The nearest big town to where I live is Reading (Berkshire) and it's twinned with the German city of Dusseldorf. Later this summer we'll be doing an exchange visit with a German lad the same age as my son, my boy will be spending a week in Dusseldorf and his German counterpart will be living with us for a week here in England. I must admit we're all feeling slightly apprehensive about it but nothing ventured etc. I'm hoping it will at least help with my lad's German studies although I suspect "Xbox" is the same word the world over.
In preparation I was doing a bit of research on Dusseldorf (I've never been) and I discovered that they have their own specialty beer there! It's called "Altbier" and although this style is made elsewhere in Germany the city has it's own unique variation of it. I thought it would be fun to have a go at making some for myself, so I knocked up a batch into the fermenter this evening. Altbier is a dark brown beer, more like an ale than a lager. Being top fermented (like ales) rather than bottom fermented (like lagers) it contains some fairly regular malts but is conditioned very cold (3 degrees) giving a smooth texture to the brew (apparently!). I must say it looks and smells great, really malty and caramel-like, and my Thames Valley yeast seems to love it; a very vigorous fermentation started after only a couple of hours (all those chunky bits of yeast you can see are actually moving around!) We shall see how it turns out, although I have a while to wait as it takes over 7 weeks to properly mature; clearly not the height of German efficiency!
6 comments:
My favourite German beer is the "Lentebock" or "Doppelbock" (I think Lentebock is the Flemish equivalent). Brewed to assist monks and others through this time of year.
Sometimes it could be 10% or more. The time to Easter must have flown.
AE, Interesting. I found a few Doppelbock recipes online, standard lager malts (Pilsner and Munich) with some Carafa for the dark colour and Tettnang hops; all easy to get, but I suspect the challenge for the home brewer is finding somewhere to condition it for 6 weeks at 3 Celsius (need a dedicated fridge!)
I would ask your local vicar if you can stick it at the back of the church.
AE, knowing him, he'd probably help me out by regularly checking to see when it was ready too ;)
Out of interest - why are you using custard as an air lock in that picture?
AE, I'd like to say it was because of the subtle vanilla aromas infusing into the wort - but it's just a trick of the light, i.e. manky water..
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