German Brewing

I'm currently in Baden-Wüttermburg as part of a ten-week trip through Europe. Last weekend, I attended Hoepfner Burgfest, a festival that's always held on Pentecost weekend. Entry was free, beer and food were good, and prices were quite reasonable. We tried their Doppelbock, Helles, Pils, and Porter. All were good, especially the lighter beers. The Pils has a rich, grainy malt profile and is firmly bitter but not as bitter as, say, Jever. Elsewhere, I've had their Weißbier (both hell and dunkel). The hell is excellent — their best beer in my opinion.

The tour was all in German, but the guides were kind enough to answer a few of my questions in English. I learned that they do double decoctions (with rests at 62°C and 72°C) and use open fermentations for all their beers. They said they use their own proprietary yeast but it was unclear to me whether that was for their lagers, their Weißbiers, or both.

On the tour, they served us some young (three-week lagered) Pilsner as well as some of their non-alcoholic hopped lemonade.

Unlike in Bayern, Pilsner is more common than Helles in this region. Weißbier is quite popular, though. Hoepfner's Pils and Weiß are available at most restaurants in the Karlsruhe area.

Thanks for sharing. Nice summary.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Fantastic post! Thank you for sharing. Did they offer any tips on process or recipe development?

Very cool! Thanks

Awesome summary AJ thank you for posting that if by chance you run into Stuttgart haufbrau Pilsner I know by law you can carry as much back to the United States as possible I just don't know if you live in the US or not if you do I'll pay handsomely to get some

I get a a lot of honey during the cold fermentation, and if I'm lucky it persists for the first 4-6 weeks of lagering. This is one of the VDK's, pentanedione (butanedione is diacetyl), and is a byproduct of fermentation. Oxidized honey in aged beer isn't the same, and is reminds me more of crystalized or old honey. I notice that poorly handled beers that use a lot of carahell can develop this note. Just depends on what "honey" people are talking about.

True.

Unfortunately the only way to know for sure objectively, would be to go by analysis (not economic for us).