The 1648 Brewery occupies a portion of The King’s Head pub in the East Sussex village of East Hoathly. The co-owners, David Seabrook (Brewer) and Robert Wallace (Landlord of The King’s Head) decided to set up the brewery after a chance conversation one March day in 2002.

Work begins – The one-time glory hole for the pub is cleared, washed and scrubbed down, the floor concreted and the ceilings and two plasterboard walls over-sheeted with moisture resistant board.

The Brewing Room:

Numerous tubes of gap-filler later and the anti-bacterial/fungicidal paint is applied to the walls whilst heavy duty paint covers the concrete. The electricians and plumbers complete their work and the equipment is installed.

Ready for the first brew!

Head brewer David Seabrook at work in the brewery

The Hopper:

Above the brewing room is the malt store and grist hopper. The hopper holds the cracked, malted barley (Grist) and controls its flow into the Mash Tun.

The Mash Tun: The grist is gravity fed into the Mash Tun which is situated directly below the hopper. Before it enters the Mash Tun the grist flows through a pre-masher where it is sprayed with hot water (liquor). The brewer will carefully control the flow of water through the pre-masher to achieve a thick porridge mix in the Mash Tun. During the next hour the starch in the grist is released to provide the fermentable brewing sugars required. The resulting liquid (Wort) is run off slowly from the base of the Mash Tun into the Underback. As the Wort is being drained from the Mash Tun the mash is gently sprayed (Sparged) with hot water. This ensures all the sugars are rinsed from the mash.

The Underback:

A small open topped vessel that allows the brewer to visually control the flow from the Mash Tun, and to check the colour and clarity of the Wort. During the sparging operation the Wort is flowing out of the Mash Tun, into the Underback and then into the Copper in one continuous stream. Controlling the flow rate of the sparge water and the flow of the Wort keeps the brewer busy for an hour or so. 

The Copper: As the copper slowly fills, the Wort is brought to the boil. It is at this stage that the hops are added. Hops can be added before (determines bitterness), during and right at the end (aroma hops) of the boil as required. It is during this boil time, lasting one hour, that the hop resins and oils are infused by the Wort. At the end of the boil the hot Wort is transferred to the fermenting vessel via a heat exchanger, which drastically cools the Wort from boiling point to a temperature that the yeast will be able to work at. The proportion of fermentable solids to water is measured (original gravity) and recorded for excise purposes.

The Fermentation Vessel

Fermentation begins when the yeast is pitched into the cooled Wort. The yeast converts the fermentable sugars into alcohol. For the next three to four days the fermentation continues, during which time the brewer controls the temperature carefully as this plays a critical part in the nature of the final product. When fermentation is judged to have reached the appropriate point, the beer is chilled to 8 degrees C to arrest the fermentation process. The final gravity is measured and the ABV (alcohol by volume) calculated. The casks are then prepared for racking.

Racking and Conditioning: The casks are sterilized and rinsed ready to be filled from the Fermenting Vessel. This process, know as racking, requires as much care and attention as do the other processes. A careful distribution of the beer amongst the casks ensures a consistency vital to producing a reliable, good beer. When full the casks are sealed and placed in the brewery's cold room for a minimum of one week. During this time the beer matures allowing the full flavour to develop. It is now ready for delivery to the pub where secondary fermentation takes place after being spiled a day or more before use.

I have just outlined the process for interest. Needless to say the quantities and proportions of the ingredients used all have a bearing on the end product, as do the timings and temperatures at each stage. The above process, from mashing-in the malted barley to delivery to the pub, takes a minimum of two weeks.  To go into the detail and intricacies of our process would fill several pages.

Basic Stats.

Ingredients:            U.K. Malted Barley, Hops and Yeast sourced from local suppliers, and of course

                                  South Downs water. Also local hops from Burwash used in some beers.

Capacity:                 4.25 Barrel brew length. Each brew produces 4.25 Barrels = 17 Firkins = 153 Gallons = 1224 Pints = 707 Litres

Output:                   Capable of brewing four times a week = 17 Barrels a week.

Products:                Ruby Mild 3.6% abv

                                 Hop Pocket 3.7% abv

                                 Festivale 30 3.8% abv

                                 Brew Master 3.9% abv

                                 Triple Champion 4.0% abv

                                 Declaration Ale 4.1% abv

                                 Armistice Ale 4.2% abv

                                 Lammas 4.2% abv

                                 Ginger Nol 4.2% abv

                                 Three Threads 4.3% abv

                                 Signature 4.4% abv

                                 Saint George 4.5% abv

                                 Bee Head 4.6% abv

                                 Smokey Nol 4.7% abv

                                 Winter Warrant 4.8% abv

                                 Gold Angel 5.0% abv

Merchandise:         Beer Mats, Pump Clips, Pint Glasses & Polo Shirts.

Availability:           The King’s Head, Guest Ale in surrounding pubs, trade and private sales.