Our Process
The Brewhouse
At the heart of any brewery is the brewhouse, and ours is built to be a true workhorse, producing thousands of gallons of beer every day. Custom-designed with the team at W.M. Sprinkman, and proudly built in the Upper Midwest, our brewhouse is tailored to the beers we love to make. Our state-of-the-art custom whirlpool gives us precise control over the temperature at which hops are introduced, allowing us to fine-tune bitterness and flavor to craft exactly the profiles we envision.
Dry Hopping
Every great IPA deserves a great dry hop. Our Rolec DH90 dry hopping system lets us capture more of the bright flavors and aromas from our hops while minimizing oxygen contact with the beer. The system grinds the hops and injects them into a constant stream of beer, delivering them to our tanks in a sealed, pressurized, CO2-purged environment. The result is IPAs with the freshest, boldest hop character in every sip. As a bonus, our brewers no longer have to haul hundreds of pounds of hops up a 20-foot ladder to add them by hand!
Inline Carbonation
Carbonation is one of the final, defining touches in a beer, shaping its flavor, mouthfeel, and aroma. At Lupulin, we take it seriously because the perfect bubble makes all the difference. Our Probrew ProCarb Inline Carbonation System lets us dial in precisely the right level every time, ensuring each sip hits just as we intended. Plus, carbonating inline frees up tank time, so we can keep brewing more of the beers you love without missing a beat.
Quality Lab
To ensure every Lupulin beer is consistent and that each new release meets our standards, we’ve built a comprehensive Quality Control lab backed by a wide range of scientific tools, methods, and data-driven processes. We use qPCR and anaerobic plating to monitor microbial stability across all beers, and a UV-VIS spectrophotometer to verify the absence of diacetyl, alongside many additional analytical techniques working behind the scenes. Together, these systems allow us to collect precise, repeatable measurements and minimize variability, forming a robust quality program that protects the integrity, safety, and overall quality of every beer we produce.
Pasteurization
Pasteurization is an important part of our process for producing beers with large fruit additions and non-alcoholic hop waters. High fruit volumes can introduce natural sugars and microorganisms that may continue to ferment or cause spoilage after packaging, while hop waters do not benefit from alcohol’s natural protective qualities. Through pasteurization, we eliminate active yeast and bacteria that can impact flavor, clarity, and overall stability. This step allows us to lock in the intended character of each release and deliver a consistently safe, high-quality product from the first can to the last.
Spent Grain
Spent grain is the byproduct of the mashing and lautering process in the brewhouse, composed primarily of barley husks, residual proteins, minerals, and grain solids. When fresh, it contains a high moisture content and is considered waste from a brewing perspective, but it remains a nutrient-rich and highly palatable feed for livestock. To preserve its value, we handle and transport spent grain while it is still damp, moving it efficiently from the brewhouse into dedicated collection containers before hauling it to local farms.
Lupulin’s spent grain program has been a cooperative partnership with area farmers since the brewery first opened and has evolved alongside our growth. What began with small-scale pickups by local hobby farmers expanded into the use of 250-gallon totes through a farmer cooperative associated with Iron Shoe Farms. As our production increased, we further invested in infrastructure to support the program, including the addition of a dedicated trailer, heat blanket, and portable dumpsters made possible through a Sherburne County grant. Today, this system allows us to reliably divert spent grain from the waste stream and put it to immediate use as animal feed, supporting local agriculture while reducing our environmental footprint.
Barrel Program
We began filling barrels during our first summer open, laying the foundation for a barrel program that now anchors Big Beer Week, our largest annual event and one of Minnesota’s marquee showcases for high-gravity and barrel-aged beers. Lupulin’s barrel program typically includes more than 100 oak barrels: bourbon, rye, scotch, rum, and more, aging a diverse range of beers, from Imperial Stouts like Barrel God and Imperial Brown Ales like Rye Nutz to strong lagers and barleywines. This deep barrel inventory allows us to craft thoughtful blends such as Barrel God Cuvée and our Demigod series. While select releases incorporate adjuncts like vanilla, cacao nibs, fruit, or spices, the focus of our barrel program remains on expressing the character of each barrel and the complexity developed through time and aging.
