Beer, a malted and hopped, somewhat alcoholic beverage. So says Websters Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. In 1516 the Elector, William the IV of Bavaria issued his famous purity law, the Reinheitsgebot (Rine-heights-guh-boat). It stated that beer must be made only from malt, hops, yeast, and water. Julius Caesar called beer "A high and mighty liquor". America's first "help wanted" ad appeared in a London newspaper. It was for brewers to come to Virginia. One reason for the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock instead of Virginia (their intended destination) was that they were running out of beer. In 1640 the Massachusetts Colony passed a regulation that " no one should be allowed to brew beer unless he is a good brewer." In 1738 General James Ogelthorpe, the founder of Georgia wrote: "cheap beer is the only way to keep rum out." In 1789 James Madison expressed his hope that "the brewing industry would strike deep root in every state of the Union." In 1880 the first commercial air conditioning unit in America was installed in the brewery of Robert Porter, in Alexandria, Virginia. Much of the pioneer work in artificial refrigeration in this country took place in the brewing industry. In 1880 there were 2,272 breweries in America. Many different kinds or styles of beer were being produced. It is said that George Washington was partial to Porter. Other historically prominent Americans who enjoyed beer were Thomas Jefferson, William Penn, Ethan Allen, Samuel Adams, and Teddy Roosevelt.

Prior to the introduction of Prohibition in Kansas in 1880 (the first state to enact it), Kansas was home to around 114 small breweries. This high concentration of breweries made Kansas a major brewing center in the Midwest, this concentration was largely due to the large German population that settled in Kansas and brought their brewing traditions with them. One of the largest of these was the Walruff Brewery here in Lawrence. We are the first legal brewery in the state of Kansas since 1880.

Almost any grain, fruit, or herb can be used in the production of beer, and there are many different styles of beer produced throughout the world. Unfortunately, most Americans are familiar with only one. The beer style produced by the major American breweries is called American pilsner. These beers are styled after, but are far from comparable to, the pilsners produced in Europe. The major American breweries add ÒadjunctsÓ such as corn and rice to barley malt in the production of their beers to make the beer lighter in color, drier or crisper, less flavorful and cheaper to produce. From one brewery to the next, the beers are as alike as two peas in a pod.

Just as color, aroma and flavor are key to the appeal of food, so it is with beer. No one eats the same meat, vegetable and bread at every meal. We at Free State believe that our customers should have a choice. That's why you'll always find several different beers on tap here.

Our beers are produced from the freshest American and Belgian barley and wheat malts. Our hops come from the Pacific Northwestern U.S., Great Britian and Germany. We use a high quality water conditioner to remove all the chemicals from our brewing water which comes from the City of Lawrence. Our yeast strains are maintained and cultivated in our own lab. Our principal strains include one German Ale strain and one English Ale strain, but we also make occasional use of German Lager and Weizen strains.

THE BREWING PROCESS

Though today's brewer benefits much from science, it is also true that science has benefitted much from brewing. Microbiology has it's roots deeply planted in the brewing industry. The mechanics of brewing are simple and the basic procedure has not changed for centuries. The mash tun, brew kettle, and fermenting vessel do not reveal much to the naked eye, but within them is contained a ceaseless whirl of invisible activity.

The basic recipe and method for brewing beer are straightforward:

1. Malt is cracked using a roller mill and fed into a wooden clad tank called a Mash Tun.
   Mash Tun
   
2. Hot water is added to activate the natural enzymes in the malt. Once activated, these enzymes convert the starch in the malt into simple fermentable sugars. This process is called mashing.
3. Once this conversion is complete, the liquid is filtered through the grain, back into the mash tun until it is clear.
4. The clear liquid, wort (pronounced wert), is pumped into the brew kettle (brick clad) where it is boiled for one and one half hours or more.
   Brew Kettle
   
5. During the boil, hops are added at different intervals to provide bitterness, flavor and aromatic qualities.
6. After boiling, the hot wort is pumped through a water cooled heat exchanger where the temperature is dropped from two hundred degrees to about sixty-five degrees for ales or 50 degrees for lagers. From the heat exchanger, the cooled wort flows into one of five fermentation vessels (stainless steel with conical bottoms).
7. The yeast is added to the wort in the fermenter. The fermenters are jacketed to allow chilled glycol to be circulated between the walls of the jacket and the fermenter.
   Fermentation Tanks
   
8. The wort is fermented for twelve to twenty one days. After seven days, the beer may be transferred upstairs to separate conditioning tanks. The temperature is dropped from sixty eight to thirty five degrees at strategic intervals during the conditioning process.
   
   Conditioning Tanks
   
9. At the end of fermentation, the beer is filtered (with a few notable exceptions) and pumped into bright beer tanks which hold from 225-450 gallons of beer in the cooler. From these tanks, the beer is kegged or served directly.
   Beer Filter
   Beer Cooler
   

Our Equipment

Our brewhouse is equipped with a 14 barrel JNNW system. We use a combination mash/lauter tun for single step infusion mashing of our grains. Our brew kettle is direct fired using natural gas. Our total fermentation volume is 84 Bbl, using 4 14 Bbl Unitanks and 1 28 Bbl Unitank. We have 3 14 bbl conditioning tanks upstairs and 84 bbls of serving space in our cooler. For filtration, we used a Velo Ero 3 vertical pressure leaf filter from Scott Laboratories.

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