Where I work there is a robot for testing tensile strength that is made in Germany and each year a technician comes over to service it. I was talking with him and asked if he was a beer guy (of course) and he asked if I liked beer. He seems surprised that I home brew, almost as if he had never heard of home brewing. Makes sense since they have a pretty good beer selection already, but it makes me wonder if homebrewing is even done in Germany
German homebrewing?
- Thread starter clarksc4
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Oh it is. One of my most informative brewing books for German styles is (surprise!) from Germany (and in German). It doesn't seem as widespread from what I can tell (have a LOT of family over there), but there is a decent group. Also the interest in strange different styles is not as big as it seems to be over here. Most people find the beer in their area they like the best and stick to it for their entire lives.
Another big difference is that you can actually make a decent living as a brewer and there are tons of breweries, so if you are interested in it at a young enough age you can enter the guild and do it for a living.
However, a lot of people make fruit wine at home. I have 2 uncles who make their own cherry wine and another that makes Apfelwein. Along with that people are already doing "craft" things like making jelly, cheese and juice at home. Or maybe my view is slightly skewed because my mother's side comes from a small farming town (though most of them live in cities now).
Another big difference is that you can actually make a decent living as a brewer and there are tons of breweries, so if you are interested in it at a young enough age you can enter the guild and do it for a living.
However, a lot of people make fruit wine at home. I have 2 uncles who make their own cherry wine and another that makes Apfelwein. Along with that people are already doing "craft" things like making jelly, cheese and juice at home. Or maybe my view is slightly skewed because my mother's side comes from a small farming town (though most of them live in cities now).
divrguy
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clarksc4 said:
Went to Munich for the beginning of Octoberfest this year and found that they are just starting to have german brewers that are making a go at the western style IPA and DIPA etc..However, they are really infants when it comes to hops. Some of the ones I tasted at small craft bazaars and such were really chewy.. Sweet and malty. They have a tougher time getting a hold of enough hops to really experiment. I met the head brewer at the the Griesbrau brewery and he was trying his hand at an IPA. It wasn't too bad but still too sweet for most of us. He is brewing up a beer schnapps that is just absolutely incredible! This is him in the crazy hat!..lol had an awesome time learning about all the styles I had never tried.
Seems more like it'd be hard for them to get enough of the type of hops we use in pale ales & IPA's.
broadbill
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I have no problems finding any amount of German hops I want, I can't believe they can't source American hops.
Supply and demand. There is very little demand for American hops in Germany, whereas here there is a huge demand for German hops. American growers have little incentive to ship to Germany, a few home brewers would use them, but probably no breweries.
roastquake
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The demand may be growing. It looks like some of the hop breeding programs in Germany are developing new varieties that would lend themselves to American syles
http://www.hopsteiner.de/pdf/neuigkeiten-berichte/hopsteiner-newsletter/2012-05_ts_newhopvarietiesgrowningermany.pdf
http://www.hopsteiner.de/pdf/neuigkeiten-berichte/hopsteiner-newsletter/2012-05_ts_newhopvarietiesgrowningermany.pdf
broadbill
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Yes, there is little demand for American Hops in Germany but the supply is there on this end, so it would be definitely possible to procure.
All hop buying is done on contract, and it is really impossible to fathom if one of the big German breweries wanted to contract with an American Supplier of hops, they could not get one in a heartbeat.
There's a Slovenian hop farmer on facebook with styrian golding,etc that might be useful.http://www.facebook.com/#!/slovenianhopsfarm.hopsi They also have some new varieties.
No disagreement there. They could get them, but in general German breweries have no interest in them. I'm sure over time they will, but many are content with their current styles.
Makes sense since Styrian Goldings are Slovenian hops.
And now I am determined to find these hops for sale and make a German IPA (maybe Pilsner and light Munich along with a Kolsch/Alt yeast?)
EDIT: that was easy (Polaris at least)
skw
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Yes, there are German home brewers - I am one of them. Our LHBS are handful of mailorder places, and they do have American hops. There is a small brewpub near my house that should now be serving a Cascadian Pale Ale, in addition to the traditional German styles they have.
However, I wouldn't have started home brewing if it wasn't for the US. I can get plenty of decent lagers in Germany, but once I tasted the beers from New Belgium, Rogue or Stone I knew that there was something I couldn't buy here. So I decided to learn how to make my own.
However, I wouldn't have started home brewing if it wasn't for the US. I can get plenty of decent lagers in Germany, but once I tasted the beers from New Belgium, Rogue or Stone I knew that there was something I couldn't buy here. So I decided to learn how to make my own.
skw
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That company (Hopsteiner) has a New York office, you could try writing them at [email protected]
roastquake
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There was an interesting article in the latest Beer Advocate talking about the craft movement in Berlin. There are a handfull of small craft/hand breweries making ales along side pilnsers, etc. I was surprised by the idea of the movement. I had assumed a place like Germany already had it's beer culture entrenched and wouldn't waiver. But it seems that there is a growing movement for ales. Stouts, IPA, Porter are among the beers being made. It seems there is also a movement to bring back Berlinerweisse. While not directly about homebrewing, it does mention how this movement somewhat came about from homebrewers. Its a good read.
The link I posted shows their new hop,celeia. Perfume/pine,lemon,citrus. Sounds like it might be a good one for you to try?...
Another (resident) German home brewer.
I think there are more home brewers here than people think, but it is definitely nowhere near as common as in the UK / US.
Ps, we can get your lovely hops quite easily (only on mail order, but for eg.)
http://www.hopfen-der-welt.de/
I think there are more home brewers here than people think, but it is definitely nowhere near as common as in the UK / US.
Ps, we can get your lovely hops quite easily (only on mail order, but for eg.)
http://www.hopfen-der-welt.de/
A friend of mine, who actually got me in to brewing, started in Switzerland back in 1997. He was unhappy with certain beers and styles and decided he was going to brew something that he loved to drink.
When it came time to sourcing for small scale brewing items, he had to have everything shipped from the US. Mash tun, screens, fermenting vessels...shipped everything except for ingredients. He made that abundantly clear. He's very fond of his "special" Swiss ingredients.
The guy now owns a small brewery in western Zurich. You can visit his site at www.hirnibraeu.ch He produces around 1800 liters of beer a week, currently.
When it came time to sourcing for small scale brewing items, he had to have everything shipped from the US. Mash tun, screens, fermenting vessels...shipped everything except for ingredients. He made that abundantly clear. He's very fond of his "special" Swiss ingredients.
The guy now owns a small brewery in western Zurich. You can visit his site at www.hirnibraeu.ch He produces around 1800 liters of beer a week, currently.
Here's a translated version of the page; http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&from=&to=en&a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.hirnibraeu.ch%2f
Interesting sounding lagers he has there...
Interesting sounding lagers he has there...
Best beers I've ever had. He took great care, like most brewers do, in making sure his been was delicious.
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