Everything to know about beer

You can learn all you want to know about the Germans’ favorite drink.

From A as in Alcoholic Contents to Y as in Yeast.

Please select the first letter of the word you are looking for:

Alcoholic Content

The alcoholic content of the beer is closely connected to the wort content: One third to one quarter of the wort is converted into alcohol by the fermentation process. A Pilsener beer with a wort content of approx. 11% has an alcoholic content of approx. 3.5 to 4 wt%, i.e. 4.4 to 5.0% vol. (conversion factor 1.26).

Altbier Beer

A dark beer, brewed the old way, i.e. the top fermented style.

Annual Beer Consumpt

The citizens of united Germany drank on average 144.2 liters of beer per person in 1992. That is world record.

Barley

Two-rowed summer barley is most suitable for brewing because of its low protein content. It is first converted into malt by germinating and kilning and only then used for brewing.

Beer

Beer is a drink that is formed by the alcoholic fermentation of hops, malt, water and yeast. Bottom fermenting beers use only barley malt, while top fermenting beer often mix barley malt with wheat, rye and other malts.

Beer Production

The amount of beer produced by one brewery.

Beer Styles

The most consumed German beer types are Pilsener, Export, Weizenbier, Alt and Kölsch (Cologne). However, mixed drinks using beer and alcohol-free beers are becoming more and more popular.

Beer Types

Beer classifications are differentiated by top fermentation and bottom fermentation.

Bock Beer

Top or bottom fermented beer with a minimum of 16% extract content. There are light and dark colored bock beers. Has its origin in Einbeck, Lower Saxony.

Bottle Beer

Approx. 75% of the beer consumed in Germany is sold in bottles and cans.

Bottom Fermented

Beers that are produced with bottom fermented yeast are Pilsener beer, Export, bock, double bock, pale, Maerzen and Lager.

Brown Beer

Popular name for a less-alcohol and less-hopped, brown, top fermented beer with less carbon dioxide. Almost unavailable today.

Calories

Per liter, beer (dependent on type) has about 430 calories. Only mineral water, black coffee and tea (pure) have less.

Double Bock Beer

Is an extra strong beer with an original extract content of 18% minimum (approx. 5.7% alcohol).

Draft Beer

Approx. 20% of the beer produced is draft beer.

Drinking Temperature

The ideal drinking temperature for beer is between seven and nine degrees Celsius. Beer should not be warmed up or cooled too quickly – it spoils the flavor. Hot water and freezers are taboo!

Export

Export beer is a light-colored, bottom-fermented full beer with an original extract (gravity) of at least 12.5%. Because of the smaller proportion of hops, an Export is milder than a Pilsener.

Fermentation

Yeast changes the malt sugar (maltose) into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Green Beer

Green beer is what the beer is called after primary fermentation. Afterwards it is stored for 4 to 6 weeks.

Hansen

Emil Christian Hansen was the first to provide scientific evidence of the various strains of yeast. In 1883 he propagated them using pure culturing methods.

Hop

Hops give beer its typical bitter taste, and it helps extend the shelf life and “flower” its stability.

Ingredients

Carbohydrates, protein, carbonation, alcohol, different minerals as well as vitamins and water are contained in beer.

No entries for “J”.

Kölsch (Cologne)

Top fermented Vollbier that is only brewed in Köln (Cologne) and its vicinity. Pronounced Kuh(r)lsh with a hint of an r-sound, not Kohlsch.

Läutering

After the mashing process has come to an end, the dissolved extracts in the lauter tun are separated from the spent grains.

Looking After Beer

Bottled beer should be stored cool and, as far as possible, protected against sunlight because dazzling light impairs the flavor. Beer glasses must be absolutely free of grease because grease destroys the head and makes the beer stale. Rinse the glasses carefully and do not wipe them with a kitchen towel.

Maerzen Beer (March Beer)

As it was only possible to brew in winter before the refrigeration machine was invented, the final beer was brewed in March. It was a stronger brew to protect it against spoiling over the summer months. This March-brewed beer was served at public festivals in the autumn/fall and was the original beer at the Munich Oktoberfest.

Maibock Beer

Maibock is a Starkbier, served in spring. Its original extract content is a minimum 16%.

Malt

In order to use barley and wheat for brewing, it first needs to be processed into malt. The kernels are germinated and then kiln dried.

Malt Beer

A top fermented, brownish-black beer, in which sugar is added to its 7% original extract content wort. This results in caramelization which raises the extract content to 12 to 13%. Malt beer contains less than 0.5% alcohol. In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, “Malzbier” may only be named “Malztrunk”.

Mash

During the mash, ground malt and water are mixed and heated at different temperatures at which parts of the ground barley kernels are liquefied.

No entries for “N”.

Original Extract Content

The original extract content is the amount of liquefied malt material present in the unfermented wort, and is primarily comprised of malt sugar, protein, vitamins, and natural aromas. The fermentation breaks 1/3 of the extract into alcohol and another 1/3 into carbonation. The final 1/3 remains as extract.

Pilsener Beer

Style classification for a light-colored Vollbier with a very pronounced taste of hops.

Quality

Quality is the matching of a company’s goals and its success in meeting these goals. It is not a promise – it is the reality of the customer experience. The goal of the company is to produce top products with the highest quality standard possible. Customer satisfaction is the most important criteria for measuring “quality”. All employees are responsible for ensuring quality in everything they do. Our goals are to produce faultless products and flawless service.

Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law)

Oldest food quality regulation in the world. Ordered by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in the year 1516. It said that beer should only be brewed from barley, hops and water. Today, yeast is also used, an ingredient whose effect was unknown at the time. Back then, brewers would just use the yeast that was present in the air.

Secondary Fermentation

In lager tanks, the green beer ferments and matures under pressure, building its carbonation.

Spent Grains

Malt residue (husks) from the mash that is discarded after the wort is transferred to the brew kettle. Usually recycled and used as a nutritious cattle feed.

Sudhaus (Brew House)

Where the mash tun, lauter tun, and brew kettle are located.

Tap Handle

Used to tap a keg for tasting beer.

Top Fermented

Beers produced with top-fermented yeast are Alt, Kölsch, Bavarian Beer, white or wheat beer, sweet beer, and Berliner Weisse.

No entries for “U”.

Vollbier

Vollbier has an original wort extract (gravity) between 11% and 14%. 98% of all German beers are vollbiers.

Weizenbier (Wheat Beer)

Top-fermented beer. Brewing Weizenbier requires wheat malt in addition to barley malt.

Wort

Soluble constituents obtained from malt are boiled with the hops in the wort pan. This achieves sterility and produces the intended original wort extract (gravity).

No entries for “X”.

Yeast

A unicellular germinating fungus. As far as beer production is concerned, a distinction is made between bottom-fermented and top-fermented yeast. The yeast causes the beer wort to ferment. Top-fermented yeast rises after the fermenting process has come to an end, bottom-fermented yeast settles on the bottom of the fermenting vessel.

No entries for “Z”.

Process of brewing

Here you will experience how Einbecker beer is brewed according to the German purity law and will learn about the recipe our master brewers use for brewing top-quality Einbecker beer.
For more information on the respective stations simply click the icon.

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Malt Mill

The malt is ground for the brewing process in the malt mill. A slide carries the milled brewing malt from the malt mill to the mash tun in the boiling house below.

Brew House

In the brew house, the milled malt is mixed with water in the mash tuns to form the mash. The the insoluble malt ingredients are filtered out in the lauter tun. In the brewing pan, the wort is cooked together with the hops in order to form the beer wort. Then the solid protein that forms during the cooking process is separated in the whirlpool.

Cooling

After the wort is cooked together with the hop in the brew house, it is cooled down to 7 to 8 degrees Celsius and then mixed with the yeast.
Then the yeast and wort mixture is pumped into the fermentation tanks.

Fermentation Tanks

The secondary fermentation takes place in the fermentation tanks. During this process, alcohol and carbon dioxide develop out of the malt sugar. This fermentation process lasts about a week.

Cooling and Maturing

After a week, the green beer resulting from the fermentation process is cooled down to a storage temperature of 1 degree Celsius and is then pumped into the storage and maturing tanks. There, the green beer is stored for 2 to 3 weeks. During that time, the yeast which has been added for supporting the fermentation process settles at the bottom of the tanks.

Filtration

A large portion of the yeast has already settled in the tanks. However, there is still some yeast floating in the beer. In order to make the beer clear, the yeast is filtered out.

Pressure Tanks

The filtered beer is pumped into special pressure tanks for bottling. From these tanks, the beer is then filled into kegs, bottles, and cans using various types of machinery.

Filling the Kegs

The beer is filled into special metal barrels called kegs – they are much easier to clean and to fill than wooden barrels. Today, the traditional wooden barrels are only used for official barrel tappings.

»Bottle Cellar«

The beer is filled into bottles in the so called “bottle cellar”. The bottles are then labeled and packed into cases.

Dispatch Warehouse

The cases with the filled bottles and the kegs are stored in the dispatch warehouse in a dark and climate-controlled area. The Einbecker beer is then transported with trucks to our customers.

Purity law

April 23, 1516 was a memorable day. The Bavarian duke, Wilhelm IV, imposed the oldest regulation on food or drink in the world. This regulation is still on the books today. This is how beer should be poured out and brewed in both summer and wintertime. The law on the permissible contents of beer in Germany says that only barley malt, hops, and water may be used when brewing beer. At this point in time, the advantageous function of yeast in the beer making process was unknown.

The purity law arose in order to contain problems resulting from adulterated beer, however it is viewed as a blessing by beer lovers today because it guarantees quality German beer. The purity law guarantees the absolute purity of beer.

Einbecker Brauhaus AG views the purity law as the most important regulation for the brewing industry. Only because of this law can high-quality beers like Einbecker be produced. At the Einbecker brewery, the purity law is strictly adhered to in all steps of production in the brewing process.

“Beer health, joy of living” – Memorandum by the German brewers on responsible beer consumption.