High Gravity Wort
Only the Best
Like every other world-class brewer, we create our High Gravity Wort the old-fashioned way — from scratch! Our High Gravity Wort varieties are created using only the finest ingredients. We use only the absolute best malted barley and hops from around the world. We select the best raw materials – no matter what the cost – because we live or die by the quality of our High Gravity Wort and (YOUR) beer!
Just ask our many customers that have won dozens of international medals at prestigious international beer competitions. If you’re concerned that you won’t be able to compete with the microbrewery down the street; don’t be. The beers you brew will compete against the finest beers on the globe. We guarantee it.
Our High Gravity Wort is brewed fresh in the traditional way. The malted barley is crushed and mixed with warm water; some of the purest water on earth, in fact. The naturally occurring enzymes in the barley plant then convert the starch into rich sugars, which we then transfer into the kettle.
Here’s the real secret: Hops are not bitter in their natural state. They need to be added to wort and then boiled. The hop compounds then transform into bittering units and contribute flavour and aroma to the wort. Hops have been added to beer for centuries not only for their flavor, bitterness and aroma compounds, but also for their antiseptic abilities. The wort is gently heated and boiled in the kettle. Here the wort is sterilized, the hops become bitter and the flavor and aromas from the hops and malts develop their full range of flavours and aromas. The fresh wort is then cooled and transferred to a vacuum-sealed proprietary package to be transported to our SmartBrew® customers for fermentation.
Dry-Hopping is a must!
Spectacular beer is not just about the High Gravity Wort. Another secret that allows SmartBrew® to create world-class beers is the automated Dry-Hopping in our fermenter tanks. This allow the ability to provide characters and aromas that your customers will truly love.
Dry hopping with certain hops provides the beers to come alive. For example: dry hopping with Galaxy hops produces wonderful fresh mango and peach aromas. Dry hopping with East Kent Goldings gives you a wonderful fresh thyme, citric and herbal spicy, honey character. One of our favorites is dry hopping with a mix of New Zealand Motueka and Australian Galaxy. These great hops combine tremendously well to give you fantastic passion fruit and citric notes that will blow your customers minds. Nelson Sauvin added to the beer will give you an amazing Sauvignon Blanc flavor that people love.
Yeast selection is a highly underappreciated part of the brewing process. The yeast variety is crucial in the design, aroma and flavor of the beer. Yeast can contribute, banana, toffee, honey, and vanilla characters that enhance your beer. We have hand-picked our yeast varieties for their outstanding contributions to the beer. With a wide choice of yeast, your customers can enjoy a wonderful array of beer styles from around the world, served fresh on tap.
As Fresh as Fresh Gets
We as brewers taste these world-class, fresh beers every day in our brewing vessels. Consumers haven’t had this luxury. That’s about to change. Each batch will be as fresh as the day the barley was picked, because you controlled the fermentation. You selected the wort, the hops, the yeast, and the added flavors. It is your beer. No one can take that away from you. Our wort is carefully crafted to produce the best, freshest, most extraordinary beer you have ever tasted. We stand by that. We refuse to produce cheap malt extracts and masquerade as a brewer. We are brewers. And we collaborate with you, letting you become your own brewers with our wort, and your yeast hops and optional added flavors. Your choice of beer is unlimited and as diverse as you want it to be.
High-Gravity Wort FAQ
What is high gravity wort and why does it matter for onsite brewing quality?
High Gravity Wort (HGW) is a concentrated, fully mashed and hopped wort brewed from premium malted barley and hops — the pre-fermentation foundation of beer. SmartBrew produces its HGW from scratch using world-class ingredients and supplies it in 20 kg boxes, so the quality ceiling for every batch operators ferment on-site is set by professional-grade raw material, not commodity extract.
How does SmartBrew's high gravity wort compare to using standard malt extract in small brewing systems?
Commercial malt extract products are often manufactured for cost efficiency rather than flavor complexity. SmartBrew's High Gravity Wort (HGW) is brewed fresh, from scratch, using only the finest malted barley and hops from around the world — the same ingredient standards applied by award-winning craft brewers — producing a flavor and aroma profile that commodity extract cannot match.
What role do hops play in SmartBrew's high gravity wort and dry-hopping process?
Hops are boiled into the High Gravity Wort (HGW) during production to develop bitterness, flavor, and aroma, and also serve as a natural preservative. SmartBrew then enables automated dry-hopping inside the fermentation tanks on-site, allowing operators to layer additional hop character — aroma and flavor without added bitterness — that gives each house beer a distinctive profile.
Can SmartBrew's wort-based system produce beers that compete with locally brewed craft beer?
Yes. Multiple SmartBrew customers have won international medals at competitions including the World Beer Awards and International Beer Cup, demonstrating that the High Gravity Wort (HGW) foundation produces results competitive with — and in many cases superior to — locally brewed craft beer made by dedicated full-time brewers.
Is the SmartBrew wort supply model suitable for operators who want to offer multiple rotating beer styles?
Yes. SmartBrew offers seven High Gravity Wort (HGW) streams that operators mix and match, then differentiate their specific house beers through yeast selection, dry-hopping, and local ingredient additions at the fermentation stage. This model supports rotating seasonal styles, limited-run beers, and multi-tap programs without requiring separate brewing infrastructure for each style.
What ingredients does SmartBrew use in its high gravity wort production?
SmartBrew's High Gravity Wort (HGW) is produced from malted barley and hops sourced from the best producers globally, using traditional mash and kettle boil methods — not shortcuts or artificial flavor additives. Ingredient quality is treated as non-negotiable because the HGW is the quality foundation of every beer an operator produces.
How does automated dry-hopping in SmartBrew fermenters improve the final beer?
Dry-hopping adds fresh hop compounds — aroma, flavor, and subtle complexity — directly into fermenting or conditioning beer without the bitterness that comes from boiling hops. SmartBrew's automated dry-hopping function delivers this enhancement consistently across every batch, giving operators beer with the aromatic intensity craft drinkers expect from premium IPAs and pale ales.