Interior. Brewhouse, 1st floor. View of Fermentation Squares where the Wort (water, malted barley mash with hops removed) was fermented with yeast. There were 17 tanks altogether.

Description Interior. Brewhouse, 1st floor. View of Fermentation Squares where the Wort (water, malted barley mash with hops removed) was fermented with yeast. There were 17 tanks altogether.

Date 19/1/2023

Collection Historic Environment Scotland

Catalogue Number DP 395065

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Brewing beer involves the heating of water and milled, malted barley together to form what is known as Mash, This is then sent to copper vessels for further heating (along with hops and perhaps other ingredients) to produce a liquid known as Wort which is then chilled and fermented (using yeast) and matured to produce beer. Edinburgh became a centre of brewing in Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries due to the availability of naturally occurring springs, an urban population in need of a safe beverage (clean drinking water was not universal at this time) and good communications in the form of (at first) roads, the early 19th century Union Canal and the railway boom of the 1860s. The Canongate in the Old Town was the first area of Edinburgh where there was a concentration of small breweries. These would have served the local urban market. The development of the railways and the use of hops as a preservative enabled larger breweries such as the Caledonian to be built as Edinburgh expanded in the 19th century. This beer could be exported far beyond its local market. The Caledonian Brewery was the last commercial brewery operating in Edinburgh when it ceased production in July 2022.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/2480511

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap