed with hot liquor, this washes the fermentable sugars from the grains.
Copper
From the Underback the wort is pumped to the brewery’s open top copper. Installed in 1937 Palmers is one of only a couple of breweries in the UK who still use an open copper for all its brews. The wort is boiled vigorously for between 45 and 90 minutes, this concentrates the sugars and sterilizes the wort prior to fermentation. A proportion of hops are also added which add bitterness when boiled. Our core range of ales use English Goldings exclusively for bitter hops.
HOP BACk
The hop back is like a 10,000 litre cafetiere. Up to 40kg of loose whole leaf hops are steeped in the hot (but not boiling) wort to add aromatics to the beers. Copper Ale uses First Gold aroma hops, our other ales make use of Styrian Goldings. More recently our seasonal ales have made use of international hop varieties, in particular Citra hops from Washington State which give our craft keg, Dorset Pale, its delicious flavour and aroma profile.
Fermentation
All Palmers ales are produced using a single strain of yeast which is unique to the brewery. This yeast is added to each brew, grown, harvested and stored to be used again the next day. Records date back to 1976, although it almost certainly has been in use for decades prior. The yeast converts fermentable sugars into alcohol and is responsible for giving our ales a distinctive flavour profile which is unique to Palmers. The fermentation takes place in open vessels and usually lasts for a week. Our oldest vessels date many years, and are made from repurposed cider foeders. Throughout the process the fermentation is monitored by the brewhouse team to ensure consistency.
Racking
After fermentation the finished beer is ‘racked’ into casks: firkins (72 pints) and pins (36 pints).
To the pub
Cask conditioned real ale is a live product that needs careful conditioning and expert handling in pub cellars. Unlike keg beer, it requires skilled management and must be sold quickly once opened. Palmers emphasises exceptional quality, requiring all staff and licensees to complete accredited cellar management training, supported by an in-house Cellar Tech team. Their pubs are rigorously audited three times a year, with the highly competitive Palmers Cellar Champion Award recognising excellence.
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