Local Culture

 

Orang Tua Group launches Singaraja beer product

There is no engine noise. The hustle and bustle of humans are also invisible. In fact, in the 15 ha complex on Jalan Raya Semarang-Bawen KM.25, Semarang Regency, Central Java, PT Beverindo Indah Abadi's beer production activities are taking place.

The company, which is 100% owned by the Orang Tua group, produces three variants of beer here, namely Koning Ludwig Weissbier, which is made from wheat. The second type is Prost Beer which is made from barley malt. Konig Ludwig is a license that the company bought from one of the leading beer companies in Germany. Not only buying a license, but Beverindo's beer production standards are also the same as the beer producer Konig Ludwig in Germany.

The third beer variant produced by Beverindo Prost Alster is a beer blend with lemon extract with an alcohol content of 2.9%. This variant was just launched at the end of 2017.

Kontan.co.id was invited by PT Beverindo Indah Abadi to visit their beer factory in Ungaran, Thursday (11/1). All three of the company's beer variants are produced using a single machine made in Germany.

“For this beer production machine has a very important role because all parameters are analyzed with the same input and output, therefore a machine with high accuracy is needed. There are machines outside Germany that are good, but for the current beer machine, Germany is the best," said Budi Setiawan Raharjo, Business Unit Manager of PT Beverindo Indah Abadi.

justify;">Budi said the company's total installed engine capacity currently stands at 373,000 hectoliters per year. However, the current real production of beer ranges from 60,000 to 70,000 hectoliters per year.

There are two buildings that are the center of activity in this factory area. The first facility is a building with a size of 100x60 meters. This is where beer production activities are carried out, starting from brewing or extracting raw materials to the process of making beer.

All of these processes in this section are carried out mechanically or by machines, without much human touch. No wonder, not many employees are seen in this area other than machine tools.

There are at least two employees who are in the control room monitoring all processes to keep them in line with the specified standards. In addition, in this production process, PT Beverindo Indah Abadi brought in a master brewer from Germany.

In this area, there is also a laboratory to check the raw materials used so that they are not contaminated with chemicals or microbiology.

The process in this first building starts with brewing or the extraction of raw materials, namely malt and hops. Malt is barley (grain) or wheat that has been processed. This malt is imported by PT Beverindo Indah Abadi from a number of European countries such as France and the Czech Republic. Hops are a type of flower that grows in Europe, which gives beer its bitter taste and aroma character.

Malt is ground into small granules of a certain size. The purpose of this process is to increase the contact surface area of ​​malt with water so that the starch hydrolysis process from malt can run more effectively. One of the important things in this milling process is that the husks/husk of the malt is kept from being crushed. This husk will be used as a natural filter media in the next process.

The milled malt is then mixed with water and heated to a certain temperature to activate enzymes that break down starch into sugars and proteins into amino acids, peptones, and peptides. Then, it is filtered to separate the malt extract liquid from the malt husks and other insoluble particles.

The filtered water will continue to the next process stage while the remaining dregs will be discarded and will not be included in the further process. Next, the malt extract (wort) is boiled (boiled) to agglomerate the protein in the wort, stop the enzyme activity, dissolve the hops, evaporate the excess water, increase the color of the wort, and sterilize the wort.

The wort was boiled at 100 °C for 60 minutes. The addition of hops is carried out in the boiling process with the aim of giving the beer a bitter aroma and taste.

The last stage in the brewing process is Whirlpool, which is the precipitation of protein as a result of the boiling process. The wort or malt extract is then allowed to stand for 20 minutes with the aim that the precipitation process is complete and will then be cooled before being transferred to the fermentation tank.

The malt extract is then mixed with yeast or yeast for the fermentation process. This fermentation process lasts for seven days. at a certain temperature according to the character of the yeast used. After fermentation, the yeast will be taken and separated from the fermented products.

After the fermentation process is complete, the beer must be ripened again for approximately 3-4 weeks in order to stop the fermentation process and also to form the aroma and taste of the beer.