1930 German brewery video

[beerking]

This is fun to watch. A 1930 documentary on a German Brewery. If you pay attention, you will see that they are doing a double decoction mash.
http://retroyoutube.blogspot.com/200...r-factory.html

[steveh]

I like that, German "Beer Factory." Ugh.

1930 was a pretty crazy era in Germany, big-time unrest and economy in the dumper. Good to see the breweries as strong as ever!

Uh, the guy shoveling the malt -- does he have a cheroot in his teeth?!

Interesting that they don't say what was done in that 3rd Tun. And what do you suppose the flat "pan" is for, prior to cooling the wort, catching wild yeast? :O

The Brewmaster is wearing traditional Bavarian costume -- I knew this looked like good beer!

But they don't show the most important step in the process!

And what's with the soundtrack?

Very cool find King.

S.

[DecoJuicer]

Uh, the guy shoveling the malt -- does he have a cheroot in his teeth?!

Yes, that's part of the Reinheitsgebot that they don't talk about

My guess about the third tun is that it is where they did the fermenting, and the "flat tray" is some type of filter to catch the trub.

[beerking]

I like that, German "Beer Factory." Ugh.

1930 was a pretty crazy era in Germany, big-time unrest and economy in the dumper. Good to see the breweries as strong as ever!

Uh, the guy shoveling the malt -- does he have a cheroot in his teeth?!

Interesting that they don't say what was done in that 3rd Tun. And what do you suppose the flat "pan" is for, prior to cooling the wort, catching wild yeast? :O

The Brewmaster is wearing traditional Bavarian costume -- I knew this looked like good beer!

But they don't show the most important step in the process!

And what's with the soundtrack?

Very cool find King.

S.

The "flat pan" is a Koolshiff (I have also heard it called a koolship). It is used in Belgian breweries to innoculate the beer with wild yeast while cooling. They would leave it there overnight.
I am fairly certain that here it is used to settle out trub from the hot break before sending the wort to the chiller, where it will undergo the cold break.

[steveh]

My guess about the third tun is that it is where they did the fermenting, and the "flat tray" is some type of filter to catch the trub.

No, the fermentation comes after the flat tray and after the cooling -- watch for the "hefe" to be added with the big bucket-full of starter, then you see the fermentation go to town... and then some odd addition of candle wax...

S.

[steveh]

The "flat pan" is a Koolshiff (I have also heard it called a koolship). It is used in Belgian breweries to innoculate the beer with wild yeast while cooling. They would leave it there overnight.

I thought it looked pretty vulnerable at that point.

I am fairly certain that here it is used to settle out trub from the hot break before sending the wort to the chiller, where it will undergo the cold break.

In lieu of a centrifuge?

S.

[MeridianFC]

Anchor uses (or at least used) cool ships as part of their brewing process.

Great find Beerking. I love those old movies, certainly when it's about brewing. I have an old video of some brewery in LA around that period and it seems there's a similar thing done at heat exchange where the wort is trickled down the outside of the exchanger.

[beerking]

No, the fermentation comes after the flat tray and after the cooling -- watch for the "hefe" to be added with the big bucket-full of starter, then you see the fermentation go to town... and then some odd addition of candle wax...

S.

They are not adding candle wax, they are showing that there is no oxygen just above the layer of foam due to the CO2 put off during fermentation.

[steveh]

They are not adding candle wax, they are showing that there is no oxygen just above the layer of foam due to the CO2 put off during fermentation.

Ah HAH! Still, gotta be careful.

But wait, did the candle go out?

Okay -- yeah, I see that now.

S.

[beerking]

Ah HAH! Still, gotta be careful.

But wait, did the candle go out?

S.

Yes, it did. I think they planned on the demonstration by just lowering the candle, but it did not go out then, so then angled it a little to get the flame lower without dipping the hand and candle holder into the foam. That is when it went out.

[steveh]

I am fairly certain that here it is used to settle out trub from the hot break before sending the wort to the chiller, where it will undergo the cold break.

In lieu of a centrifuge?

Watching the second time through, it looks like there is a centrifuge used just before the kuhlschiff. Maybe the kuhlschiff is the cold break? That should happen before the actual chilling, right?*

I bet that attic location would get pretty warm in the summertime, prior to industrial air conditioning. No after March brewing there!

*Just read some of my info, no -- the cold break and chilling are usually simultaneous.

S.

[beerking]

I was not sure it the vessel in the attic right before the Kuhlschiff was a whirlpool or not (definitely not a centrifuge, but I think that is what you meant anyway). It could be just a strainer to separate out the hops. They were using leaf hops, so they would not settle as easily as pellets do.
In fact, many brewerys will rely on the leaf hops as filter material to filter out a lot of the trub from the hot break. I do that at home, which is why I like to use .5-1 oz of leaf hops when I can.

[steveh]

I was not sure it the vessel in the attic right before the Kuhlschiff was a whirlpool or not (definitely not a centrifuge, but I think that is what you meant anyway). It could be just a strainer to separate out the hops.

That's the Hopfenseier -- hop strainer, hit pause on a few spots thru the video.

Doesn't a centrifuge create a whirlpool?

And the third kettle is the lauter tun -- I guess I'm used to seeing a mash tun and lauter tun as one and the same in smaller breweries.

S.

[beerking]

Doesn't a centrifuge create a whirlpool?S.

Not really. It is more of the other way around. A whirlpool creates centrifugal force, but it does not quite work the other way. In brewing, a "centrifuge" is actually a spinning tank that spins around to separate trub and hops, but a "whirlpool" is a tank that sits still. The wort is pumped in through a port that is angled into the tank from the side, which spins the wort and thus creates a whirlpool action. A whirlpool has no moving parts.

Same concept, similiar results, but very different mechanical implementation.

And the third kettle is the lauter tun -- I guess I'm used to seeing a mash tun and lauter tun as one and the same in smaller breweries.
S.

True. Most large breweries have separate lauter and mashtuns, but homebrewers and small brewers save on cost and space by making them one and the same.

[corkybstewart]

We visited the German hops museum in Wolznach last summer and they had dozens of these type films. There would be a video of the modern way , and also a 1930's video so you could compare and see how things have changed(or not). I guess film was cheap back then, the Germans filmed everything they did, no matter how mundane it was.