Choose your country or region
- Europe
- Spain
- Catalonia
- Portugal
- United Kingdom
- International Version
Rice fields
Harvest time in the Delta
12:13 — A whole year’s work. Sowing, flowering, and constant monitoring to ensure that everything is going to plan. All this is culminating right now in the Delta del Ebro, as it is time for the harvest. The huge harvesting machines run from end to end of the countless fields in this area, in what is a slow but constant process that takes all day, as we gather the cereal that creates one of the ingredients of our beer. “This harvest is very intense and condensed,” says J. Casanova, a local agricultural technician and the person responsible for controlling the process. “In 25 days we have gathered more than 90% of the harvest thanks to the weather: it’s been warm and the humidity has been low, so we’ve been able to work from first thing in the morning right up until the last moments of the day,” he says. The outcome? A generous harvest of even greater quality than last year’s. This season there has not been any issues with pyricularia (a type of fungus that affects rice) which forced us to discard part of the harvest last year. As soon as the harvesters finish their work, we must transport the rice to the cooperative, dry it in the sun if necessary and, lastly, begin the puddling process in the fields: burying the straw stubble and leaving them flooded for the winter. And thus, the rice cycle begins for another year.
“In 25 days we have gathered more than 90% of the harvest thanks to the weather”
J. Casanova
Damm Factory
Much more than just capping
16:25 — Every operation that we carry out at the factory is essential, but if there is one that is especially delicate, it is capping. This is the moment when a full bottle of beer is sealed until it is ready to be consumed, so it must be done well to prevent any foreign agents—starting with the air itself—from entering, as this could oxidise the beer and damage its qualities. This is why every step of the process is precisely measured down to the millimetre. D. Sancho, the head of the packaging division, highlighted a vital moment in this process: “Right before we cap the bottles, we inject pressurised hot water to create a layer of foam and displace the air within the bottle, while measuring the force and the time so no beer is lost,” he explains. Then, the bottle cap is secured with the right amount of force to ensure that it stays in place without damaging the mouth of the bottle. But the operation doesn’t end there: “Due to the importance of this process, after securing the cap we run up to six quality control procedures to ensure that the capping went flawlessly.”
“Right before we cap the bottles, we inject pressurised hot water to displace the air”
D. Sancho
