Welcome to German Brewing

[Brandon]

Welcome!

This forum is dedicated to German beer brewing, beer culture and German culture in general. Beer is such an integral part of German culture that anything goes. For discussion of brewing questions, recipes, ingredients and ideas on process and technique. Please tell us your stories about Germany, German beer reviews and travel adventures.

Our parent site is and we also have a Facebook page at .

We decided to move to this forum to make information more accessible to a wider audience and help preserve the valuable technical discussion that has occurred in Facebook.

[KaiserRidge]

Aloha from Hawai`i. I'm a 72 year old retired High School Teacher. Besides brewing beer I hike twice a week and bowl 3 times a week.

I've been living in Hawai`i on the island of O`ahu for the past 50 years after being sent here from Brooklyn by the U. S. Navy. I had 3 years of shore duty living off base and surfing or hunting wild pigs when not on base working. After that how could I re-up and live out of a tiny locker on a ship?? LOL

My father was born in Bavaria 105 years ago and left in 1930 to get away from Hitler.

I've been home brewing for about 3 or 4 years now. I do small 1.9 gallon batches using the BIAB method. I like to have a choice of lots of brews to drink and doing it this way I have a fridge full of different brews. Until 2 months ago I only did ales. I have since largered on Schwarzbier which is now conditioning in it's second week after being bottled.

I'm not crazy about light colored largers, I prefer a beer w/more flavor. I brew mostly IPA's, Stouts and Porters. Because of my German father I try to make American or British ales using German ingredients if I can get them.

I do a GERMAN IPA using mostly Munich malt and Magnum hops. Last year I did a GERMAN IMPERIAL STOUT the same way. I use to use Safale K-97 dry yeast but no one sells it any more. So I'm look for a sub.

Living here in PARADISE there is a drawback. It's called SHIPPING CHARGES. Most home brew shops on the mainland charge an arm and a leg to get stuff here using UPS. Hard to get them to use USPS Priority Mail for some reason.

We have one LHBS here on O`ahu and everythng there is expensive. For example 2 Row is $1.70/lb EVERYTHING ELSE is $3.00/lb. the one good thing I can say is the guy has a great selection of grains and you only buy what you need. So for some of my small batches if I need something like 0.3 oz of some dark grain that's all I get. We can measure and grind (if we want to) our requirements.

Hope to learn some German Styles that I don't know about. I'm thinking about an Ocktoberfest for next year and bought an import to try if I like it.

[Brandon]

Hi KaiserRidge, welcome! haha, those prices aren't far off of what some of the places around here charge. Regarding Oktoberfest, Festbier is another option. A lighter, more 'modern' version of an Oktoberfest, but still rich and malty. Sometimes like a strong Helles, or a mellower Marzen, but very delicious and quite popular these days.

Welcome to the group!

[Julls]

Hey everyone, it's Julian. You can call me Julls though, no one calls me by my first name. I can't wait to see where this forum goes.

[MaxStout]

Hello all!

I want to introduce myself--I just popped over from HBT. I've been brewing for about 3 years, and have brewed a few lagers the past year, now that I have a ferm chamber. I live in the north 'burbs of Minneapolis, and do BIAB. I'm looking forward to seeing this forum grow.

I have traveled to Germany several times over the years, and most definitely have a taste for the beer.

Prost!

[Brandon]

Hey Max! And Julian....dude! Welcome to the forum. Curious to see, too, where this goes. We started off in Facebook and have a wonderful, wonderful group there! But we want to reach more people and preach the German Bier!

Max, there are folks on here from the burbs of Minneapolis, you're in good company! And with good fermentation control, you're ready to go!

[Kranz]

Hi there. My name is Chris. Homebrewing since 1994. Started brewing Pilsners on a regular basis 2 years ago. Some were good, some were, well, not so good. Helles is my favourite style at the moment. I would like to try a Marzen soon. I live 1 1/2 hrs from Toronto, so online HB shopping only. There are a lot of really good HB stores around Toronto so getting ingredients for brewing lagers isn't a problem like it used to be. I do brew the odd Kolsch which I enjoy as much as Pilsners. Looking forward to learning more about brewing Pilsners from this forum.

Cheers,

Chris ( Kranz )

[unionrdr]

My father's side is from Upper Bavaria, having landed in Philly in 1728 & 1734 on a "pink" named the " John & William". We had a mountain in corley, WV baring our surname & owned what is now 3 counties of surrounding land. Wish they'd have saved some for me. I cut teeth on grandma's corn liquor, so fermenting, etc runs in my family with wine & such. I've been brewing for over 4 years, having made wine since I was 15. I like researching & brewing rare or extinct beers. Like Burton ales, they're fun. I've also got some recipes I hammered out for the rare German dampfbier, & the extinct E German kottbusser. Traced the latter back to about 1500AD. I prefer to use as many German malts as I can in these beers. Since I do pb/pm biab, it's been easier to get German flavors. I just can't get Weyermann LME's over here,. The rest, in malted grain form, is easier. I also feel that yeast, like WL029 kolsch, is closer, possibly derived from the dual=purpose yeast of old that made a lager or ale, depending on the temperatures involved. It seems they were some mix of yeasts back then, not being able to produce purer strains like today. The reason I believe this is that WL029 ferments in a " sweet spot" of 65-69F, where ale yeast are happy. It gives lager-like balance & that bit of crispness on the back. So I used them in the dampfbier & kottbusser. I'd like to get deeper into German beers, as they have flavors & a balance all their own!

[Loopie Beer]

Josh here, probably recognize the Loopie name from NB forum. I enjoy brewing lagers as they are the ultimate challenge, especially the lighter they get. Hope to be able to share as well as learn.

My family is also from Bavaria as my last name translates to "bird." If you look hard enough you can figure it out...

[Roachbrau]