Bottle Fermented Beer?

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MetallHed

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I picked up a sixer of various New Glarus beers, one called "Organic Revolution." On the label it states that it is "100% bottle fermented."

What is bottle fermentation and how does this work?

Do they literally put a small precise combination of ingredients in every bottle and cap it?

Can an expert shed some light on this for me, because I'm very curious.


Thanks!
 
Naturally carbed means it was carbonated with sugar in the bottle as opposed to the beer being force carbonated by putting it under pressure of CO2.
 
Lots of breweries do this, it's called Kräusening.

Edit: Kräusening is not the same as adding sugar at bottling.
 
What is bottle fermentation and how does this work?

You make the beer, then add a little more sugar (or extract or other fermentable) then put it in the bottle. The yeast restart for a short time, make enough CO2 to carbonate the bottle, then run out of food and stop. The yeast then settle to the bottom and form a thin layer on the bottom of the bottle. When pouring this can become agitated, and the last ounce or so can be cloudy as a result.

Bottle conditioning produces beer that is slightly more resistant to aging effects; the yeast tend to scrounge oxygen (which is bad for bottled beer.)
 
Lots of breweries do this, it's called Kräusening.

Edit: Kräusening is not the same as adding sugar at bottling.

agreed. bottle conditioned beer, especially imports, isn't that uncommon.

I suspect this specific beer is carbed by krausening to seem more 'pure' than using corn sugar or force carbing like the big breweries do it.
 
agreed. bottle conditioned beer, especially imports, isn't that uncommon.

It's darned common in the US, too; to take one humongous example, Sierra Nevada bottle conditions their beer. Bell's, Allagash, Lost Abbey, Russian River--pretty much all the major craft breweries once you get below the Sam Adams size.
 
yeah this beer is supposed to pay homage to the old ways of doing things so I'm sure thats what they were shooting for.

when i poured it, it was an amber color and had a TON of small particles in it.

Was pretty good though. Kind of bland... but pretty good!
 
I think there is something more to Metalhed's question. Take for example, Dogfish Head's Squall IPA. Part of its claim is that it is 100% bottle FERMENTED, not bottle conditioned. Dogfish Head most certainly bottle conditions some of their wicked ales and they dont bother to mention it. I think Sam C. actually did a complete fermentation in individual bottles with this IPA. I don't find it too crazy to consider measuring out a predetermined amount of wort and yeast per bottle. Its obviously not dry-hopped, but its is a big beer at 9% ABV.
 
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