About 99% of all German beers are what we call "Vollbier" (literally translated full beer) beers with a regular wart content of 11 - 14% and 4.5 - 5.5% alcohol vol. The others are "Bock and Doppelbock" strong beers (0.7% of the market), wart content 16 - 28% alcohol 6 - 10 % vol., and weak beers (0.3% of the market including alcohol free beer), low in alcohol and taste. |
Basically, we distinguish between two different ways of brewing, depending on the yeast which is used.
1. Bottom fermentation yeast, temperature of 4-9 Celsius required, 85% of all German beers. Can be stored for a long time. That's the reason why these brews are named export or lager.
2. Top fermentation yeast, temperature of 15-20 Celsius required,
15 % of the market. Can´t be stored for long; has to be drunk quickly |
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Although bottom fermentation brews were more popular most of our beers in former times were top fermentation brews. There was just no way to cool the fermenters during summer time. Only the wintertime guaranteed the required low temperatures. Each March, people brewed strong beer that would keep it as long as possible. In 1876 Carl Linde invented the cooling machine, that allowed bottom fermentation brew production at any time of the year.
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Vollbier
Bottom fermentation
- Lager or export, regular beer
- Pils, brewed in Pilsner (city in Czech Republic) style, contains more hops, bitter taste.
- Dark beer, sweet and malt tasting.
- Smoked beer, only produced in Bamberg, tastes a bit like smoked ham.
Top fermentation
- Wheat beer (Weiss bier or Weizen in German), dark and bright (not filtered) or crystal (filtered) popular in the south of Germany, contains lots of carbonic acid.
- Kölsch, only brewed in Cologne, bitter and fresh hops taste.
- Altbier, (old beer, means brewed in the old style) only in the City of Düsseldorf, dark and bitter taste.
Strong beer
Bottom and Top fermentation
- Bock, high in alcohol content, sweet and malt tasting, usually dark.
- Doppelbock (double Bock) same as regular Bock but stronger.
- Eisbock (ice beer), concentrated brew, dehydrated by freezing it
The descriptions above roughly classify the kind and taste of the various beers. Of course there are many exceptions. The only way to learn everything about beer is travel and drink, drink, drink !
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