In the belly of the beast

I was back at Hogs Back brewery last week, a place where I had my first brewing job. Unfortunately for me, and indeed many, many other people, the boss at the time as a really nasty piece of work. I reached my limit after six months, a lot left a much sooner. But that was under previous ownership and management. 

Much has changed since I was there. The brewhouse hasn't much though:

They've now got a  two roller mill but the brewing vessels are all the same: Copper to the left, Hot Liquor Tank in the middle at the back, and Mash Tun on the right. Volumes are still lower than pre-Covid but are rising, particularly as they've started brewing beer for Exmoor Ales. At the moment it's 7-8 brews a week. The ales are in fermenter for a week and conditioning tank for 2-5 days. The lager takes four weeks. 

40bbl mash tun. Note the Farnham bells on the hop sack above it.

The don't rack casks under an IBC of concentrated caustic anymore, in fact I was told the IBCs are now empty but have been left in place as it's too difficult to remove them. 

The bottling line has gone but they have gained a smaller brewery that's entirely renewably powered:

One Planet brewery

The kit looked like it's 10bbl brewlength to me. All the One Planet beers are unfiltered and unpasteurised.

The Hogs Back owner has bought the site so though the brewery was still very recognisable from my day the tap room, and more importantly the hop field is new. The hops were first planted on the other side of the road from the brewery but houses were built there so the hops were transplanted to behind the brewery. 

The estate manager in from of Farnham whitebines

They grow eight and a half acres of Cascade, Fuggle and Farnham Whitebine. The latter were a huge obsession of mine so I was absolutely delighted when they started growing them. Bizarrely Hogs Back don't have much use for them so sold off last years crop. But I guess that does mean other brewers have the opportunity to use the ur-Golding.