Bass Wetmore Maltings AKA ‘Holgran’, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire - Summer 2022/2023
A pair of Grade II listed malt houses which were built in 1864 along Anderstaff Lane (now Wetmore Road) for Bass, adjacent to the railway line behind what was the Bass Middle Brewery cooperage.
Originally there were 5 or 6 malt houses here, with 2 now converted into offices and housing and 1 demolished after a fire in the late 70s.
The derelict pair of maltings were more recently used by a company called Holgran who supplied malted grain to the bakery industry - mainly to Rank Hovis it seems.
One malt house was unaltered and fairly complete and while empty, you could still see how the process would have taken place. Unfortunately the other one was completely ruined by the remains of some massive weed grow… Explains why the place had seemed so secure for a long while I guess!
Visited solo and again with Staffordshire's finest trespassers @raisinwing and @Humpa
Malt is a key ingredient in the brewing process and is an artificially germinated grain, with the germination process being halted at a critical point by application of heat.
On the ground floor there were several of these large tanks. These are ‘steeps’ with the grain being soaked for a predetermined amount of time in water which begins the process of germination. The water is changed several times during the steeping process, with the grain being rested each time too.
The 2 floors above the steeping tanks consisted of growing floors. The grain here is spread out on the floor, allowed to grow and turned by means of manual labour.
The last part of the process involves the grain being spread out over the kiln floor. The floor in these maltings were metal rather than perforated ceramic tiles. The application of heat via the kilns kills the germination of the grain - unfortunately the area where the actual kilns were was inaccessible.
The very top floor would have been for storage presumably and was in a pretty ropey condition.
Some pictures from the neighbouring building, it was likely to contain interesting things having more obvious signs of being used by Holgran, but was completely ruined by the aforementioned grow.
A laboratory, unfortunately all manor of junk from the grow had been bulldozed into it.
Originally this would have been the boiler house with its little chimney and water tower. More recently used as a space for engineering by Holgran.
So there you go, you win some, you lose some. I guess this was somewhere in the middle.
A pair of Grade II listed malt houses which were built in 1864 along Anderstaff Lane (now Wetmore Road) for Bass, adjacent to the railway line behind what was the Bass Middle Brewery cooperage.
Originally there were 5 or 6 malt houses here, with 2 now converted into offices and housing and 1 demolished after a fire in the late 70s.
The derelict pair of maltings were more recently used by a company called Holgran who supplied malted grain to the bakery industry - mainly to Rank Hovis it seems.
One malt house was unaltered and fairly complete and while empty, you could still see how the process would have taken place. Unfortunately the other one was completely ruined by the remains of some massive weed grow… Explains why the place had seemed so secure for a long while I guess!
Visited solo and again with Staffordshire's finest trespassers @raisinwing and @Humpa
Malt is a key ingredient in the brewing process and is an artificially germinated grain, with the germination process being halted at a critical point by application of heat.
On the ground floor there were several of these large tanks. These are ‘steeps’ with the grain being soaked for a predetermined amount of time in water which begins the process of germination. The water is changed several times during the steeping process, with the grain being rested each time too.
The 2 floors above the steeping tanks consisted of growing floors. The grain here is spread out on the floor, allowed to grow and turned by means of manual labour.
The last part of the process involves the grain being spread out over the kiln floor. The floor in these maltings were metal rather than perforated ceramic tiles. The application of heat via the kilns kills the germination of the grain - unfortunately the area where the actual kilns were was inaccessible.
The very top floor would have been for storage presumably and was in a pretty ropey condition.
Some pictures from the neighbouring building, it was likely to contain interesting things having more obvious signs of being used by Holgran, but was completely ruined by the aforementioned grow.
A laboratory, unfortunately all manor of junk from the grow had been bulldozed into it.
Originally this would have been the boiler house with its little chimney and water tower. More recently used as a space for engineering by Holgran.
So there you go, you win some, you lose some. I guess this was somewhere in the middle.
