"Original wort content"..??

beergears · 03-21-2008, 09:40 PM

I was checking the Wurzburger Hofbrau website, and saw this at the very end of the "technical" decription of one of the beers:

WÜRZBURGER SCHWARZBIER / stout /

Alcohol content 4.9%
Original wort content 11.6%

What does the last line mean..?

Oh wait... it does not help me but the German version of the site says:

Alkoholgehalt 4,9%
Stammwürze 11,6%

**Yuri_Rage** · 03-21-2008, 09:44 PM

Wikipedia is a wonderful thing. Here's the translated German Wiki page on Stammwürze.

Someone more versed in German brewing techniques will have to give you a more thorough explanation.

**Yuri_Rage** · 03-21-2008, 09:52 PM

After some more searching - the commercial description for a German doppelbock:

Quote:

SYMPATOR DOPPELBOCK Here the word "Bock", which in German means billy goat, has nothing to do with the horned, four-legged creature. In fact it is a corruption of Einbeck, a town in Lower Saxony, that gave its name to the strong beer that originated there: Although for many Bockbier is the quintessence of the art of brewing in Bavaria, it was first created in northern Germany. Nowadays it is mostly brewed and drunk in Bavaria. Roughly one third of strong beer output nationally comes from Bavarian brew kettles. It’s mostly in winter and spring, when the weather is cooler, that local beer drinkers reach for higher percentage specialties from the brew kettles of Würzburger Hofbräu. What is common to all strong or “Bock“ beers is that they must have an original wort content of at least 16 percent. In the case of Doppelbock / double Bock / the original wort content must be at least 18 percent. Original wort content must not be confused with alcohol content. The original wort content refers to the proportion of dissolved materials, above all sugar, but also protein, minerals or vitamins, that are in the wort before fermentation. As the yeast in the course of fermentation turns the wort’s dissolved sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, it is obvious that the higher the original wort content the higher the alcohol content of the beer produced. A rule of thumb for converting original wort content into alcohol content is to regard alcohol content as approximately one third of original wort content.

homebrewer_99 · 03-22-2008, 01:24 AM

Mostly what Yuri said. It's the basic composition of the wort before the yeast is pitched.

Interestingly enough thogh, Stamm, or "the People", is what the early Germans called themselves before becoming "Deutsch".

Wurze are generally spices/herbs.

I wouldn't catagorize a Schwarzbier (black beer) as a Stout though...mixing a German with English is usually a dangerous proposition...even the Spaniards seperate them in Spain...