Pint sized

The Isle of Purbeck brewery is run by Jack Lightbown. He set up the drinks plant four years ago in a barn next to the Bankes Arms in Studland - his father's pub.

The tiny brewery produces a "ten barrel brew" - that's 360 gallons, or 2,880 pints.

Jack, 34 and his staff brew five times a week at busy times. It starts with "the mash". Different types of hand-malted barley from Devon are cracked in the milling machine. The blend of malts helps determine the strength and flavour of the beer. "We use a variety," Jack says. "Maris Otter is a pale ale malt used in our Fossil Fuel best bitter. We use a wheat and lager malt in Solar Power."

The cracked malt passes through a hopper and into the mash tun - a stainless steel vessel 4ft high by 5ft wide.

Now the all-important sparging begins. The grain is soaked in water at a carefully controlled temperature. The mash temperature is critical and variations can affect the strength of the beer. "Boiling the grain extracts all the goodies - sugars and proteins, for example," explains Jack.

The extract, or wort, is siphoned over a leisurely two hours from the mash tun into the brew kettle. As kettles go, this one is impressive at nearly 7ft high and requires a stepladder to inspect inside.

Different blends of hops are added to the boiling wort at carefully timed intervals to give the beer its flavour and aroma. Hops from the Hallertau region of Bavaria are left long in the boil for Jack's Solar Power beer, the name derived from its golden colour.

But it gets complicated again. Seasonal variations effect the taste and smell of the hops. This gives Jack an extra challenge. His customers expect their second pint to taste like the first. "Hops are given an alpha strength rating and we adapt our recipe to produce a consistent flavour," he says.

The flavoured wort is cooled in a heat exchanger and piped to the giant fermentation vessel, which towers over the brewery floor like a stationary Cyberman. Yeast is added to the wort, and oxygen added to activate the yeast. Readings are taken twice daily during the week-long ferment to ensure the beer is brewed to the correct gravity.

Once fermented, the brew is placed in cold storage for a week. Chilling is especially important for Jack's new lager. Purbex is a premium lager brewed in the Bavarian Pilsener style. But any similarities between Purbex and supermarket lager ends there. "The big breweries carbonate their lager with pasteurisation and chemicals. We use a carbonation stone and chill the lager for longer, and at a lower temperature, than our ales," said Jack.

Jack believes the time has come for small scale brewing. "Microbreweries are back without doubt. People are putting their trust in what we do," he says. He may be right. All tickets to the Poole beer festival have been sold and Jack has loyal customers across the county.

Steve Wilson, the licensee of the Bermuda Triangle in Ashley Cross has been serving Jack's beer "since he started brewing".

"We keep all his beers. They don't last long very long in this place. The Solar Power looks like a lager and is popular with customers who like a lighter coloured beer," said Steve.

The hands-on craftsmanship ends with the cleaning of the barrels. Each one is washed by hand and inspected with a pendulum light that wouldn't look out of place in a doctor's surgery.

But it's in the little things where microbreweries like Jack's are able to gain an edge on their bigger and more heavily funded rivals. The best things come in small packages, after all.