German craft beer

Okay, I read this and it makes some sense, but it leads to other questions.

If I were to carbonate my beer with CO2 produced during fermentation, would then using purchased CO2 to serve it undo that over time? As far as homebrewing goes, and kegging, how would one capture the CO2? I guess you could use a spunding valve to carbonate the beer but the serving problem would still be an issue.

 

Bayerische Anstich is the method you saw at Schlenkerla and Mahr's -- namely serving by gravity from the keg, so no extra CO2 is needed...just a strong thirst, since you need to finish the entire keg fairly quickly after tapping!

EDIT: Is it still called Bayerische Anstich when beer is served from the wooden keg in places like Malzmuehle and Uerige? Can't imagine they'd tolerate such a thing....

 

Fortunately, my beer lasts quite a bit longer than an evening.

 

Jerry, do you have the ability to serve your homebrewed beer via gravity?

Cheers!

 

This conversation just gave me an idea. My first ever homebrew was a UK Bitter (Maris Otter and EKG) that I put into 5-liter party kegs and lightly primed with corn sugar -- at the time I thought it tasted a lot like a cask ale.

I may now do the same thing with my Franconian Kellerbier (floor-malted Bohemian dark malt and Spalt hops), but instead of adding any priming sugar, Krausen it with some extra wort for natural carbonation.

Will definitely do a pilot 5-gal batch before scaling up. Prost!

 

I could but that pretty much means the beer has to be drank in short order.

 

Be sure to post your results.

 

Interesting question. I'm afraid that I don't know the answer.

 

That probably depends on how long it lasts in the keg. When I was home-brewing, and kept a small keg in the fridge, I don't remember any of that carbonic bite on my beers for a long time, if ever. I was just adding enough CO2 to keep pressure for serving so it didn't impregnate the beer as much as forced carbonation.

My friends and I always added the priming agent right into the kegs.

That would work too, and serving is just a matter of being careful. If you let the beer settle down and all the yeast falls to the concave bottom of your keg, you should get a lot of clear glasses before it starts sucking up the muck.

 

It looks like the best way is to use a Smiley Face Mylar balloon, a homemade pump, and a 5-liter party keg.

http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/carbonation/CapturingCo2.htm

Now that's what I call "innovation" in brewing!

 

The CO2 captured from fermentation is allowed, as it is from the beer.

At Sierra Nevada they Capture the CO2, remove the esters and alcohol vapors (that is condensed and used for fuel), and compress the CO2 for use in the brewery. The unit looks like this.
http://www.haffmans.nl/EngineeredProduct_P_CO2_Recovery_Plants.aspx

Edit - the link shows the yellow balloon that captures CO2 before it is processed. No smiley face though.

 

Ha! Nice. So at least we can all agree that, regardless of the balloon used, it should definitely be yellow.

 

I don't think that would fit in my house. But I'm launching a kickstarter to buy one.

 

I was reading a chapter about beer from a Swedish encyclopedia from 1894 online just now and came across this brief description of lager beer styles

The sources listed at the end of the chapter are Die Theorie und Praxis der Malzbereitung und Bierfabrikation by Julius E Thausing (4th edition, published in 1894), a communique of sorts from the Carlsberg laboratories and a monthly news letter from the Swedish brewing association.

This is the first time I've heard about post-boil hop additions for lager beer in the pre-extract era and so I was quite surprised to see such a thing being mentioned, and this thread immediately came to mind. It would seem logical that the part about beer styles, along with the lenghtier part about beer manufacturing in the chapter, is taken from the German book listed. It would certainly be interesting if one could get ahold of it and see if indeed it references such hopping methods for Bohemian style pilsner. I realize that you are talking about a Helles lager beer, although with the style being influenced by the Bohemian style, one wonders whether dry hopping was in fact also used by the Bavarian brewers in the beginning, or if they stuck to only adding hops in the boil for their take on pale lager beer.

I don't put this out there as proof of anything, but I thought it was an interesting enough anecdote to put out there and perhaps hear if anyone else has come across similar references.

I noticed when googling that Ron Pattinson had used the book as a source for at least one blog post although an older edition from 1882. I wonder if he came across any information to the effect of what's suggested in the Swedish encylopedia.

 

*insert incoherent swearing*

 

There's a new article about the Camba Bavaria Tap House in Munich on sueddeutsche.de.
Another attempt at trying to explain to normal folks what the heck is going on and why. See the comments at the bottom, they're hilarious!

 

Following the 2-day pop-up-bar by Mikkeller recently, another article on micro brewers in Berlin on Spiegel Online.

 

Okay, I've got to revisit my statement from earlier that the Camba Taphouse was pretty much locals only.
Last saturday the place was packed with Americans Not necessarily the "Tourie" type!!
But a lot of "Heffweeezn" were ordered. I tried the Urban Chestnut Zwickel - damn. Lucky people who live near Urban Chestnut brewing. I think that's the best lager beer from the USA I ever had.
Also had the dry-hopped Pilsner by Camba (Paragraph 14), quite lovely as well. And an Italian Rauchbier. Lovely stuff!
Cheers

 

For those of you who are German ‘challenged’ (like me) below is an on-line translation:

“PILS leader Krombacher expanded its product range to a more variety. Krombacher Hell starts on February 3. A weak this Lager with the Siegerland want to cut out a part of the growing market of Bavarian light beers (Augustinian etc.).”

So, Krombacher will start making a Helles to compete with Bavarian breweries? That should be ‘interesting’, I suppose?

Prost!