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Kalnapilis Brewery has been operating continuously since 1902.

About 40 types of beer are brewed at Kalnapilis Brewery.

An average of 24 new beer recipes are created per year.

100,000,000 litres of beer are brewed at Kalnapilis Brewery every year.

Boiling

The brewing process begins in the brewery. This is where water is mixed with malt. Water and grain are the main raw materials for beer production, hops and yeast add the final touches.

Malt is a sprouted grain. We mainly use barley malt. Malt comes in different types (caramelised, dark, light) Both the colour and the taste of the beer depend on its type. The Kalnapilis plant in Panevėžys consumes about 100 tons of malt per day. It gives the beer texture and colour, so mixing different types of grain and roasting malt produces different flavours. The more roasted the malt, the darker the beer is obtained. In a mixing boiler, all materials are extracted from grain: sugar, amino acids, minerals.

The undissolved parts of the grain and the husks are removed, resulting in a sweet liquid called wort. Hops are added later, together with the yeast, they help shape the beer's character. Each type of hop gives the beer a different taste. Each type of hop gives a different flavor to the beer. Completely different beer styles can be obtained from the same malt using different hops. Hops in beer work much like spices in food. To give the beer bitterness, the hops must be added at the beginning and brewed for a long time, and the hops intended for the aroma of beer are added at the end of brewing, since the aromatic oils contained in the dried hop cones are lost during brewing.

Cooling

The boiled wort is cooled and taken to a fermentation section where the brewing continues.

Fermentation

Every brewery Each brewer has its own yeast, we even have several types. Yeast is the main driving force behind the fermentation process, converting the sugars in the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide. In beer production, yeast is divided into two types: bottom-fermenting (lager) and top-fermenting (ale) yeast. Ale yeast is characterized by a higher fermentation temperature of 15-23 °C, lager yeast usually works in an environment of 7-15 °C. At the end of fermentation, the beer matures, during which a bouquet of beer aromas and flavors is formed, the beer is cooled, and the yeast settles at the bottom of the container.

Filtration

However, not all yeast can be nicely separated, so a filtration process is still needed. A special ‘sand’ - kieselguhr - is used for filtration. These are unicellular organisms that lived in the seas millions of years ago. There are only a few places in the world where this ‘sand’ can be retrieved. Kieselguhr is mined in the United States, France, the Czech Republic, Iceland, or Mexico. The elements that make it up are very intricate in shape, which makes it great for filtering.

Bottling

The filtered beer travels to the bottling shop. Here the beer is poured into glass bottles, plastic containers, cans and kegs.

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