Bob Brewer, Anchor’s resident expert on beer & brewing, takes a behind-the-scenes look at the craft brewing process and the terminology used in the Anchor brewhouse.

“Salad shooter” is an Anchor-specific term affectionately given to the device that moves the spent hops from the hop separator to the spent grains silo.

The exterior of the hop separator (center) and the salad shooter (right).

The salad shooter at work.

In our ongoing tradition of recycling all of our brewing byproducts, we pass on our spent hops, along with the spent grains, to a dairy farmer for cattle feed.  To move the hops from the separator, we use an auger and compressed air to “shoot” them up the pipe into the silo.  Hence the name, “salad shooter.”

Spent hops and grains are transferred from the spent grains silo for transportation to a local dairy farm.