Welcome to the Beer Museum. Here you can learn how beer is made and taste Ecuadorian craft beer.

The audio commentary you are listening to now explains the exhibits in the Beer Museum in one take. So, do please use the play and pause functions to pace yourself.

Saccharification
This process converts starch into sugar by boiling malt in warm water. Different temperatures are set to activate the necessary enzymes and deactivate the unnecessary ones. The end result of the saccharification process is wort, a sweet, viscous, fermentable sugar solution.

Filtration
This process filters the wort obtained from saccharification. Hot water is added to dilute the wort solution, and the sugars are extracted. To ensure a clean filter, it is very important that water is added without agitating the solution so as to avoid mixing flour or other impurities. The filtered wort is transferred to a container and heated for 20 to 40 minutes.  

Heating
The filtered wort must be free of impurities since any grain or flour residue will affect the taste and aroma of the beer. Moreover, since temperature also affects taste and aroma, the right temperature must be maintained through the heating process. Depending on the desired style of beer, hops are added at varying points during heating: for bitterness, the first ten minutes; for flavor, during the middle; and for aroma, the last five to ten minutes.

Fermentation
Wort fermentation occurs in two steps. First, yeast is added to the cold wort which is calculated based on the amount of wort. Depending on the desired style of beer, fermenters (which takes into account wort density, temperature, etc.) may be added. Lager beers ferment at between 4 and 9 degrees Celsius, and ales ferment at temperatures between 8 and 25 degrees Celsius.

Cooling 
Once fermented, the beer must be cooled to clarify. The temperature range and steps are determined by the desired style of beer. Within 50 minutes, the wort must be cooled to between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius as the yeast will not ferment if it comes into contact with wort above 25 degrees Celsius. This process is very important since leaving the wort above 25 degrees Celsius for too long can introduce unwanted microorganisms, cause oxidation, and produce unwanted compounds. This cooling process usually takes three to four weeks depending on the desire type of beer.

This concludes our guide to the Beer Museum.


V. Ecuador Pavilion