Microbrewery, Inc.: An Instructional Case on Management Decision Making 413 Direct Materials primanly consists of four ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. A clarifying agent is also used in the beer making process. The different types of beer require different proportions of these ingredients and even slightly difterent ingredients (e.g.. pale ale uses a pale malted barley while stout is made using a darker roasted barley) Brewing Process Work in the brewery is typically divided into eight steps: Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, Fermenting and Conditioning, Filtering, Filling, and Aging Mashing Mashing is the first process in brewing. The barley grains are mixed with water in a large vessel. This mixture with periodic breaks, or rests, at certain temperatures to allow enzymes in the malted grains to break down the starcn grain into sugars Lautering Lautcring is when the mash is separated into a liquid and the residual grain. There are two stages to lautering. I stage, called Wort Run-Off, a liquid (or extract) is separated in an undil called sparging. During sparging, the extract that remains wit stages are combined and the result is a dark, sugary liquid called Wort. This is returned to the original Mashing ves uted form from the used grains. The second stage is h the grains is rinsed off with hot water. The results of these two el. Boiling Boiling the Wort in the vessel ensures that the mixture is sterile and prevents infection. During the boiling step, hops are added to the Wort. The hops contribute bitterness, aroma, and flavor compounds to the beer. The boiling must be continuous and intense (rolling boil) and typically lasts between 60 and 120 minutcs, depending on its intensity, when the hops are added and the amount of Wort expected to evaporate. The Wort is then cooled before the fermentation stage Fermenting and Conditioning The cooled Wort is put into a fermentation tank and yeast is added, which starts the fermentation process. This is also the point at which the product is first called beer. It is during this stage that fermentable sugars are metabolized into alcohol and carbon dioxide (the bubbles in beer). As noted above, fermentation temperatures are very different for ales versus lagers. Fermentation takes about a week. When the sugars in the fermenting beer have been almost completely digested, the fermentation slows down and the yeast cells will naturally start to die off and begin to settle to the bottom of the tank. At AMI, the fermentation tanks arc equipped with cooling jackets. Therefore, conditioning can take place in the same tank as fermentation. Conditioning (also called "maturation") is when beer is cooled in the tanks to allow the yeast to settle to the bottom of the tank. Conditioning allows the flavor of the beer to become smoother and is a natural filtration process (removing cloudy material from the beer). Filtering The beer that comes out of the fermentation tank must be filtered prior to bottling. Filtering the beer stabilizes flavor and gives beer its gloss or "shine." Filtering removes much of the yeast and any solids (e.g., hops and other grain particles) that remain in the beer Filling The filling process (also called "packaging") is putting the beer into the bottles in which it will leave the brewery. At this point, carbon dioxide is added to the bottling process to increase the carbon dioxide in the beer. Cases of beer (consisting of 24 bottles) are then put into aging. Aging of beer. Ales are usually aged agering creates a cleaner, clearer beer. The refrigeration unit allows for different temperatures in different areas of the unit. r is stored (aged or "lagered") in the refrigerator unit and the temperature and length of the aging will vary based on the t no more than a few weeks. The aging process is gencrally done at 40 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Lagers larly aged but at much lower temperatures, 32 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and for a much longer time (typically months). Issues in Accounting Education Volume 31, Number 4, 2016 Accounting Microbrewery, Inc.: An Instructional Case on Management Decision Making 413 Direct Materials primanly consists of four ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. A clarifying agent is also used in the beer making process. The different types of beer require different proportions of these ingredients and even slightly difterent ingredients (e.g.. pale ale uses a pale malted barley while stout is made using a darker roasted barley) Brewing Process Work in the brewery is typically divided into eight steps: Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, Fermenting and Conditioning, Filtering, Filling, and Aging Mashing Mashing is the first process in brewing. The barley grains are mixed with water in a large vessel. This mixture with periodic breaks, or rests, at certain temperatures to allow enzymes in the malted grains to break down the starcn grain into sugars Lautering Lautcring is when the mash is separated into a liquid and the residual grain. There are two stages to lautering. I stage, called Wort Run-Off, a liquid (or extract) is separated in an undil called sparging. During sparging, the extract that remains wit stages are combined and the result is a dark, sugary liquid called Wort. This is returned to the original Mashing ves uted form from the used grains. The second stage is h the grains is rinsed off with hot water. The results of these two el. Boiling Boiling the Wort in the vessel ensures that the mixture is sterile and prevents infection. During the boiling step, hops are added to the Wort. The hops contribute bitterness, aroma, and flavor compounds to the beer. The boiling must be continuous and intense (rolling boil) and typically lasts between 60 and 120 minutcs, depending on its intensity, when the hops are added and the amount of Wort expected to evaporate. The Wort is then cooled before the fermentation stage Fermenting and Conditioning The cooled Wort is put into a fermentation tank and yeast is added, which starts the fermentation process. This is also the point at which the product is first called beer. It is during this stage that fermentable sugars are metabolized into alcohol and carbon dioxide (the bubbles in beer). As noted above, fermentation temperatures are very different for ales versus lagers. Fermentation takes about a week. When the sugars in the fermenting beer have been almost completely digested, the fermentation slows down and the yeast cells will naturally start to die off and begin to settle to the bottom of the tank. At AMI, the fermentation tanks arc equipped with cooling jackets. Therefore, conditioning can take place in the same tank as fermentation. Conditioning (also called "maturation") is when beer is cooled in the tanks to allow the yeast to settle to the bottom of the tank. Conditioning allows the flavor of the beer to become smoother and is a natural filtration process (removing cloudy material from the beer). Filtering The beer that comes out of the fermentation tank must be filtered prior to bottling. Filtering the beer stabilizes flavor and gives beer its gloss or "shine." Filtering removes much of the yeast and any solids (e.g., hops and other grain particles) that remain in the beer Filling The filling process (also called "packaging") is putting the beer into the bottles in which it will leave the brewery. At this point, carbon dioxide is added to the bottling process to increase the carbon dioxide in the beer. Cases of beer (consisting of 24 bottles) are then put into aging. Aging of beer. Ales are usually aged agering creates a cleaner, clearer beer. The refrigeration unit allows for different temperatures in different areas of the unit. r is stored (aged or "lagered") in the refrigerator unit and the temperature and length of the aging will vary based on the t no more than a few weeks. The aging process is gencrally done at 40 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Lagers larly aged but at much lower temperatures, 32 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and for a much longer time (typically months). Issues in Accounting Education Volume 31, Number 4, 2016 Accounting