November 2022

On November 19 and 20, we brewed for the penultimate time in 2022, and all of our cylindrical conical fermenters (CCVs) are currently filled with beers that are now slowly maturing in them at 3 °C. At this low temperature, the beers are clarified by natural sedimentation, and only when the respective beer convinces us at the tap is it filled into pressurized barrels, where it is then matured for a further 4 weeks at 2 °C. As we do not (want to) filter, we take the time for a long maturation, which can be 6 - 12 weeks, depending on the beer, and then also results in clear beers.
 

To round off the year, this time we brewed an "Amber Spelt" and an "Amber Lager", i.e. two amber-colored beers. For the amber spelt, spelt malt (50 %) was mashed isothermally at 72 °C together with Munich malt and melanoid malt. Spelt malt is very similar to wheat malt; like wheat malt, it has no husks, but the fact that spelt malt does not have a high alpha-amylase activity compared to today's barley and wheat malts makes things more difficult. This meant that iodine normality took its time this time, and the dreaded blue brew was on the cards for a while. In the end, we ended up with an iodine-normal wort with 11.9 °P, which was only subjected to mild bitter hopping (Enigma) during boiling and fermented in the ZKG at 25 °C with WYeast 3068 (analogous to Weihenstephan W68).
For the Amber Lager, which we brewed for the last time on 21.12.2020, we mashed a mixture of Pale Ale malt, Munich malt and Melanoidin malt isothermally at 72 °C. The mash was iodine-normal after 30 minutes, and lautering was completed after another 30 minutes. We boiled with Enigma, whirlpool hopped with Hallertauer Blanc (Wethop), and in total we obtained a good 50 liters at 12.0 °P. The Blanc aroma hop results in a mild aroma with aromas of passion fruit, gooseberry, grapefruit and pineapple, which do not overpower the malty character of the beer, but rather round it off discreetly. The brew is fermented at 13 °C with Mangrove Jack's "Bohemian Lager".

Both beers are expected to be matured by the middle/end of January.

This time, we brewed around 50 liters of black beer using a mash consisting of Munich malt, Caramünch and Melanoidin malt. The color was deepened with Carafa and roasted malt beer, and mashing was - of course - carried out using the isothermal mashing process at 72 °C, for which our system with agitator was used.
After 30 minutes of mashing and around 40 minutes of lautering/post-pouring, an iodine-normal wort was obtained. We adjusted the bitterness of approx. 30 IBU with the Australian hop Enigma, supplemented by whirlpool hopping with Hallertauer Mittelfrüh. We have achieved a total of 50 liters of wort with an original gravity of around 12 °P, which is subjected to pressureless primary fermentation in a cylindrical-conical fermentation vessel at 13 °C with Lallemand Diamond Lager pitching yeast.
We expect an alcohol content of around 3% by volume. Black beers require a certain maturation period until the taste is harmonious, so it will probably not be ready to drink until mid-January 2023.

 

We are now receiving more frequent inquiries about when we can make gluten-free beers available for our beer lovers. As part of our new project on gluten-free quinoa "beers" (which can be produced and marketed as a "special beer" in Lower Saxony, among other places), we are working with partners to find a feasible solution. In this project, the focus is on ensuring that the quinoa variety selected and cultivated by the partner is free from gluten and also free from saponins, and that cultivation is also unproblematic in Lower Saxony.
In principle, however, we could also deglutenize a normally brewed beer with an enzyme, but one of our testers, who suffers from coeliac disease, told us that she does not always tolerate commercially deglutenized beers. It is therefore quite possible that the gluten content in such a beer is below the detection limit, but still results in intolerance. Quinoa is a priori gluten-free, so such problems cannot occur.
We have therefore decided to experiment with organic rice syrup. Rice syrup itself is gluten-free, but only has a low intrinsic aroma, which is why we are initially brewing in the NEIPA direction. Specifically, we dissolved rice syrup in water and boiled it for 60 minutes with Enigma, the bitterness should be a maximum of 20 IBU, and we set the original wort at 11.5 °P. For a fruity, aromatic taste, we used the new hop product "Spectrum" from BarthHaas for dry hopping during fermentation. The brew is fermented without pressure with Lallemand BRY-97 in the presence of beta-glucosidase, which is intended to deepen the fruity aroma.
The main aim of this experiment was to find out whether a tasty NEIPA can be achieved with simple ingredients, even if rice syrup and "Spectrum" can certainly not be described as simple in terms of cost. Such top-fermented beers need about 4 weeks until they are ready to drink, which is why we will probably be able to assess the result this year. We will also have the gluten content determined, even if all the ingredients should be gluten-free.

As part of our activities , we are continuing to develop isothermal mashing at 72 - 76 °C step by step. Our main objectives are to significantly reduce the alcohol content of the beers without affecting the taste and to shorten the entire brewing process. Our current status is that isothermal mashing between 72 and 76 °C requires no longer than 30 minutes, although we have already carried out initial mashing trials with only 15 minutes. The secondary saccharification takes place during lautering, and so far we have not had any blue brew to complain about. A complete brew only takes around 3 hours from mashing in to striking out, although a reduction to 2 hours is even conceivable as a "brewing extreme" - we are working on this.

Large breweries generally work with a "high-short mashing process", although details are not communicated. Ultimately, this is a shortened so-called infusion process, in which the protease branch at 50 - 55 °C is skipped. With today's enzyme-rich barley malts, this is possible because the majority of the proteins have already been broken down during malting in the malting plant, meaning that sufficient amino acids can be transferred to the wort even without the protease.
This mashing process can be roughly summarized as follows: Malt is mashed at 63 - 65 °C, followed by a maltose rest at 60 - 65 °C for up to 60 minutes. During this period, beta-amylase is predominantly active, which breaks down maltose from the starch molecules. This is followed by a further saccharification rest at 72 °C. At this temperature, alpha-amylase is active, which breaks down starch that has not yet been split. Compared to beta-amylase, this enzyme causes an enrichment with higher non-fermentable sugars; this rest lasts up to 60 minutes, after which mashing takes place at 78 °C. Breweries choose 78 °C as the mashing temperature because the viscosity of the wort drops slightly and all enzymes should be denatured at this temperature. At least alpha-amylase still has significant enzymatic activity at 78 °C, which can lead to the breakdown of starch that has not yet been saccharified. We lauter at 72 - 76 °C.

 

In this context and to round off previous results, we carried out a total of 3 trials in the "Braumeister 10" systems. In each case, 2 kg of Pale Ale malt was mashed at 65 °C in 12 liters of water. The temperature quickly drops to 62 °C and is kept constant for 30 minutes. It is then heated to 72 °C, which takes about 10 minutes, the mash is then kept at 72 °C for 30 minutes, followed by mashing off. The experiments were designed in such a way that we only collected the front wort, i.e. there was no rinsing with water, as this could distort the results.
Samples were taken at certain points in time to be analyzed in the laboratory for sugar distribution, free amino nitrogen and viscosity. The total of 30 liters of wort were boiled together and only subjected to bitter hopping. Fermentation was carried out with the maltotriose-negative yeast "Empire Ale" from Mangrove Jack's. Previous trials with fore wort beers and this yeast have shown that even draught beers with only 8.5 °P are very drinkable.

 

As part of our new project funded by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food, we brewed with unmalted quinoa. We can't go into details, but we have made the first attempt to brew a "quinoa pilsner". We'll find out how close we come to a real pilsner before Christmas.
In Lower Saxony and most other German states, it is possible to market such fermented beverages as "special beer". Our quinoa IPA, which we brewed in July 2021 as part of preliminary trials, was not recognized as quinoa-based in any tasting. One taster would have literally bet the house and home that it was a "real IPA". But we are even more pleased that this quinoa IPA was tolerated by 2 people suffering from coeliac disease without any complications. Quinoa is gluten-free, so unlike commercial de-glutenized beers, it does not even need to be removed from this special beer.