Last year my husband Gene, my niece Cassidy and I spent part of my birthday afternoon touring the beautiful Odell Brewing Company facility in Fort Collins. We had never been there so it was fun checking out a new brewery basically in our own backyard. Not only did we have a good time exploring their amazing building and store, we also learned that the company has been independent since 1989 and is 100% employee-owned. I found that very interesting. They want their employees invested, and it looks like it works well for everybody. I wish a lot more companies followed this practice. I think there would be a lot more pride in what they do and feel more accomplished at the end of the day.
The Process:
Milling
As with many beers, they start with malted barley and wheat. These ingredients are milled to reveal the barley’s starchy endosperm, a converted fermentable. Once the milling process is complete, the grain is carried through an auger up into the mash tun or cask. Sadly we didn’t get to see any of this on the tour but it seemed easy to follow. Maybe we will get to see if the next time we are in the area and take a tour.
Sugar and Wort
While in the tun, they add hot water for about ½ an hour. This apparently causes the sugars of the mash to spill out, which results in sugar water called work. This wort mixture then goes into the Brew kettle for 90 minutes where it is boiled. At this point, it is still not beer. It is called wort and apparently is not tasty at all. Our guide said he hasn’t tried it, but heard it was pretty nasty. I know I wouldn’t want to try it. I will happily wait for the final product. 🙂
Hops
While the wort is the Brew Kettle being boiled, hops are added in at different times to create a bitter mixture with a floral aroma. While it may smell good, I can’t imagine it would taste good, lol. If they want to add extra hops, for IPA’s, they use a machine called the Hop Back. Here the wort is strained through a bed of whole flower hops. I am not an IPA person, but I guess this process gives it a fresh, lively, hop character. I don’t like hoppy beers, so this is not exciting to me, lol.
Yeast
This is where the wort becomes beer. It is put into the fermenter where they add yeast which consumes the sugars and produces alcohol and CO2. After brewing at 67F for a week, it is brewed another two weeks at 34F.
Spinning
After those two weeks, they apparently spin the beers at very high speeds. This removes the heaviest particles but leaves the hops oils and proteins. I thought that was interesting. I can’t say I remember any other beer company we’ve toured using this method. It was very intriguing.
CO2
Once the beer is ready, but before packaging, they add a high dose of CO2 to ensure just the right amount of bubbles for us to enjoy.


Packaging
- Kegs: They have a kegging machine that sterilizes and fills stainless steel kegs for around 30 seconds or so. That seems pretty fast to me.
- Bottles: Over 120 bottles are rinsed and filled per minute. That adds up to about 130,000 each day. Wow.
- Cans: I thought the bottles were impressive; however 310 cans are rinsed, filled, and seamed per minute. I didn’t do the math on that one, but that’s A LOT of cans, lol.


Odell Brewing Company Visitor Information
Address:
800 East Lincoln Ave Fort Collins, CO 80524
Phone:
970-498-9070
Hours:
- Mon – Tues 11 am-6 pm
- Wed-Sun 11 am -8 pm