BREWING l
six-man brewing team and especially the experience and dedication of the Head Brewer, Tom Delaney. The one thing that seems certain about the dynamic of the Galway Bay Brewery is that it is constantly on the look-out to develop its business. Founder Jason understands that this is a very gradual process but the company is open to considering all its options. Over the next few years he con- tends that: “You might bump into a Galway Bay bar in Leeds, the north of England or Germany,” which is wonderful, not only for the company but for the reputation and expor- tation of independent brewing in general in Ireland. I thanked both Will and Tom for their time and commitment during my visit. It was certainly very memorable.
such as Italy and Holland are places, other than the UK, that the company is targeting. The company employs one hun- dred people with more joining every time a new pub opens. As well as pubs it wishes to expand even more into the off-trade business, made all the more possible with a new contract to supply the Musgrave Group, which is Ireland’s leading grocery retail and wholesale company. Key to its future success will be in- novation, and the new brewery location gives it the freedom to deliver. In re- cent times the company has produced three new beers in a four-week period. On average it has produced a new beer type every six weeks since the new brewery started. Will acknowl- edged that all of this has happened because of the focus of their excellent
Tom Delaney, Galway Bay’s Head Brewer, surrounded by his ‘Project in Wood’
“From here I rack to oak for the next phase of fermentation. Currently, this can take anywhere from six to 12 months. My house culture is young but is producing delicate, nuanced beers with gentle acid- ity which I’m very pleased with. “I’m very excited to see how the culture develops on future barrel fillings. Sporadic cellar checks are done throughout the months to see and taste how the beers are progressing. I test for pH and gravity. I also monitor the temperature and humidity. It’s important to taste and smell too so I can learn the different phases and person- alities of the yeasts and bacteria that are working with me. Each barrel has a digital birth certificate where all data and tasting notes are logged. “The best tasting barrels are blend- ed into the dish bottomed BBT, where it’s cold crashed and carbonated. Beer is then packaged to heavy Belgian glass bottles and KeyKegs. I chose heavy Belgian glass for safety reasons, as I’m hoping to move completely to bottle conditioning in 2018. “The heavy Belgian glass is designed for bottle refermentation with Brettano- myces . This has been a really exciting experiment thus far, and I am looking forward to carrying it as far as I can into the future. “I am especially excited to bring my learnt expertise to bear on Galway Bay’s own wood cellar project which is kicking off this winter.” The Oak Cellar: 40 x 220 litre French Oak ex wine barrels 4 x 500 litre French Oak wine puncheons 1 x 4000 litre French Oak Foudre vat
cross contaminations to date. “Land & Labour beers are usually 1500 litre brew lengths on the Galway Bay kit. The grist usually consists of a high percent- age of raw grains, up to 40% raw wheat, some oats, spelt, with the remainder being Pilsner malt. I perform a cereal mash before the main mash and sparge at 95˚C. “It’s a fake or cheater turbid mash es- sentially. Boil for at least 90 minutes with about 14 IBU of noble hops. My goal for the mash and boil is simple: to prepare a fermentable 11˚to 12˚ Plato high starch wort for long term maturation in barrels with my mixed culture.” “After the boil and whirlpool I will heat exchange into either the 1000-litre steel conical or to two 500 litre upright pun- cheon barrels (these have been converted to fermentation vessels – with butterfly valves, sample ports etc.) usually at around 24 to 28˚C. I do not use heating or cooling on my fermentations. “I pitch low attenuating saccharomyces yeast and once krausen drops I transfer this 2-3 day old beer into the 10hL dish bottom tank on top of my mixed culture of Saccharomyces , Brettanomyces , Pediococ- cus and Lactobacillus .
In the brewery a sec- tion of the plant room has been made avail- able to Head Brewer Tom Delaney to carry out what he calls his
‘Project in Wood’. It is his own private activity, which he carries out after hours. But the management team have already seen that there could be some commercial benefits into the future from the work that Tom is doing, and some col- laborative work has been carried out. While I was talking to Tom I asked him to put down his thoughts on paper as to what he felt he was doing with the wood and his mixed culture, and the following are his thoughts. He carries out the work under the logo ‘Land & Labour’. “The idea behind Land & Labour is to produce beers with a change of pace from a production stand point. To re- move control from my hands and place it firmly in control of yeasts, bacteria and the seasonal temperature change within the brewery. Traveling back in time so to speak, to experiment with a more rustic approach to beer. The beers produced are delicate and nuanced with a pleasant gentle acidity that I enjoy drinking. I am privileged to be able to operate Land & Labour out of Galway Bay Brewery, where I am also the Head Brewer. I do not share hoses, pumps, gas- kets, fittings etc. with Galway Bay. “I keep all tanks at Galway Bay on top pressure to protect against possible airborne contamination. CIP solutions are at the high end of dosage and all freshly cleaned tanks are checked for ATP. This all helps maintain clean beer with no
Tom Delaney filling one of his thoroughly cleansed 500 litre puncheons
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