German Brewing

Here is a really nice summary of a classic Bavarian cold fermentation profile.

https://edelstoffquest.wordpress.com/20 ... /#comments

I think its paramount everyone doesn't glass over this sentence so I am going to say it a few times....

Modern breweries use heavily accelerated fermentation techniques. These require considerable equipment for fermentation and analysis.

Again.

Modern breweries use heavily accelerated fermentation techniques. These require considerable equipment for fermentation and analysis.

Once last time for good measure.

Modern breweries use heavily accelerated fermentation techniques. These require considerable equipment for fermentation and analysis.

They also capture CO2 to be used to carbonate once the beer is done and they begin lagering. Since we have to spunden, we cannot correctly carbonate at warm temps, as it puts too much pressure on the yeast.

This profile makes a truly world class helles.

First: I've made two LODO lagers with this profile and both turned out excellent, the results are good and proven by others as well.

But I am curious; what is the purpose and value of the initial rise from 5C to 8C and the final decline from 8C to 5C? Is this just based on tradition?

Could we simplify the schedule by fermenting the beer at 8C from start to finish? How would a beer which was fermented from start to finish at 8C compare? Has anyone tried this already?

I'm asking this because if the "8C only" beer comes out very similar then it would greatly alleviate the fermentation chamber burden. I do already own and use a BrewPi but if an "8C only" beer comes out just as well then a simple chest freezer+cheap temp controller would suffice.

Caveat: I'm still assuming the lagering process would follow.

Why not try it out yourself and report back your impressions?

You can do both a few times and compare. Just make sure that the pitch temperature is the only variable that changed.

If you really want to know in detail, then you could send a few flasks to the lab for analysis.

Nothing wrong with finding what works best for ones capabilities. I am sure there are plenty of books in english treating the subject eloquently. That's universal to all good brewing.

If you are interested in fermentation at a more detailed level, there is one work of Annemüller that is translated into English as well. It's available via the VLB Berlin (just like Kunze).

One needs to look at these texts through a different lens though. Many of the schedules are for substantially larger systems. Substantially. Not just 9-18 bbl, much larger.

So for us the classic approaches seem to fit best.

I therefore wonder why you don't want to just fall into the wisdom of times past and accept the method? Especially since you have the capabilities chilling the wort to that temperature.

If you are curious and are willing to experiment a bit, I'd certainly welcome your reporting back here and would read it with great interest

To really explain the full workings it would take someone more competent than myself. There are a few people on this forum that have a very good grasp of the nitty gritty when it comes to yeast. Some even work professionally with it.

In the end, it strongly depends on finding what one is happy with, armed with all the knowledge and tools at ones disposal.

For anyone considering this professionally I would strongly suggest proper training anyways. Handling volumes of meaningful proportions for commercial purposes is quite challenging when self taught