07/12/2009
Ian Bearpark, Production Director at leading Lancashire brewer, Daniel Thwaites, was recently invited to give a lecture in Germany on English Cask Beer to the International Course at the VLB (Versuchs & Lehranstalt fur Brauerei – Part of the Technical University) in Berlin. The course included students from Germany, Japan, Korea, Argentina and the USA.
Ian was invited by Tom Shellhammer, one of his fellow examiners at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, currently on secondment to the VLB from the State University of Oregon in the USA.
To provide some authenticity and for sampling, Ian travelled to Germany with two casks of beer for a live demonstration of tapping, venting and hand pull dispense. One of the casks, a re-racked Wainwright was used to demonstrate on the day of the lecture and a normally racked Lancaster Bomber which was stillaged in the University’s yeast room, allowed to settle and dispensed the next day. Lancaster Bomber was chosen to demonstrate the concept of dry hopping in the cask, one of many alien concepts for the students.
The journey from Leeds to Berlin was broken by a stay in Lauenau near Hanover at one of the many privately owned breweries with rooms available in Germany. Thomas Rupp is the 5th generation Braumeister to have run the brewery at the Felsenkeller Brauereigasthof. The casks spent the night in the cellar to stay cool and arrived the next day in Berlin in great condition after their 48 hour journey.
The lecture opened by pouring four different Thwaites bottled beers (Flying Shuttle – brown 4.9%, Wainwright – pale 4.1%, Lancaster Bomber – chestnut 4.4%, Double Century – golden 5.2%) to demonstrate the variety of colour and ABV’s in the UK, which was then followed by a bit of history on British beer types. Based on Lancaster Bomber, the techniques for ale brewing in open square fermenters were discussed. For many of the students who had been brought up with the Reinheitsgebot, it was an introduction to warmer fermentations, the use of sugar, caramel, auxiliary finings and Isinglass in the cask.
Film clips of yeast pitching and Yorkshire Square fermentations at Thwaites were shown. The different methods of cask washing and filling were then shown using Black Sheep, Copper Dragon and Thwaites as examples of different plant types and levels of automation.
Having overcome the non Reinheightsgebot brewing techniques, the students were just about ready for the final video clip of cask dispense in Ian’s local pub in Yorkshire, which has the best example of a twin auto-back in the county. Although frowned upon in most parts of the country, re-cycling the overflow from the glass via the auto-back still lives on in some parts. The magnificent reflux in a pint of Tetley’s from the sparkler and the subsequent top up were greatly admired by the students.
Following the lecture, the cask of Wainwright was sampled and a demonstration of tapping and venting given with the Lancaster Bomber. The next day, following stillaging, students attended a supplementary training session on hand pulling their own cask of Lancaster Bomber, noting the effect of the finings and sampling the different complex ale flavours and mouth feel. As souvenirs of the experience, all left the session with beer mats, bar towels and pint glasses donated by Daniel Thwaites, Copper Dragon, Black Sheep and Tetley’s.
Ian Bearpark, Production Director at Daniel Thwaites comments: “I was honoured to be invited to Berlin to speak to the students at the VLB. It was a pleasure to share my passion for real cask ales with such a receptive, young audience and know that 30 future brewers from around the world have now been introduced to and thoroughly enjoyed the individuality and complex flavours of English Real Ale, courtesy of Daniel Thwaites.”
Tom Shellhammer, Nor’Wester Professor of Fermentation Science at Oregon State University said: “The students loved Ian’s lecture, for many it was the highlight of the course. Several, if not all, did not understand what cask conditioned ale is and Ian’s lecture opened their eyes to this historical method of brewing ales. The hands-on part with the casks, the tap and dispense, and of course the flavor or freshly drawn cask ale was unforgettable…one of those “teachable moments” that us academics talk about. Having a true/genuine brewer from England come to Berlin and lecture on this gave the topic tremendous importance and credibility. Furthermore, Ian’s style, which blended technical discussion with a light and uniquely humorous approach, was well received, engaging and informative.”