Sunday, July 17, 2011

Brewing at Riegele


One of our brew days was hosted by the Riegele brewery in Augsburg, Germany. Augsburg is about an hour by car northwest of Munich. We met the Brewmaster there to brew an American IPA (this one we didn't get to drink though) on their 1 barrel pilot brewing system. The best part of the day was that they left us unattended for most of the day. We were able to learn the system and make most of the decisions ourselves. It was a really fun day on an awesome setup! After we were finished brewing we took a tour of their brewery (including the cellar which they play classical music all the time for the yeast!).


There copper clad 1 barrel system. Really awesome!



Mashing in.


Vorlaufing (recirculating) by hand. Notice the fancy plastic pitchers used in this very precise exercise. This really felt like home brewing again which many of us have missed dearly over the past 7 months.


Taking a temperature reading wearing some official Riegele gear.


My homies monitoring the process. We had a great time making beer and drinking Riegele's award winning pilsner. After we finished brewing we were taken on a tour of the brewery.


Their functioning brewery, which was amazing.


Yeast management. The man in the purple shirt is the Brewmaster there and he is a huge human being and a wonderful host. The people at Riegele were truly welcoming as we were visited by the owner's son who is the most recent world champion beer sommelier. He was extremely welcoming and had great things to say about the American beer scene.


After a long day at Riegele, we returned to have drinks with some departing friends (not part of the program) and met Michael Eder (our fearless WBA leader) by chance at Wilderhurst, a small restaurant near school, and had some Uerige Altbier (which isn't on the menu - you just have to be in the know and since Michael Eder is the Master Brewer at Uerige - he is in the know). Described by some as the most sought after Altbier in the world, it lives up to its reputation.

Location:Augsburg, Germany

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