Oxbow Beer Part 3 of 3

The coolship.

 Interview with Tim Adams of Oxbow Beer (part 3 of 3)
  Non-Flash ALL THREE PARTS in one podcast

Part 3 of 3 of our interview with Tim of Oxbow Beer begins with discussion of their 7 barrel coolship. A coolship is a shallow vessel used to cool down the unfermented wort directly after the boil. The shallow container allows for a large surface area, exposing the cooling beer to the air, not only to chill it faster, but also to innoculate it with all the wonderful micro organisms floating about! There is wild yeast and a host of bacterium in every breath you breath, and those little creatures are responsible for turning sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Oxbow made one beer with this coolship/wild fermentation method in 2014 and three more in 2015. They rely entirely on the natural microflora (basically, yeast and bacteria) from the open air, and also whatever survives in the aging barrels that the beer goes into. They don't add any cultured yeast at all. See more photos of the brewery, the Portland Blending and Bottling plant, and hear the other installments of the Oxbow podcast here.