Slashdot Mirror
New brewing Method Means Faster Beer, Less Waste
thatshortkid writes "A brewmaster in Germany has invented a cylinder that fuses yeast to the sides, allowing the yeast to do its fermentation job faster. A process that normally takes 10 days now takes a few hours. Also, yeast that normally has to be changed out after three brews can now last up to six months to a year."
*hic*
Now if you can just add a clock and a timer this thing could brew my morning beer before I get up, just like my coffee maker. :-)
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Faster doesn't always mean better.
What does it taste like?
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
If you want less expensive beer, and good flavor (or any flavor for that matter), brew your own at home.
It can be far more economical, and you get braggin' rights to boot.
i'd wonder more about what kind of new beers will come because of this, because obviously it allows the process to be changed.
It doesn't appear to change the process, only accelerate it. I can make all sorts of beer at home with all sorts of weird ingredients. But it takes 10 days to ferment, and another 3 day to carbonate. At that point, you've got a good idea what the beer will taste like. It may need a longer time to bottle condition before the best flavor comes out, but it's drinkable after ~13 days.
A commercial brewer skips the carbonation step, and injects CO2 into the brew. So commercial beer is ready after ~10 days.
The biggest advantage here is the ability to experiment. The new system is 1/10th the size and faster. Kinda like switching from a render farm of desktops to Dual Proc rack mounts. Now you can run a lot more tests in parallel. The density and speed allows you to try something out that you normally wouldn't waste more limited resources on.
Personally, I'm planning on setting up some 1 Gallon batches of beer, and trying a bunch of different things. If it's bad, then it's only a gallon of bad beer to drink. Those 1 gallon jugs of bottled water are perfect for experimental carboys.
And it's easy to get started. I swiped a 5 gallon jug from the office water cooler, saved up 5 twelve-packs worth of import bottles, and went to the local Home Brew store. (import bottles are important, most American bottles are twist off, and those won't work.)
:-)
They had a nice kit for getting started that had 2 plastic buckets, an airlock, some plastic tubing, and a bunch of stuff that I don't use (hydrometer). You can get off even cheaper if you're willing to use more elbow grease. On top of that, I needed a bottle capper, bottle caps, and a beer kit.
Followed the directions included in the kit, waited 2 weeks, filled the bottles, capped 'em, waiting another week, and enjoyed some great brew.
Initial outlay was about $100 (Starter kit was $80, Beer kit was $20). It'll cost $20 to $30 for every 5 gallon batch, if I buy the hold-your-hand Beer Kits. 5 gallons makes me about 50 12oz bottles. At $10-$15 per twelve pack in the store, I save $10 to $45, depending on what I buy at the store.
Like any hobby, there are lot of toys you can add. I used the beginner setup for a couple years, but started to get tired of washing bottles my hand, and controlling the bottling flow by hand. Another $40, and I think I'm done with my washing and bottling accessories.
Makes me wonder if the idea doesn't scale well. That said, IAAB (I am a brewer; I worked in a brewpub and brew on premises for several years and home brew), and I wonder if it might not still be a boon (boont? mmm...amber...) to smaller breweries, brewpubs, and especially brew on premises. Most brewpubs go through much smaller amounts of any given beer than they brew, and this might be away to "brew on demand" or the like, and give a fresher product.
For brew on premises customers, instead of brew, wait two weeks, come back and bottle, it could be brew in the morning, bottle in the afternoon, and might appeal to more people that way. I recall a fair number of people who were put off by two week wait.
And all that said, it seems like there will still be call for the more traditional brewing process, as different beers, etc. use different fermenting processes (lager = cooler, bottom-fermenting yeast; barleywine = two fermentations, one with wine yeast; lambic = 'spontaneous' fermentation)
Reminds me of a joke.
...
Q: How many libertarians does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None. The free market will take care of it.
[rimshot]
vk.