My Day At The Vlb

[Whistlingjack]

Do they have planned to do a farewell party at the end?

The wheat beer we brewed on saturday is for our graduation party, one of three beers we'll have on tap.

By the way, thanks for that parcel you sent me. With the change in the brewing plans, I can't use it now so I'll bring it to our friend in Braunschweig.

WJ

 

[Ross]

Best of luck with the exams.. :beer:
Will be sorry to see this thread end, it's been the best read for a while
Make sure you keep us informed of where your new qualifications take you...

Cheers Ross

 

[Weizguy]

Well, the last day of classes today, ahead of ten days of examinations...but what a way to end it!

The lectures in brewing technology covered the topic of special beers. How to make them, where they are made and of course what they taste like. The lecturer brought in samples of different beers which we all had the chance to taste.

Only problem was, the lecture was from 8am to 10 am. Most of the class were pretty wasted at the end. I've made a list of the styles we sampled...

- Berliner Weisse
- Frankenheimer Alt
- Frh Klsch
- Huber Weissbier
- Schneiderweiss Kristall
- Pilsner Urquell
- Aecht Schenkerla Rauchbier Mrzen
- Schwarzer Alt
- Kostritzer Schwarz
- St Louis Gueuze
- St Louis Kriek
- a honey beer which will remain nameless :huh:

A good selection and well received by all :beerbang:

Oh well, time for some study *hic*...

WJ

WJ,

I hope those beers weren't offered in the order you listed. :lol:

Best of luck in the exams, and don't forget to put some relaxation time in there, too.

Beerz
Les

 

[Whistlingjack]

Thanks guys...I think today's practical exam should be ok. We will be given samples of either yeast slurry, cleaned bottles, process water, storage beer or fermenting wort and asked to decide how to go about analysing them for contamnants. The hard part is identifying what you find.

WJ, I hope those beers weren't offered in the order you listed. :lol:

As a matter of fact it was. Only because thats the order they took in the textbooks. :blink:

I think they were all good samples of the particular style.

Les, we talked about gose before (exempted from the Reinheitsgebot for the addition of coriander and salt), our lecturer couldn't get it sent from Leipzig in time.

The Schwarzer Alt is the only other beer exempted for their addition of sugar syrup.

WJ (sweating on the exams)

 

[kook]

I think they were all good samples of the particular style.

St Louis? Good Gueuze/Kriek examples? :blink: The only true lambic product they produce is Gueuze Fond Tradition IMO, the rest are sweetened alco-pops.

 

[Whistlingjack]

Hey kook, I'm sure you're correct.

I don't have any experience with Belgians. I did not try the ones offered, or the honey beer (honey should be on toast... :lol: )

Apart from my attempts at adding fruit to my HB, I don't think there's a place for it in beer... h34r:

WJ

 

[Whistlingjack]

Microbiology is almost done. I felt good about the exam today.

I was given culture plates and asked to identify two yeast species and one bacteria. Also I had to start the process to examine the purity of a yeast culture.

First step was to boil a part of the sample to eliminate all but the saccharomyces culture yeast then tip that into a wort broth for incubation. Second step was to centrifuge some of the sample and put drops of the deposit onto three different agar plates to separate different wild saccharomyces and non-saccharomyces yeasts.

Next week I have to evaluate the reults to identify the species I have. This afternoon we had the written exam. Here's hoping...

Tomorrow is a public holiday here, so its off to explore two more brewpubs tonight.

WJ

 

[Brewtus]

did you get to 'the beach' on the north side of the river?

 

[ale_snail]

A long day, topped off with a kebab for lunch (love these things) and a look at the Berlin Crocodiles AFL team's intra-club scratch match.

WJ

lmao

thats GOLD
:super:

 

[animal_man]

Microbiology is almost done. I felt good about the exam today.

I was given culture plates and asked to identify two yeast species and one bacteria. Also I had to start the process to examine the purity of a yeast culture.

First step was to boil a part of the sample to eliminate all but the saccharomyces culture yeast then tip that into a wort broth for incubation. Second step was to centrifuge some of the sample and put drops of the deposit onto three different agar plates to separate different wild saccharomyces and non-saccharomyces yeasts.

Next week I have to evaluate the reults to identify the species I have. This afternoon we had the written exam. Here's hoping...

Tomorrow is a public holiday here, so its off to explore two more brewpubs tonight.

WJ

what course are you doing? Im doing similar stuff for my Bsc Oenology (wine making). I dont mind micro sometimes!

 

[ale_snail]

well WJ after reading through the entire thread i have to say i am thouroughly jealous of your lucky circumstances and i hope to do this in the future sometime.

well all the best for your exams and all the best to finding yourself a nice brewmaster job and making some quality beer..

ich komme nach deutschland

 

[Whistlingjack]

what course are you doing? Im doing similar stuff for my Bsc Oenology (wine making). I dont mind micro sometimes!

The Certified Brewmaster Course.

WJ

 

[Whistlingjack]

A gruelling day, fellow brewers, I don't mind telling you.

We had our exam in chemical technical analysis. A written test first followed by the practical test. We were given samples of water, malt and beer and asked to test them.

I'll list the analyses we did.

Water:
- total hardness
- carbonate hardness
- residual alkalinity
- calcium and magnesium content
- conductivity
- p- and m-value

Malt:
- moisture content
- total nitrogen

Beer:
- alcohol (%mass)
- alcohol (%vol)
- original extract
- real extract
- apparent extract
- pH
- bitter substances
- colour (photometric method)
- turbidity

How can I drink beer now without thinking about these things... :blink:

Anyway, we all passed and the examiner shouted us beers afterward ... :beer:

WJ

Ps. There's a cold and lonely Berliner Kindl in my fridge. Can't leave that there. I wonder what the alcohol (%mass) is. One way to find out...

 

[WildaYeast]

Hi,

Don't want to high-jack your almost over (sigh) thread WJ, but thought you might find this article interesting (if you have any spare time), as might other readers of your edu-logue.

NY Times: On a German Beer Trail, One More for the Road
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/trave...l?th&emc=th

A pleasant little read -- don't know how true the industry saga is.

You may have to register (free) to view the article, and the link will only work for a week or so unless you have a paid subscription. They don't seem to be a source of spam, in case you are concerned about registering.

Cheers, Brian

 

[Whistlingjack]

Thanks for that, Brian. A good read.

We have found only one brewpub here that makes weisse, the Sdstern Brauerei in Kreuzberg. They serve it without the syrup and it takes a few mouthfulls to get past the yoghurt flavour. After that, I think its quite a pleasant, refreshing taste.

As for the klsch, our lecturer who hails from the area around Dsseldorf, warned us about the traditions of that particular beer. Dsseldorf, as you may be aware, is famous for the altbier style. He told us never to ask for altbier in Kln, or klsch in Dsseldorf.

We are visiting a traditional altbier brewery in a couple of weeks with the school, and some of us have organised a get-together in Kln after the course. As for Bamberg, that is definitely on my itinerary for late June.

The education continues after the course is done. As well as three months work at a brewery on the Rhine, a beer odyssey of Germany is on the cards. :super:

WJ

 

[Zwickel]

As for the klsch, our lecturer who hails from the area around Dsseldorf, warned us about the traditions of that particular beer. Dsseldorf, as you may be aware, is famous for the altbier style. He told us never to ask for altbier in Kln, or klsch in Dsseldorf.

thats absolutely true.
They dont get along with eachother,
The Klners do even change theire "Alt" key on the keyboard and put a new sticker on it:

 

[Whistlingjack]

Classic, Zwickel.

I love it... :lol:

Have you seen the cartoon of the donkey drinking from the barrel of altbier? I couldn't find it on the net, but you can guess what the label says on the bucket that the donkey is pissing in . :lol:

WJ

 

[Whistlingjack]

Two more exams done, brewery waste water and plant equipment.

The waste water exam was pretty good, but the second one tested my drawing skills to the max. Diagrams of boiling systems, whirlpools, filtration equipment and germination boxes. Phew!

Also some detailed descriptions of bottling lines, bottle washers and Darcy's Law. Glad thats over.

The rest of today is to be spent cramming for tomorrow's exams...brewing technology and economics. Pity, because the weather is so nice today. Maybe I will fit in a couple at the nearest beer garden.

WJ

 

[voota]

As for Bamberg, that is definitely on my itinerary for late June.

I'll be in Franconia (around Bamberg) in June, swing us a PM if your plans come off and you fancy catching up for a beer, I'd be very keen to hear more about the course.
Cheers

 

[Whistlingjack]

Well, two more exams out of the way, brewing technology and economics. They both were not too bad.

Lost a bit of sleep over the brewing exam last night (as well as the humid weather). I looked at my books before going to bed and had nightmares about people questioning the content of higher aliphatic alcohols and vicinal diketones in my beer... :blink:

I thought I had no way of remembering anything. But the Krusovice lager I had last night must have acted as a glue.

When I woke this morning, I was able to reel off names of fatty acids, amino acids, esters and HAAs at will. Not that it helped a lot because the exam didn't go into that much depth. I threw a few names around for bonus points...

On the whole, so far so good. Two more days to go then its a celebration planned for this whole next week...

WJ