Behind the scenes at Brambo brewery in Riccione! An art carried on for 20 years
Curious to discover what lies behind the unmistakable taste of your favourite beer? Birreria Riccione Brambo! is ready to reveal its secrets!
We at Brambo! have been working since 1997 to become a point of reference as a brewery. Riccione has already rewarded us by making us one of the most loved breweries in the city for delicious dinners with friends. This is because our mission is to offer a product that always meets the most demanding and refined palates: that is why it is important for us to be transparent about our production processes, telling you about every stage of our work.
Involving our customers is a priority for us, so we brew our beer on site, right inside our restaurant. Also, on some evenings of the week (except Saturday), our customers are welcome to visit our brewing plant, where the magic of our most loved beers is born.
I. Brewing beer in Riccione: we start with malting
The main ingredient of the brewing process is malt.
Malt does not exist in nature: it is the result of a mechanical process, called malting, which transforms cereals into malt.
The most commonly used cereal is barley, but malts can also be made from rye, wheat and spelt.
The high quality and the types of malt we use determine the colour, taste and body of our BramboBeer, making us the brewery in Riccione best suited for enjoying an excellent beer.
II. Mashing to give body to our most intense beers
Once ground, the malt is poured into water in the brew kettle. The proportions are roughly 80% water and 20% malt.
As water is the most abundant ingredient, its various characteristics and the presence of different elements must be carefully monitored.
Mashing, together with the choice of the type and quality of cereals and malts, is the moment when the brewmaster gives the final product its basic characteristics, including body, alcohol and foam.
When mashing is complete, the spent grains (the solid part) are separated and rinsed from the clarified wort (the liquid part).
III. Boiling and hopping to flavour your favourite beers
Boiling sterilises the wort, concentrates the sugars and makes the unwanted proteins (albumins) precipitate, as they would cause stability and cloudiness problems in the finished product.
During boiling, hops are added to the wort.
The hops release the bitter and aromatic substances that will define the taste and aroma of the beer.
IV. Cooling and the art of settling
At the end of boiling, the wort contains various impurities from protein coagulation and hop residues. We remove them with the whirlpool system: a circular movement of the wort that makes the solids settle in a central area of the tank, forming what is commonly called the trub.
From here, the clarified wort is cooled to a precise temperature, different for each yeast used, and transferred to the fermenters.
V. Fermentation and maturation: the final touches to get the perfect beer
In this stage the real protagonist is no longer the brewmaster, but the yeast.
The importance of yeast in brewing can be understood through an old saying of the beer world: “…the brewer makes the wort, but the yeast makes the beer”.
During fermentation, the yeast added to the wort feeds on the sugars and, through chemical reactions, releases alcohol, carbon dioxide and energy until the fermentable sugars run out.
At this point the beer is cooled and the yeast that settles at the bottom of the fermenter is removed.
Once fermentation is over, the last stage of our BramboBeer production begins: maturation.
This period lasts from about four weeks to a couple of months for the more unusual beer styles. During this time the beer matures, and the sweetness of the malt blends with the bitterness of the hops.
When maturation is complete, the beer rests in the maturation tanks, which are clearly visible in our Riccione brewery and connected directly to the taps at the bar, where the beer is served.
