We start our brews with different waters for each beer to accentuate the unique characters that best fit that beer. We stock and select from about twenty-five different barley (and sometimes wheat and rye) malts from the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany and Belgium. Our 21-barrel brewhouse uses a single-step infusion (British-style) method followed by boiling in our solid copper kettle. In the kettle, we add some from the dozen hops we buy from the U.S. and Germany. Occasionally, we also add our redwood branch tips, cedar branches, fruit, or other herbs.
Following the boil, while cooling this wort (the tasty liquid that will be beer), we add an enzyme that destroys nearly all the gluten from the grains (more on this below). We regularly use one of either two yeasts, a lager and an ale. During summer, we bring in a third culture for our saisons.
After fermentation in conical fermenters, our beer ages in tanks in our cold cellar for at least another month. In the end, we fill kegs to take to our favorite bars and restaurants.
GLUTEN-REDUCED BEER
During the fermentation process to all our beers, we add an enzyme called clarity firm. This enzyme assists in breaking down the gluten in each batch. It should be noted that we don’t send every batch of beer to the lab for analysis, therefore we cannot label our beer as “Certified Gluten Reduced”. However we do receive many testimonials from gluten-sensitive individuals who have been able to enjoy a pint of Moonlight Brewing beer and have very little to no reaction.