Young Beer

[esssee]

Hi guys,

I keep hearing the expression "Young Beer", and am assuming that it is referring to a beer which is yet to fully condition, and will improve with age.

How then do the Commercial Breweries crank out "Brewery Fresh" beer on a daily basis. Surely they are serving up "Young Beer".

I'd be interested to find out.

Steve.

 

[stuchambers]

This is probably very much off the topic but it kinda fits in.
Im reading a book at the moment "Homebrew Classics Stout and Porter". The first part talks about the history of the two styles, how they came about was that the most popular drink at the time was called three treads.
Three threads was a mix of three types of ale. A fresh beer that gave a lot of bitterness, a properly aged beer that I guess gave the middle palate "didn't really explain that part" and then a stale beer that had been stored in wooden vats and gone a little sour like a lambric. This mix was the most popular drink with the working folk of london. The three treads had to be mixed by the publican each time someone ordered a drink. A smart cookie named Harwood brewed a beer with a similar taste that was delivered to the pub in one cask only he called it "entire". The market porters of the streets of london we often in need of a refreshing ale and this was there choice. The name then changed over time to Porter.
Stout Porter was a stronger version on the porter the named shortened over time to just stout, however stout originally was a term used for the strongest beer in the pub

Later when the pale ales became more popular a process called running fermentation was used where the ale would be placed in to the cask after only a few days and allowed to finish fermenting in the cask during transport to and in the cellar of the pub.

Again this has not a lot to do with the original post but I have found this very interesting so far and I only started last night.

Cheers Stu

 

[pimpsqueak]

I crank out order after order of new product every day but I don't make it from scratch for every order.
I don't think they go from grain to slab-o-booze in a day.


From another thread...

Like I said, not defending the beer - feel free to think its crappy, I don't care. But, at least think its crappy because of what you get in your glass, not because you believe some bullshit that has managed to make its way into homebrew legend. Hell - I was at the microbrewery showcase yesterday and I had some plunker (an actual brewer from a to be un-named miro) came up to me and basically had a go at me for daring to show my face at the event wearing my CUB overalls (I had just come from work) and then in a smarmy "I make good beer and you don't kind of way" asked me if we were "still making beer in 36hrs?" - and that's the kind of bullshit I hear all the time. 50% sugar... bullshit, made from extract and flavouring... bullshit, made in 36hrs.... bullshit, all one beer and just different artificial additives ... bullshit, full of preservatives... bullshit. etc etc etc

I don't think "brewery fresh" = green beer. With their capacities for storage/lagering etc, they can crank out uniformly brewed beer 24/7. Plus, it's not like they bottle condition or anything...

 

[esssee]

I think I even confused myself with this post. I'll try again.

I understand that they would still have a Fermentation time, but I got the feeling that after the Fermentation was complete, it was banged out of the Brewery as quick as possible.

 

[Naztone]

Yeah I've been wondering about this myself. I keep homebrew bottles a month after bottling before opening.

I assumed they do hold on to the beer for a while. :huh:

 

[Bribie G]

Thirsty boy would be able to illuminate you.
AFAIK the "Brewery fresh" Carlton Draught would be fermented with a Danish Type lager yeast for around 5 days at mid-teens temperature, then transferred to "lagering" vessels for 10 days and held at around zero
Then filtered, hopped and force carbed, and sent to the packing lines. I have no idea what the "Fresh" relates to, as this is exactly how every other brand of Megaswill is produced. Hang on, I know what the difference is - it's made from beer :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers:

Edit: history, until the turn of the 20th century UK beers of the Victorian era were mostly casked and then aged for months, but they were strong ales around 6% ABV. At the beginning of the century, breweries went on a buying 'war' and acquired large estates of pubs, as well as building thousands of their own, which they supplied directly with the "running beers" as mentioned in the other post. The landlord would be responsible for finishing off the beers in the cellar before serving.
A good guide to the beers of the time is in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 edition.

Edit: very interestingly, as you can see in a diagram in the article, the word "Parachute" was a device for collecting yeast from the top of the fermenting wort - it was around way before planes got invented and the word was pinched to describe the aeronautical parachute because it resembled a "real" parachute upside down. So there's something we know that nobody else does :lol:

 

[Midnight Brew]

I think I even confused myself with this post. I'll try again.

I understand that they would still have a Fermentation time, but I got the feeling that after the Fermentation was complete, it was banged out of the Brewery as quick as possible.

The breweries carbonate the beer with Co2 so that they dont have to condition in the bottle. If naturally conditioned it would have to sit in a warehouse or brewery until it was ready to hit the shelves. You could almost look at it as if you kegged your brew first (with Co2) then bottled it. Ready straight away with no bottle conditioning. Hope that helps

Cheers

Edit: BribieG beat me

 

[vykuza]

I'm of the understanding that beer conditions faster in larger quantities as well. I don't know how well that scales, especially up to large commercial brewing sizes, but that might have something to do with it.

 

[fawnroux]

G'day esssee,

Just to expand a little on the answers above.

Brewery beer and home brew beer are two completely different things.

One of the main differences would be the treatment of yeast. At home our brews contain live yeast. We add more sugar at bottling time so those yeasties can eat. We let our brews age and condition so that the yeasts can carbonate and settle. Other flavours, ie malts and hops will mature and 'round off' during this time also. Depending on what beer you've brewed at home will depend on how long you should leave it. Most pale ales are pretty good after a few weeks bottle conditioning. Stouts and darker with require longer. Depending on your storage temps, most will be carbed in a couple of weeks.

As far as breweries go, you are looking at an industrial scale operation. Beer that is marketed as 'brewery fresh' would be light coloured lagers ie a pretty non offensive malt bill. But the main difference is what they do to the yeast. Big breweries can pasteurise the beer, thereby killing the yeast and dropping it out of suspension. Or they can 'cold filter' the beers eg lagering and add finings etc. The end result is that the yeast is removed from the beer. The beer is then carbonated with co2 and bottled (as explained by the others above)

This is a fairly basic over view. Different beers, different breweries, different treatments and different marketing. End result - fasted turn around of beer for the masses.

Young beer, yes. Green beer, no.

 

[esssee]

Thanks for your responses guys.

I understood the bit about the yeast, etc...

What was confusing me was the Maturing of the taste, or lack thereof. :blink:

So basically, because there isn't a real depth of flavour in these Megaswills, there is no difference in them as a Young Beer, as opposed to aging them for a few months?

 

[fawnroux]

So basically...there isn't a real depth of flavour in these Megaswills

:icon_cheers: