“Bier! Der Film” - German country style brewing, blew my mind

[McKnuckle]

I ran across this on YouTube yesterday and even though it’s entirely in German, I was sucked in for the entire one hour seven minutes.



It’s a fascinating and somewhat shocking film of some dudes at a farmhouse in a German village brewing Märzen for their clan, at a scale most of us cannot imagine, using all jerry rigged equipment.

They do several mash rests. Temperature control? They move a pile of burning wood in and out from under the suspended mash tun.

And to say they do not follow customary sanitation procedures would be an understatement.

And yet in the end, they drink what appears to be very authentic, albeit rustic, copper colored lager beer.

I encourage a look-see of at least part of it. You can even steal the recipe - which I converted to homebrew scale and it looks tasty!

 

[brewgar]

Please post the recipe that you converted to homebrew scale.

 

[McKnuckle]

Sure, but don't miss the amazement of watching the video!

Grain Bill:
23.8% Pilsner
23.8% Munich
47.6% Vienna
4.8% Carahell

Mash schedule:
52ºC for 20 minutes
63ºC for 40 minutes
73ºC for 20 minutes
76ºC mashout

I would probably do two sacch. rests at 145ºF and 158ºF.

Boil/Hops:
I'm going with a 60 minute boil. I have no idea how long their boil was.
Add Hallertau hops @ 60 and 20 minutes before the end of the boil in equal amounts to achieve ~23 IBU (0.39 BU:GU ratio).

Fermentation:
OG = 1.059, FG = whatever you get!
Ferment with Saflager 34/70 according to your preferred lagering procedure.

They fermented in a covered tub for 7 days, then racked into sealed metal containers and continued fermentation for an unknown period. After that, they bottled the cloudy beer and lagered it in the bottles for some additional time. All of the cold side procedures were so incredibly sloppy that I would never replicate it. I was more interested in the hot side of the process.

 

[dx250]

Proof that rednecks exist everywhere and that our rednecks in the US have much to learn. German rednecks no longer have a need for the saying "hold my beer."

 

[yourlastchance89]

That set up is actually pretty sweet.

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

Was there a secondary or straight to bottling? If so I missed that.

I thought it was interesting I wish it were subtitled. With the exception of the bottles I think everything that touched the beer on the cold side was used on the hot side. I liked the primitive filtering too. No reason to over complicate things. My hunch is they consumed it quickly which is an advantage. There are probably a few lessons there.

 

[dx250]

This is going to be my next lager, I may even do the wood fired mash and boil.

 

[snowtiger1987]

I guess they are not concerned about hot-side aeration

 

[McKnuckle]

There appeared to be a secondary. They fermented all of it for 7 days in the tub (covered with wood). Then they transferred into large sealed jugs/casks of some kind, which went somewhere - then finally they bottled it. Definitely a train wreck on the cold side. But they are clearly not concerned.

 

[Chris Levesque]

I would probably do two sacch. rests at 145ºF and 158ºF.

I'd do a protein rest still at about 126F.

 

[Gravitysucks]

The same guy also has a video of brewing a small batch at the beach.

 

[NGD]

Anyone else want to try this on their next camping trip?

The Californian side of me is having issues with the fact he just leaves the water running.

 

[Miraculix]

Wie geil sind die denn

Dann noch aus dem hohen Norden, dicht an meiner Heimat.

I love it!

And just to be clear, those guys have nothing in common with hill billies.

 

[JZ1018]

Anyone else notice the bad bald cap/wig the professor is wearing? You can also clearly see his dark pony tail sticking out the back sometimes. Would love to have an English translation of this.

 

[Hellbender1]

This is a really fascinating video! Here's an English translation of the intro from the actual Youtube page:

"A guide to brewing beer (brewing beer at home). And not 20 liters with expensive equipment, but 500 liters with the simplest means over an open fire in the garden! There is no beer master brewer here in front of highly polished equipment, but Dr. Drunk, always with a beer in hand, explains all the steps involved in brewing from mashing to drinking. As comedy for watching as well as a guide to imitation. The rough charm of the North German brewers and the guests from Brandenburg show how you can have fun there, where there is no disse, trendy pub, no cinema and no cultural events. Then you make your own events! Recorded in Timmaspe-Schleswig-Holstein (T.A.). Unfortunately, the sound is sometimes blown away by the wind, in northern Germany is always storm, we had an external micro with wool sock over it, unfortunately, not yet in the recordings. Beginner's mistake - we learn!"

 

[McKnuckle]

Thanks a lot @Hellbender1, it is cool to know that they fully grasp the rustic and unpretentious nature of their endeavors! They may not have shiny equipment, but they definitely have invested time and effort and some money nonetheless, as the operation is pretty impressive. And it's clearly a collective operation too, meant to provide the group - Neighbors? A club? Extended family? - with a season's worth of beer.

Dr. Drunk needs to post on HBT!

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

Around 16:25. Dr.Evil trying to steal the secret recipe with the camera on his phone, and at 19:35 Dr.Johnny Fever from WKRP makes an appearance. This video is pretty funny. I was wondering how they were going to transfer from their "Mashtun" in at 27:25 I was amazed.

I could see this as a show - "How to brew with salvaged junk"

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

The same guy also has a video of brewing a small batch at the beach.

The scenery in this video would entice me to brew like this.

 

[madscientist451]

Just shows what you can get away with when making beer. I've been going from complicated to short and shoddy the last year or so and this video will push me even more in that direction with certain styles.

 

[Braumeise]

I ran across this on YouTube yesterday and even though it’s entirely in German, I was sucked in for the entire one hour seven minutes.



It’s a fascinating and somewhat shocking film of some dudes at a farmhouse in a German village brewing Märzen for their clan, at a scale most of us cannot imagine, using all jerry rigged equipment.

They do several mash rests. Temperature control? They move a pile of burning wood in and out from under the suspended mash tun.

And to say they do not follow customary sanitation procedures would be an understatement.

And yet in the end, they drink what appears to be very authentic, albeit rustic, copper colored lager beer.

I encourage a look-see of at least part of it. You can even steal the recipe - which I converted to homebrew scale and it looks tasty!

OMG!
The funniest thing for me (being born and raised in Germany) they said they need it to be 90°F environmental temperature to "kill" the 5 liter "Master" Bottle but August in Northern Germany and it is roughly 60°F hence they fired up the stove to "drink" - lol

It's a Märzen - they say in the beginning that they are brewing a Märzen and they let the big bottle sit for 4 month before they opened it.
They actually explain pretty well how beer is brewed.

Thanks for this link. Was pretty entertaining.

 

[Braumeise]

Wie geil sind die denn

Dann noch aus dem hohen Norden, dicht an meiner Heimat.

I love it!

And just to be clear, those guys have nothing in common with hill billies.

Ja, gell?!

ich hab mich auch grad weggeschmissen! Sau geil!