Germany has been famous for various historical as well as political events. But, the cultural sphere of the country is equally renowned. German Beer is the pride of that very German culture. The country ranks third when it comes to pre-capita beer consumption. There are over 1,300 breweries in Germany where 5,000 brands of beers are produced.
German Beer is consumed in massive amounts during Oktoberfest. In the year 2007, almost 7 million litres of beer was consumed during the 16-day festival. It is also enjoyed by majority of the Germans during various other festivals such as The Freimarkt, The Volksfest, The Cannstatter Volksfest, and many more.
Composition
Purity Decree (also known as Reinheitsgebot) is a German Beer Purity Law; that concerns itself with the production of German Beer. The law initially states that water, barley, hops and yeast are the only ingredients that can be used for the production of Beer in Germany. Different beers require a different amount of malt and hops.
German Beer can be brewed in a number of styles. One of those styles is Wheat beers. Weizenbier is the standard name of Wheat Beer in Germany. Wheat Beers can be a strong beer, or a pale one as well as a dark one. They are sour in taste. These beers are filtered as well as unfiltered.
- Weizenbock is a strong beer made from wheat.
- Roggenbier is a dark beer. It includes rye and has a grainy flavour similar to bread’s.
- Berliner Weisse is a pale sour beer.
- Leipziger Gose is a mildly sour beer. Salt is added as an ingredient during the brewing process.
- Hefeweizen is an unfiltered beer, whose main ingredient is Yeast.
- Kristallweizen is a filtered beer as opposed to Hefeweizen and has a comparatively bright
The Pale Beers are lager, hopped beers. They can be brewed sweet as well as bitter depending upon the needs of the drinker.
- Altbier is a fermented lager beer. This beer can be mildly bitter to somewhat hoppy to extremely sharp.
- Export is pale lager beer. It was one of the most popular beer in the 1950s and 1960s.
- Pilsener is again a pale lager beer with a particularly hoppy character.
Dark beers are mostly sweet-bitter beers.
- Bock is a bitter-sweet lager. Malts are used to darken the beer.
- Doppelbock is similar to Bock, just darker in taste.
- Schwarzbier is a beer which has a roasty, chocolaty taste.
The Alcohol-by-volume (ABV content) in German Beers is between the range of 4.7% to 5.4%. Dark beers such as Bockbier and Doppelbock usually have ABV content of approximately 16%.
There are as many types of German beers as there are stars in the night sky. There is a different way to brew each one of them. But, they are all brewed with the same ingredients, with a similar procedure.
Recipe:
The following recipe is for Altbier (also known as German Ale). It is fermented at low temperature and later cold conditioned like a lager.
INGREDIENTS
- Caramunich Malt- 12oz/336 grams
- Chocolate Malt- 04oz/112grams
- Black Patent Malt- 04oz/112grams
- Malt extract
- Munich Liquid- 4lbs/1.8 kg
- Pale Liquid Malt Extract- 2lbs/0.9 kg
- Wheat Liquid Malt Extract- 1lbs/0.45 kg
- Perle Hops- 1oz/28 grams
- Spalt Hops- 1oz/28 grams
- Irish Moss- 1tbsp
- Whirlfloc tablet
- WYeast1007/White Labs WLP029/White Labs WLP036
Preparation:
Take a grain bag and fill it with grains. Steep the bag in water at 155degreesF/68 degrees for 15 minutes.
The next step is to take the bag out of the water. Let it drain completely. Once drained, remove all the grains from the grain bag.
Add the extracts in boiling water. Stir until they are completely dissolved. Add Perle hops to it.
Add ½ oz Spalt hops 45 minutes later for flavour with Irish moss. Add the same amount of Spalt hops once more after 55 minutes for good aroma.
Various types of Yeast will give different results. For instance, Wyeast 1007 will ferment at low temperature (13 degrees), White Labs WLP029 brings out the hop flavour. WLP036 will give your beer a sweet finish with less amount of hop flavour.
Cold condition the beer for 3-6 weeks once the primary fermentation is complete.
Bottle it with a goal of medium carbonation and savour the taste.
Depending upon the kind of beer you plan to serve, you can choose your drinkware. Use a Weizen glass to serve Weizenbier. A Becher can be used to serve Altbier. A stange is popularly used to serve Kolsch beer. People from all parts of the world enjoy this drink and there’s no doubt that you would love it, too. So, go ahead and enjoy the German Beer with your family and friends.