As breweries grow and build their brands, many seek to expand their outlets and exploit new markets with an export strategy. However, taking beer from one market to another often presents breweries – large and small – with a number of marketing and supply chain challenges. Nevertheless, by following some simple guidelines, breweries can avoid common pitfalls and make exporting a success.

In the article cited, wort preparation can be calculated in terms of evaporation and re-formation; this property is used here for predicting possible improvements. The second part of this five-part series of articles on improving wort preparation revisits a problem discussed previously: what is the best process for driving off DMS from wort?

Wort preparation is at the heart of beer production as the wort to be fermented is prepared from the natural raw materials water, malt and hops. The various steps are based on different unit operations. This five-part series of publications aims at improving evaporation of undesirable aroma substances. Part 1 covers practical implementation of DMS calculation published in BRAUWELT International No. 4, 2014, pp. 217-219, No. 5, 2014, pp. 284-288, No. 6, 2014, pp. 354-357.

Among craft brewers one occasionally hears the question: “Who aged beer in wooden barrels first?” Since barrels have been employed for storing liquid foods for millennia and beer brewing itself is many centuries older than the proper art of cooperage, asking such a question would seem puerile. The question appears impossible to answer – that is, until one begins inserting caveats. Though beer has been stored in barrels for a long time, by and large, brewers over many centuries have attempted to avoid allowing the wood to impart its own flavor to the beer – and they especially wanted to prevent any of the flavors and aromas derived from the beverage or food previously stored in the barrel to corrupt its contents. As with so much else, however, there has been a sea change in the use of barrels amongst craft brewers. We will conclude our discussion in the final installment of this series by taking a closer look at how brewers have awoken to the potential barrels can offer in the creation of unique and characterful beers.

Until around 20 years ago, secondary fermentation in the bottle was widespread among most breweries producing Southern German-style wheat beer. However, since then, the majority of them have abandoned traditional bottle conditioning in favor of secondary fermentation in tanks. There are multiple reasons behind the move away from bottle conditioning aside from the need to simplify and standardize the production process. It was primarily the desire to avoid yeast autolysis and to achieve uniform and stable levels of turbidity which were the motivation for seeking alternatives to bottle conditioning.

Key performance metrics for efficiency are established tools for quantifying bottling line performance. They provide a comparison of ideal volume and actual production volume. Expressed as a ratio, this figure can be used to quantify production losses. However, as is frequently the case, the devil is in the details; therefore, selecting the correct metric is essential.

Entering the fantastical realm of microbes by becoming engrossed in their goings-on under the lens of a microscope can be compared to Alice stepping through the looking glass. Tumbling down the zymurgical rabbit hole into the distance past, we see amphorae become the first and most common containers for liquid foods. They were in use for centuries, and owing to their porosity, they were able to harbor microbial communities. These microbes ultimately affected the character of many of the liquids stored in them, including beer, the ambrosia of the Levant, Mesopotamia and Egypt during the Bronze Age. Barrels have since taken over the role of housing the microbes – both foul and fair – that inoculate their contents.

A brewery rich in tradition, Brauhaus Riegele in Augsburg, Germany, brews a total of 29 different beers. Almost all of the beers have been honored with numerous prestigious awards. In order to ensure that the beer leaves the brewery in perfect condition and remains so until it reaches the customer, the oxygen values must be reduced to a minimum and continuously analyzed, in this case with oxygen measuring devices supplied by Dr. Thiedig GmbH & Co KG, Berlin, Germany.

There is a renewed interest in barrels and the numerous ways in which they can be used to impart a unique character to beer. In the fourth installment in this series, we begin our look at the practical aspects of how the microbial communities living in wooden vessels can influence the flavor of beer. These microbes are considered spoilage organisms by most commercial brewers – but not by craft brewers.

Gose is an enigmatic sour, salty wheat beer and has been brewed with a variety of herbs over much of its history. It originated in Goslar, Germany, at some point migrated to Leipzig and is now being brewed the world over; however, it has lost none of its mystery. This beer style was popular for a long time in the German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia; but unfortunately like so many old European beer styles, during the calamitous 20th century, it faded slowly away. It was officially pronounced dead in 1966. Against all odds, however, the beer experienced a revival behind the Iron Curtain in 1986, in large part thanks to the efforts of a single publican in Leipzig. Gose has been said to divide beer drinkers into two camps: those who appreciate its tart, salty, citrusy flavor mingled with coriander (and perhaps other spices) and those who simply do not. For those who appreciate it, read on...