It's Beer Week in Sac. I love beer. I thought to myself, "how can I do something productive and enjoy some beer?" 

I went to Sacramento Beer Week  to check out the events. Discovered Sudwerk Brew in Davis was offering tours and tasting Saturday afternoon. Original tanks remain in the bar. (Image by: Kati Garner) Image by: Kati Garner I headed to the tasting area and immediately joined another beer lover as we were taken on a tour led by Trent Yackzan. We saw where Sudwerk began in the early 1990's - in the area that is now the bar in the restaurant. The tanks are stainless steel and the copper was added to the exterior for looks.

In the year 1993, the owners reached their first of many milestones; the Sudwerk Restaurant & Brewery was hailed as the Number 1 Brew Pub in America (Sudwerk sold more beer in-house than any other establishment)!

The open fermentation area can be seen inside a glass-walled room from the bar. (Image by: Kati Garner)

The area where malted grains arrive. (Image by: Kati Garner)

We smell the grains. (Image by: Kati Garner) Image by: Kati Garner We are shown the kettle, mash mixer and lauter tun. The three vessels collectively make up what is termed the "brewhouse". The mash mixer is where milled malt and hot water meet and the two are thoroughly blended. In the mash, enzymes convert malt starches into fermentable sugars. The lauter tun acts like a big sieve and accomplishes the goal of separating liquid (wort) from solid (spent grain). The kettle is where the wort is boiled and also where hops are added in the process.

Fermenters - Two of Sudwerk's fermentation vessels. Very tall. (Image by: Kati Garner)

Image by: Kati Garner

Sudwerk's sheet filters. Filtration strips yeasts and proteins out of the beer rendering it crystal clear and more stable. (Image by: Kati Garner)

Hefeweizen is an unfiltered beer.

Sudwerk's facility creates 100 bottles of beer per minute. In a week it cranks out up to 1,728.000 bottles.

One of their signature beers, Imperial Pils. (Image by: Kati Garner)

There's a lot more information about their brewing process. Too lengthy to cover in this article. For more details on Sudwerk's brewing process, CLICK HERE>>>.

Image by: Kati Garner Two men brewing their own (above).

White Labs Inc., Pure Yeast and Fermentation, is located at Sudwerk.The company provides a wealth of services to not only brewers but also winemakers, distillers and others in the fermentation business.

Charlie Bamforth, Department Chair, Food Science & Technology, University of California, Davis has an office at Sudwerk. He kicked off Sacramento Beer Week at the Crocker's Brewer's Showcase event Feb 24, 2011.

Sudwerk is home to the Professional Brewing Progams.

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner