Tolly Cobbold - Cliff Brewery revisited
Photos - 22.
Where - Ipswich, Suffolk.
Visited - February 2007.
Posted - 25 February 2007.
Categories -
urbex, brewery.
Last time I visited I found a little book about the place as we were leaving. Upon reading it, there were I saw pictures of a huge steam engine used to pump water. So a return visit was in order just to see it. I also wanted to take some better pics in the blue fermentation room.
Blue room
I think I managed to get some cool photos in here 
This is quite possibly my favourite room in my UE history.
Steam engine
It took ages to find, but we eventually found it
"The horizontal steam engine that was used to pump water from the adjacent well up to the top of the building and also to work all the brewery's machinery was built by the Ipswich firm of E.R.& F. Turner, well known as milling engineers."
Other sights
A full description of these can be found on the last report.
Obligatory Beer Pictures
It would be rude not to. I didn't get as many pics this time though.
Your Comments
View newest comments first
Posted 25 February 2007, 17:40 From Lightbuoy
Some more nice pics there buddy! Interesting facts & info too -cheers!
Lb.
Posted 12 April 2007, 00:20 From miniracer
WOW awsome pics, did it still smell of beer in there ?.
nice one.
gaz.
Posted 15 April 2007, 12:30 From DAB @ derelicte
Sort of, but the pigeon mess smell was more overwhelming
Posted 20 December 2007, 20:40 From John
These are the old yeast presses and filters used to reclaim the yeast after removal from the fermentation vats
Posted 15 June 2008, 17:00 From adrian lockwood
hi,
what brilliant beers that were produced by tolly cobbold,my favorouite being the mild. but my best experiance was a trip around the brewery by the head brewer,once at the top what a cracking view of ipswich.
i can look back on the cliff brewery with the picture i bought and my memories of the brewery trip will always be with me.
regards adrian.
Posted 29 September 2008, 10:50 From fairweather
i was assistent bar manager at tap and looked after all the cask ales in celler and also done a few tours it is great that their is a web site again i remember the bottle room when it was full of cabnets full of bottles hopefully it will be again mat
Posted 10 October 2008, 11:50 From John
I used to work for Tolly Cobbold (32 years) and as well as working in most of the departments I also did Brewery tours for around 15 years; from the angle of the photo its hard to tell, but I believe its one of the oldest fermentation vessels (FV) in the brewery. If correct this was the one that in the past was traditionally used to brew 'Old Strong' each winter. And in my opinion was the best winter ale I have tasted.
Posted 10 October 2008, 11:50 From John
This is the reason for the blue pictures; The glass in the windows has a blue tint. One side (SE) is tinted darker than the other side, this is to stop the beer being 'sun struck' in the days when all the vessels were open.Its also the reason most beers were put in dark bottles.
Posted 10 October 2008, 12:00 From John
This is what is left of the Bottle room, the cabinet on the wall is the one that contained the bottles of Tollemache & Cobbold bottled beers, tow or three of which I loaned to the brewery; I wonder what happened to them?
Posted 10 October 2008, 12:00 From John
Most people who have been on brewery tours would know that this is the old sugar desolving vessel, what most people don't see is the roof which was designed with gaps between the tiles to let the steam out when the coppers were in use. On snowy days when the wind was blowing from the wrong direction snow used to sift in through these gaps and the floor could become quite slippery at night.
Posted 11 October 2008, 20:40 From John
An inside view of one of the boiling coppers, the wort from the mash tun on the floor above was dropped into this vessel and at this stage some of the hops were added.
Leave A Comment