German Lager

German Lager



German Lager

Introduction

Since early times beer has played an important role in our society. It brings people together in local pubs and breweries generating camaraderie within communities. As technology has progressed, brewing techniques have been developed and refined. As a result, we are currently consuming the finest beers ever produced. This is due to our increased knowledge in the fields of biotechnology, microbiology, and chemistry. The process of beer brewing consists of several steps, which result in a beverage that has a unique taste. The most important operation of the brewing process is fermentation. By definition, fermentation is a process by which yeast and natural enzymes convert carbohydrates in fruits and grains into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

German Lager Specification

This German lager, technically a Munich Helles (translates to Munich Light), leaves no heavy flavors on the tongue, but I argue it is robust and complex. The aftertaste has elusive bread like, smoky quality I love in German beers. I believe this attribute is imparted by the yeast and the lagering process (Barbosa, 2000). The aroma and initial flavor has many light, sweet, fruity qualities, which come from the Hallertau hops. The finish is clean and crisp, as it should be in a larger.

Malting

The process of beer-making is much more intricate than that of wine-making, yet most anthropologists are convinced that beer-making came before wine-making, maybe even before bread-making. While wine is simply fermented grape juice, beer is a fermented extract made from grain in a lengthy process. Grape juice, like all fruit juices, already contains natural sugars, a simple carbohydrate, so all you need to do when making wine is press out the juice and add yeast.

Beer-making, on the other hand, is a much more complicated because grain does not contain suagars, but starches. These are complex, unfermentable carbohydrates. These become suagrs only after they have undergone a process called enzymatic conversion. Fortunately, all grain kernels contain enzymes (types of natural proteins), that are capable of converting starches into fermentable sugars. This conversion, however, can take place only in a moist, warm environment of roughly 145 to 165°F or 63 to 74°C—the same conditions the kernel would you would encouinter in the soil on a warm spring day (Barbosa, 1999).

The maltster, therefore, purposefully imitates these "field" conditions in the malting plant, as does the brewer in the mash tun. The maltster first steeps the grain in water, imitating the melting snow that is needed to hydrate the kernel. The moist grain is then allowed to germinate in a warm chamber until the kernel begins to sprout a new shoot. If germination were left unchecked, this shoot, called an endosperm, would consume all the sugars converted earlier by enzymes. To save these surgars for the yeast instead, the maltster kiln-dries the grain, killing the sprout. At this stage, the grain is called brewers malt. The longer and hotter the grain is dried the darker and more flavorful it gets—from caramel, to chocolate to ...