Brew day

This photo story originally appeared on Tenth to the Fraser

Brewing beer at Steel & Oak is part science, part art and a whole lot of toil.

Since opening in the summer of 2014, the craft brewery next to the Third Avenue overpass has already expanded its beer making capacity to 270,000 litres and added a bottling line. The tasting room has become a community gathering place; even baby momma groups meet there on some afternoons, their strollers parked akimbo amidst the tall industrial steel stools and wooden tables.

Wong checks the progress of the beer brewing in one of two 1,700 litre brewhouse tanks.

Wong weighs Perle hop pellets that will be added to one of the 1,700 litre brewhouse tanks.

About 250-300 kilograms of malt is used for every 1,700 litres of beer brewed at Steel & Oak.

Brew day is a frenetic dance of multitasking as beer is brewed, empty tanks are cleaned and kegs are filled for shipment. Wong refuels with a banana.

Wong retrieves a storage vessel that will be filled with used mash.

Some of the beer ages in steel casks, while others are finished in oak barrels, hence the brewery’s name.

Jordan “Chardonnay” Wong fills a cask amidst the towering 3,000 litre stainless steel tanks.

Brewmaster Peter Schulz ponders the day’s batch of red pilsner.

A bucket of hops is ready to be poured into a brewhouse tank. Steel & Oak uses about 5,000 pounds of hops, in 50 different varieties, in a year.

The used mash is gathered in big 369 kilogram bins and shipped to a farm in Aldergrove where it’s used for feed.

Wong checks the sugar content of the day’s brew, to ensure it’s ready for the next stage.

Steel & Oak has seven beer tanks that can hold a total of 270,000 litres of beer.

But it’s in the back where the magic happens.

In 18 months, brewmaster Peter Schulz has concocted 23 different beers, including new pilot beers every four-six weeks. The explosion of craft brewers in Metro Vancouver has made it a very competitive business said Schulz. The pressure is on for brewmasters to offer unique recipes.

Brew day at Steel & Oak is controlled chaos. Hoses are detached and reattached. Temperatures, sugar content and clarity are checked and checked again. Hops are weighed and added to the giant 1,700 litre brewhouse tanks. Water spills and sprays, running down the gently-sloped concrete floor to a trough amidst the forest of seven tall stainless steel vessels.

Schulz said making beer is very water-intensive; about seven litres is used for every one litre of beer that is produced.

It takes Schulz and his crew four weeks to brew ales, six weeks to produce a lager. That’s longer than most breweries, said Schulz. But the wait is worth it. His beers have won numerous awards, including best amber/dark ale at the 2015 BC Beer Awards last November.

Steel & Oak is located at 1319 Third Ave.