What's with all the random German vocab in the homebrewing world?

I haven't been brewing that long, so bear with me. I couldn't help but notice that among the pundits of brewing, there is a strict unspoken insistence upon using the German words for some thing and not for others; things seemingly chosen at random.
For example:
Krausen - I see no reason this should not be called a "foam layer."
Vorlauf - I see no reason this should not be called "recycling."
Lauter - I see no reason this should not be called "filtering."

I can't think of any more right now, but I'm sure there are more. I do no see the need for using the German words for these because they are not proper nouns, and some are verbs. I can understand Hefeweizen, Kolsch, Bock, etc. because these are proper nouns. These are the names of the beers. But Krausen? That's not a name. Why are we using the German word for it?

I asked a guy at a LHBS event why we use "vorlauf" and he said there was no word for it in English.

It'll be OK.


Oh, and Reinheitsgebot!

and don't forget "Tun"

I would guess many of the words are in German because they were the ones who spent many years mastering the process and produced most of the early righting about the process.

Exactly! Part of the glorious history of bier! Alles klar?

bad67z said:

and don't forget "Tun"

I would guess many of the words are in German because they were the ones who spent many years mastering the process and produced most of the early righting about the process.

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Yup
I'm just glad to.be able to make my own. I don't really care about the terminology involved, just keep it cold and keep'em coming.

You realize that vast chunks of the English language are basically stolen from other languages, right?

I'm guessing that the terms have stuck due to the fact that a huge part of our brewing heritage traces back to Germany.

Feel free to use whatever terminology you want, but understand that the terms you disparage are standard issue; other homebrewers are likely to ignore you (or to point and laugh) when you refuse to use proper terms.

strantor said:

I haven't been brewing that long, so bear with me. I couldn't help but notice that among the pundits of brewing, there is a strict unspoken insistence upon using the German words for some thing and not for others; things seemingly chosen at random.
For example:
Krausen - I see no reason this should not be called a "foam layer."
Vorlauf - I see no reason this should not be called "recycling."
Lauter - I see no reason this should not be called "filtering."

I can't think of any more right now, but I'm sure there are more. I do no see the need for using the German words for these because they are not proper nouns, and some are verbs. I can understand Hefeweizen, Kolsch, Bock, etc. because these are proper nouns. These are the names of the beers. But Krausen? That's not a name. Why are we using the German word for it?

I asked a guy at a LHBS event why we use "vorlauf" and he said there was no word for it in English.

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Go for it?

I don't think it's a random insistence. Vorlauf more clearly specifies what you're talking about than recycling, which could refer to any number of things. Filtering can be done at different steps in the process. So sure, you can say "filter and drain the wort from the tun", or you can say lauter. One is clearly quicker and easier to me, but that's just a personal preference.

And I agree with the hbs dude. Your suggestion of recycle is not a direct synonym for vorlauf. Unless you think you could walk up to a knowledgeable brewer and ask them "do you recycle?" and get the answer you're looking for. Meanwhile, if you asked if they vorlauf, most would know what you meant.

Anyways, I'm not trying to change your mind, just pointing out that there are, in fact, reasons to use the German words.

When I go to Ft. Hood. I have to learn Texanease. It's the same thing, only, different.

The Marines earned the nickname Teufel Hunden from the Germans

Damn those Germans and their fancy words! Don't they know American is the true language of brewing?

Y'all flustrated Texans can edumacate them nazi krauts with some nucular bombs.

I don't know if it's insistence, or rather just practice. Actually, I do know, it's just practice.

And hey, you get to yell German words while brewing. Why would you ever complain about that opportunity?

homebrewdad said:

You realize that vast chunks of the English language are basically stolen from other languages, right?

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Good point.

homebrewdad said:

... other homebrewers are likely to ignore you (or to point and laugh) when you refuse to use proper terms.

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Yes that's the feeling I've gotten too. It feels juvenile, like "this is our club and you have to say 'vorlauf' and 'krausen' to be in it." Which is why I disparaged the words in the first place, an equally juvenile counter move. The whole thing feels a little more silly to me today than it did yesterday.

Thanks for all the replies. I've decided to just conform and use the dang words, for no other reason than to be understood.

strantor said:

Good point.


Yes that's the feeling I've gotten too. It feels juvenile, like "this is our club and you have to say 'vorlauf' and 'krausen' to be in it." Which is why I disparaged the words in the first place, an equally juvenile counter move. The whole thing feels a little more silly to me today than it did yesterday.

Thanks for all the replies. I've decided to just conform and use the dang words, for no other reason than to be understood.

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Well, if you could give a better word for krausen than that, it would be useful. The thing is, vorlauf, lauter and krausen really have no single word synonyms to use. One word totally describes exactly what you mean.

Other hobbies have specialized words, too. SCUBA, sailing, backpacking, etc- they all use words maybe not in the common vernacular. I don't sail, but I have friends who talk about "jibs", "masts", etc. I'm sure they could say "the triangle triangular staysail that sets ahead of the foremast" for "jib" but that would really be silly if they meant "jib" all along.

Krausen is just krausen. But you can call it "the foamy head on the beer comprised of yeast and proteins during fermentation" if the word krausen is bothersome.

The US has strong German heritage. At one point Benjamin Franklin wasn't sure whether English or German was going to be our language.

The US's brewing industry has strong German roots, i.e. Augustus Busch, not to mention that Wisconsin (home of Miller) is an area that a lot of German immigrants came to when they hit America.

The reason that we never created English words for these processes is that we already had Germans here brewing beer, so we simply appropriated those words and use them today as if they're our own.

What I would be interested in, though, is what words the English use for these processes over in the UK? They have their own brewing traditions that undoubtedly didn't come from Germany. Do they use the German terms or do they have their own?

bwarbiany said:

What I would be interested in, though, is what words the English use for these processes over in the UK? They have their own brewing traditions that undoubtedly didn't come from Germany. Do they use the German terms or do they have their own?

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Yes that's a curios thing. I know 2 British homebrewers, but one of them only started brewing when he got to America, so he may not know. I'll ask both anyways and let you know what they say.

Learn the words and impress your friends. They'll think you're a master brewer or something.

Because using random Vietnamese vocab is too hard when you are drunk.

People seeking to understand and communicate about ANYTHING at an unusual level of specificity find that they need to learn some jargon. Serious hobbyists, academics, writers and eskimos describing snow all benefit from a high degree of specificity. Embrace the jargon or risk being misunderstood, that's all.

Let me take a stab at this. Would you prefer to say that crazy foam that the yeast make on top of the beer when they are actively fermenting but which falls back into the beer when the activity subsides except for a ring of it that sticks to the side of the fermenter and not that foam that the wort makes when I aerate it before pitching or would it be easier to just learn what the word krausen means?

Maybe you prefer saying drain the mash tun slowly so the grain bed filters out particles of grain and gives me clear wort instead of just saying lauter?

Each profession usually has some specialized vocabulary that defines a process and is totally understandable to those in the profession but seem strange to an outsider/

How about the act of taking off a bit of wort from the mash tun and returning it to the top of the tun until enough grain bed forms a decent filter and the wort runs clear or would it be easier to just say vorlauf?

Wait until you spend a winter in the high arctic with the natives and discover that they have something like 20 words to describe snow.

http://ackuna.com/badtranslator

Problem solved guys!

Original text:

"foam layer"

...27 translations later, Bing gives us:

"Kim coats"

I was surprised to learn that Germans generally don't use words like sparge, decoction and tun. I'm not sure about trub. Also sparge evidently comes from Latin via French (L. spargere, Fr. espargier)

I thought this german brewing glossary from Kai was fascinating:
- http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Glossary_of_German_Brewing_Terms

-Rich

I have taken the liberty of highlighting in red all words of Germanic origin in the original post:

strantor said:

I haven't been brewing that long, so bear with me. I couldn't help but notice that among the pundits of brewing, there is a strict unspoken insistence upon using the German words for some thing and not for others; things seemingly chosen at random.
For example:
Krausen - I see no reason this should not be called a "foam layer."
Vorlauf - I see no reason this should not be called "recycling."
Lauter - I see no reason this should not be called "filtering."

I can't think of any more right now, but I'm sure there are more. I do no see the need for using the German words for these because they are not proper nouns, and some are verbs. I can understand Hefeweizen, Kolsch, Bock, etc. because these are proper nouns. These are the names of the beers. But Krausen? That's not a name. Why are we using the German word for it?

I asked a guy at a LHBS event why we use "vorlauf" and he said there was no word for it in English.

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The remainder come mostly from Old French, with a few from Latin and Greek, plus one from Hindi!

MalFet said:

I have taken the liberty to highlight in red all words of Germanic origin in the original post:



The remainder come mostly from Old French, with a few from Latin and Greek, plus one from Hindi!

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I like how "English" is of german origin but "German" is not.

osagedr said:

Damn those Germans and their fancy words! Don't they know American is the true language of brewing?

Y'all flustrated Texans can edumacate them nazi krauts with some nucular bombs.

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Ouch Canada! I'm from Texas and have no frustration with using foreign words. I just transform them into Texas words like we do to all the German and Spanish named towns in our state.

Crawson, trubb, lawter, verloft, spurge, Rainheight's Bot, etc.

murrahjm said:

I like how "English" is of german origin but "German" is not.

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Germans use "Deutsche" and its variants when referring to their selves, country, et al; "English" is from old German "being derived from the name of the Angles, and ultimately from their ancestral region of Angeln (in what is now Schleswig-Holstein)." The term Anglo-Saxon--defining the origin of most modern English, German and American Caucasians--is of German origin because they invaded and settled that part of Europe, driving out the Romans. If they hadn't we would most likely be speaking a more specific type of Romance language, like French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Sourced to Wikipedia.

Slow_Day said:

Ouch Canada! I'm from Texas and have no frustration with using foreign words. I just transform them into Texas words like we do to all the German and Spanish named towns in our state.

Crawson, trubb, lawter, verloft, spurge, Rainheight's Bot, etc.

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Don't get me wrong, I lived in OK for three years and in general love Texans. I just thought the OP was being ridiculous.

Yeah. Me too.

He sure sparked a conversation though.

English is a Germanic language, just think of it as digging into our linguistic history.

strantor said:

Vorlauf - I see no reason this should not be called "recycling."

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I see no reason why we should call it "recycling" instead of "vorlauf." Unless you're some kind of xenophobe.

homebrewdad said:

You realize that vast chunks of the English language are basically stolen from other languages, right?

I'm guessing that the terms have stuck due to the fact that a huge part of our brewing heritage traces back to Germany.

Feel free to use whatever terminology you want, but understand that the terms you disparage are standard issue; other homebrewers are likely to ignore you (or to point and laugh) when you refuse to use proper terms.

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Where other languages borrow words (most of the computer industry uses english words not native words for things like programer and such), English follows other languages down dark alleys, mugs it and rifles through the pockets for loose grammer and spare words.

English has something like 1 million words and counting (including pajamas from the Indian SubContinent). The makes as Asimov noted lymerics much easier in English because of the flexablity of words at many lengths and rhymes to mean the same thing. Red, crimson and vermillion basically all convey the color red, although slightly differently. But for a lymeric each could be used.

And English is making up word from others at times - take bash which in unix stands for 'bourne again shell' far to long, and is shortened to bash. While some would say it is an acroynym, it actually now is basically a word.

Just be glad you don't also do wine with it's words (vintometer anyone? plato?) , or mead with it's words 5 basically different words to mean 'honey wine with X' - no I'm not braggot here. Each field has it's words traced to the origin of that field.

SchieBe

Ein groB dunkel bitte

dankeschoen

osagedr said:

I just thought the OP was being ridiculous.

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For the record, I agree with your assessment. After reading the comments and digesting them, I agree with most of what's been said and I have changed my mind. My original post was a little ridiculous and I think the German terms are appropriate.

Though I've just conceded on public record, I'm sure there will come more posts after this one, which will not take that into account.

bwarbiany said:

What I would be interested in, though, is what words the English use for these processes over in the UK? They have their own brewing traditions that undoubtedly didn't come from Germany. Do they use the German terms or do they have their own?

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I asked my friend in Birmingham about Krausen and Vorloft, and he said this:

I'd call them foam and recirculating, but that's probably not right.

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I do it for the ladies. Chicks dig Krausen.

I don't think recycle is the bed synonym for vorlof. I don't really say vorlof much, I usually say recirculate.

The other examples are not so much a foreign language as they are jargon. If you look up Lautering it will refer to a brewing process.

ACbrewer said:

Where other languages borrow words (most of the computer industry uses english words not native words for things like programer and such), English follows other languages down dark alleys, mugs it and rifles through the pockets for loose grammer and spare words.

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Love this description.