Another great week in Munich! This week we did a lot of practical brewing stuff including lab work, more brewing, filtering, and packaging. We also took the final exam for this portion of the course. It is a relief to be done with studying until June!
Looking at some yeast friends through a microscope. We also looked at wild yeasts and bacteria.
Lab setup with special camera so we can see the instructors microscope as well.
Ryan mashing in!
Hops! Actually not a lot of hops, it was a Weissbier after all.
We are using open fermentation for our Weissbier, which is the traditional way to do it. The yeast did not waste and time and took off.
We also took a trip to Tegernsee, which is a spa town at the base of the alps. It was a rainy day, but we will definitely go back when the weather improves.
The brewery is located in a little castle and their beers are all around my favorite so far. On the right, we also sampled some local schnapps, which they served with a pear ball in the glass.
This is picture of a hotel that we stopped in on the way back to the train station. The whole town has beautiful, classic buildings like this.
I decided to get a pair of quality lederhosen. It may look silly, but here it is like wearing a suit. Everyone wears them to special occasions, festivals and such.
Got the outfit, now headed to the spring fest or Fruhlingsfest! This is from one of the main tents, there were many others. We arrived too late and they were all full, so we had to hang out in one of the outdoor gardens. Outside the tent it was surprisingly like a county or state fair back in the US.
Me and Ryan showing off our new threads.
Back brewing, this time we are making a Pilsner. The system at the school is great, almost all the valves can be controlled through the computer. However, it is in German but that just makes it more important that we understand what is going on.
Here we are filtering the Weissbier. We have gone over filters in the classroom, but having to assemble and operate the filter really brought everything together. We used steam to sterilize everything, which gave us the opportunity for a quick sauna.
Filling day! Here is the filler. Our instructor, Max, was fantastic. With so many moving parts, he was all over making sure we did not mess things up too badly..."Maaaaaax! Why is my machine not working?!?"
Some of our finished product that we will be able to drink when we get back from the study tour.
This is the Munchener schnitzel at our local go to watering hole, Alter Wirt. This is not the giant schnitzel, that one is larger. This one has mustard inside the breading, delicious with an Augustiner Heller Bock. It was 7.5% ABV, which for German standards is very high. Unlike the US where 7-8% ABV IPAs are the norm, most beers here stay in the 4-6%. Augustiner seems to be the go to for locals around Munich, especially their Helles.
After our test on Friday we had an impromptu picnic.
John supplied a huge bottle of Weissbier to kick off the celebration.
Today, I had the traditional breakfast of champions, Weiswurst and Weissbier! Now we are packing up and preparing for our study tour. We will be traveling to many breweries, averaging about two a day for the next two weeks. It will be quite the marathon, as we will be visiting northern Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium. I will try to keep track of the all the places we go and take plenty of pictures to keep the memories fresh. This has been such an amazing experience so far, and I have a feeling things are about to kicked up a few gears!
