Introduction to German Beer

Jeff, during my visit to Prague/Czech Republic in 2019 I toured a number of breweries (Staropramen, Pilsner Urquell, Únětický pivovar). During the tour of Pilsner Urquell they take you down into the cellars where they still brew the old way in wood (open fermentation, lagering in pitch lined wood barrels). Below are photos of the wood open fermenter and wood lagering barrel):





During the tour they emphasize that the reason why they still brew the old way is for QC/comparison purposes - to ensure that the beers coming out of the production brewery (closed stainless steel tanks) taste the same as the cellar brewed beers. Well, that is the stated claim.

Needless to say but as can be seen in the above photo of the wood fermenter the aspect ratio of width to height is not too far away from 1:1. Plenty of surface area there.

During the tour of Únětický pivovar you can see the open fermenters:



In this case the fermenters are stainless steel but as can be seen the aspect ratio is fairly similar to that of the open wood fermenters at Pilsner Urquell. At this brewery they lager in vertical stainless steel tanks:



The young fellow in the plaid shirt was the tour guide (and also assistant brewer). After the tour he was kind enough to pour me a glass of their 10 degree Pale Lager directly from the lagering tank; it was quite the treat.

You made mention of "In traditional open lager fermentation, yeast is harvested as it would be in ale fermentations, but is only allowed to ferment to about 60% attentuation or so...". There was not specific mention of this during any of the Czech brewery tours. I wish I was cognizant of this aspect so I could have discussed this topic with the assistant brewer at Únětický pivovar. He was a nice felllow and he patiently responded to all of my numerous brewing questions.

You stated "I have never worked with open fermenters". Was installing open fermenters ever a consideration for you at La Cumbra? Within the context of lagers, would you desire the increased esters that open fermentation in short, wide open fermenters would provide or is the decreased esters of fermenting in a closed tank (under pressure) 'better' for your lagers?

You can read more about my Prague/Czech Republic visit here:

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Czech_Beers

Cheers!

 

Ah sorry, Notch. Chris Lohring is the owner/brewer there.

Right now just Salem, MA. But their Brighton location should be opening soon. This would be close to Deep Ellum, which is a bar I believe you are familiar with. I seem to remember you saying they take care of a firkin properly which was the draw for you.

Unfortunately Deep Ellum is gone and is now just Lone Star Tacos. Good place too though, killer tacos and usually a good draft list.

 

One more comment/question:

For a commercial brewery would this 'technique' have the benefit of reducing the duration of the lagering phase? They could get the lager 'out the door' in a more timely manner?

Cheers!

 

Yvan designed those himself with pressure being the main driver of design. But he probably told you the whole story.

 

There is so much rhetoric that revolves around the purity law, that I frankly gave up trying to separate current fact from fiction. When it comes to societal things that brewers use in their propaganda to communicate their identity as brewers... the Reinheitsgebot is the king. So take this with a grain of salt - but I believe you are more or less correct in that its current impact is essentially about what products can be called "beer." How much this then impacts business realities like taxation and getting to market is another story (that I know nothing about). But regardless of all of that, the purity law wouldn't prevent your average "fruity American [style] IPA" from being sold as "beer."

 

I haven’t found a domestic Hefe that I’ve liked, most are just strange combinations of flavors, my least favorite is the bubblegum beers, then the smelly socks beers. Not one that I’ve had can even call themselves a Hefe as long as Weihenstephaner is making beers. It’s alone at the top imo, and I’m more flexible with dating here because they are so good and seem to be very stable.

 

Trust me, they're out there -- many even use the Weihenstephaner yeast (Gordon Biersch, for one).

Oh, and sorry to point out, but that bubblegum character is a common flavor in Bavarian Weizen yeast.

Smelly socks is probably your interpretation of sulfur or DMS. Don't ever travel to Cologne to drink Kolsch, I hear the very freshest Kolsch have a big sulfur nose.

 

@erway - Let me also add: That was a great post you made. Please visit here more frequently.

 

Like Biersch Czech Pils, never had their Hefe, next time to Myrtle Beach if it’s there I’ll have one. I’ve never had an off Weinenstephaner , every last one has been stellar, easily my favorite German beer. There’s some beers that use wheat and it doesn’t work for me, but some do. I don’t like the sweaty socks thing, or the bubblegum. So it’s not a component thing, it’s a brewers skill thing I think, or a house profile.

 

I and several La Cumbre colleagues as well as some other industry friends were scheduled to fly into Prague on 5/2/20...
Hopefully this fall...

In any case, I did not consider open fermentation because I really couldn't afford the added cost early on and I had far less knowledge of there uses. From the get go, Elevated has been over 50% of our production, and quite simply CCVTs are just a better vehicle for brewing with American ale yeasts and dry hopping. I would love to have it for our hefe, but we brew 90 bbls of that every other week... not convenient for open fermentation, and really, there just isn't space for that and the requisite flash pasteurization I would want for packaged hefe.

If we are to ever build a pilot brewing facility, something maybe 10 bbls, I will be installing open fermentation rooms for lagers and ales. I would like a 4 vessel brewhouse similar to what you see in smaller Bavarian breweries with a comby mash/mash kettle/kettle, a lauter, a whirlpool and a float tank.

I honestly have never noticed increased esters from the lagers that I have tried that were fermented in open fermenters. Not sure if the surface:volume effects lager yeast in the same way.

 

Possibly? There are differing schools of thought about lagering times but just about every dedicated lager brewer that I know of does some kind of tank conditioning.

On one end are Bill and Ashley at Bierstadt and they simply don't serve lagers younger than 8 weeks (I think, don't quote me) and I absolutely love their dedication to the old way of doing things and the resulting beers are sublime.

On the other end is Florian and his crew at Urban Chestnut where they are regularly turning lagers in 3 weeks. These beers are void of H2S, but the SO2 levels really let you know you are drinking lager, and the beers are incredibly clean and fresh tasting.

In the large Bavarian breweries, most won't tell you anything about their production, but CCVTs are the norm and they have written the book on how to speed up the process, so one would presume... I have heard of plenty of smaller breweries ranging from as little as 4 weeks to as much as 10. They're all over the place.

 

Done and done!

 

The finances are a big concern. Many are just barely getting by.

The younger generation are usually trained brewers and would use CCVs. They were probably trained on those in brewing school.

 

To be clear, and covering my own ass, I'm speaking of the GB production brewery in California. I can't speak for their franchised brew-pubs.

 

Ah, yes forgot about that part. The Brew Pub in Myrtle Beach is excellent, nice beers, good food, really reasonable prices.

 

Weedy (@honkey) of Tombstone Brewing discussed open fermentation during his studies at Doemen's - I presumed for lagers. In post #168.

"Funnily enough, I mostly visited large breweries in Germany and yes, they were all CCV, closed fermenters. We did open fermentation at Doemen's and I personally wasn't a fan of the ester profile."

Cheers!

 

I would assume there are a number of variables that will influence things. Some examples (but not comprehensive):

• Which lager yeast strain was used
• Which 'configuration' of lagering tank is used (e.g., horizontal vs. vertical).
• Level of sulfur compounds desired; personally I enjoy some S02 (struck match) on the nose
• Type of lager (Doppelbock, Pilsner, Helles,...)
• etc.

Cheers!

 

Jack, there are plenty of online images of open fermenters at Augustiner Salzburg (different from Augustiner Munich). That Bier was one of the best I've had.

As far as open fermentation of lagers goes the best answer is "it depends".