Franconia Beer Message Board
Oxygen |
| Posted by Barry on 2016-03-26 10:26:37 |
| Is it also the case that the process of decoction brewing (in Franken, double or treble decoction) leaves less yeast residue than the infusion process used in the UK? Thus, there is more fermentable material left for the cask-conditioning, which is a fundamental part of the real ale story? When you say that the Franken beers are not bottle conditioned, is this because there is so little fermentable material available for bottle-conditioning after the decoction process, which is then further reduced by fine filtering? It follows, therefore, that bottle beer from the small Franken breweries is essentially intended to be drunk as quick as possible? This is fairly different from the case with UK or Belgium beers, which can be 'laid down' for lengthy periods. I've just written about the bottle of Rochefort 8 that I drank many years after buying it. Presumably, it had a fair amount of fermentable material in the bottle? In answer to the last question, 'no'! I've written about this before on the Forum. It amazes me how well my beer will last (even in PET bottle) after it has been opened. Because I don't have enough swing-top bottles for 1 brew, I usually fill 3 or 4 PET bottles and, if I open one of these for myself, I can't usually finish it one go. Somestimes, I've left half a bottle for some time (as much as 2 weeks) and then re-opened it to find it is still pretty drinkable (maybe not as good as when first opened but still ok). I put this down to the same process as spiling a cask of real ale - ok, some air gets in but whilst there is still a reasonable quantity of fermentable material left in the bottle, it will produce enough natural CO2 to maintain a reasonable quality. Possibly also the pressure inside the bottle will push out the surplus oxygen, as the caps don't seal the bottles perfectly. Again, a bit like the situation in a cask. |