German Wheat Beer by Eric Warner

Author:Eric Warner [Warner, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: CKB007000 Cooking / Beverages / Beer
ISBN: 978-1-938469-33-6
Publisher: Brewers Publications
Published: 2016-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

A brewer prepares to crop yeast from an open fermenter. The traditional method of skimming Weissbier yeast from the surface of the fermenting beer is still widely practiced in Germany.

In this brewery, the beer is still handmade: trub is separated from Weissbier wort with a “trubsack.”

After the young beer reaches final gravity, it can be handled in a variety of ways. Many brewers choose to lager the beer between five and 28 days at cooler temperatures before it is primed and bottled. The beer will be clearer, particularly at lower temperatures, if it is allowed to settle in an intermediary holding tank. In Germany isinglass may be used to aid the clarification of top-fermenting beers, but only in such a conditioning tank. It may not be used to clarify the beer once it has been packaged; i.e., used for bottle conditioning. This settling period will also benefit the bouquet and flavor of the beer because it is still slightly active and unwanted volatile substances can be driven from it. The cooler the temperature, the better. Best results are obtained when the temperature in the conditioning tank is between 39 and 46 degrees F (4 and 8 degrees C).

Weissbier brewed in the classic fashion is allowed to ferment to the point of terminal gravity, and then is primed and bottle conditioned. To obtain the desired CO2 concentration and mature flavor and aroma in the bottled beer, a predetermined amount of Speise is mixed with the young beer just prior to bottling. This procedure is much simpler than allowing the beer to ferment until a precalculated amount of residual extract remains in solution for carbonation purposes. Given how fast a Weissbier can ferment, the desired degree of fermentation maybe reached in the middle of the night when bottling is impossible.

Many breweries filter the young beer prior to adding the Spiese. Filtering is essential if the beer has not been held in a storage/conditioning tank after the primary fermentation, or if the settling/conditioning time has been short. Even though some yeast is necessary for bottle conditioning, if the yeast cell count is too high the finished beer will be cloudy and will have an undesirable, yeasty-bitter taste. Although many breweries centrifuge the young beer to reduce the yeast count, filtration is an attractive option because it removes all the yeast from the young beer. The amount of yeast needed for bottle conditioning then can be dosed exactly, thus enabling the brewmaster to more precisely define and monitor the course of the secondary fermentation. Another benefit of completely removing the top-fermenting yeast from the young beer is that the brewery can have only lager yeast in the bottle for conditioning. The advantages of using bottom-fermenting yeast to bottle condition Weissbier will be seen shortly.

Even if the young beer is to be filtered, preclarifying the beer in a settling or conditioning tank is desirable. The fewer yeast cells in the beer, the less particulate matter there is to clog the filter, which allows the filtration process to run longer before the pressure build-up brings it to a halt.

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