German Brewing

Hi all,
As I mentioned yesterday, i was able to speak for a short while with Prof Narziss and one of the Weihenstephan students at Braukunst Live.
I was able to pass the questions from Bryan but not the ones from Abbey. I got the email of the student, Alex Bock, so I will pass the questions from Abbey and others every two weeks. I do not want to overwhelm him, so will send little at a time and see if he is ok with helping us out.

Ref Bryan's questions on recipe for Weihenstephaner Original, the Weihenstephan student said that his understanding is that the color adjustment of the Helles is just with Carahell at about 8%, in other words, Pils 92% and Carahell 8%. Yes, I think it is too high, but we have tried so many things, why not this one. For Weizen, it is about 3% Carahell, and the rest Wheat and Pils in a 60/40 ratio (take a bit of both to enter the 3%). Both Weihenstephan and an excellent new weissbier brewery, Mathässerbräu were animate to state that the key to weissbier is open fermentation.

I asked Narziss about mash pH and the discrepancy with Künze. Narziss said that 5.4 is a compromise and what they prefer. At 5.4, per Narziss one gets better alpha amylase activity, more foam positive proteins, higher FAN concentration, and faster lautering (but he said that the difference with 5.2 is likely to be small). He also mentions that with munich malt, it is better to do a short protein rest to ensure there is enough FAN during the fermentation.

A lot of work coming up this next week, so I will be MIA.

Cheers

That's awesome Lupulus, thanks. WO is awesome, one of my favorites. Once I did try a Helles with 10% carahell, was too sweet honey like for me but I also only hopped it to 15 or 16 IBU. Maybe that 8% is ok at a higher 20 IBU of WO and balances out the sweetness?

Maybe next ask him about the hopping schedule of WO?

Any chance that is reversed? 3% CH for helles, 8% for weizen?

Why not just ask him straight up about sulfites? Are they simply considered a salt per the RHG? What instruction is given on them at Weihenstephan? Do they use them anywhere in the brewery, e.g., treating raw water or flushing transfer lines? Do they generate them through source waters? Do they monitor levels post-fermentation? Are they a viable alternative to expensive systems for homebrewers and small craft breweries?

I wonder about filtration, though. It strips some flavor so maybe they have to overload a bit to take that into account. 8% carahell might taste about right post-filtration, but may be too sweet for us if we don't filter.

That aside, I wonder what color their pilsner malt is kilned to

I believe that at their scale 8% cara may not be to much. Remember there efficiency is through the roof and as homebrewer's not so much. I have heard of other big breweries talk of having to raise their specialty malts drastically when moving to a new bigger system.
I feel like flavor extraction my not be very linear with efficiency.

Yeah, I'd love to know their pima spec. May have to start calling it hema (helles malt).

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