357: Von Trapp Makes Conscious Process Choices For Lager Quality and Drinkability
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While popular movies tell finite stories, the real lives of the people they feature don\\u2019t stop when the final credits roll. So, it was up to the von Trapp family\\u2014whose story was told with huge dramatic license in The Sound of Music\\u2014to write their own next chapters. They did so by establishing a popular, Austrian-inspired family lodge in northern Vermont\\u2014then, about 15 years ago, they opened a brewery just down the hill.
\\n\\nThey launched with the goal of producing finely crafted European-style lagers, befitting the family\\u2019s heritage. Craft lagers weren\\u2019t exactly lighting up the sales charts at the time, but it was a long-term bet from a family that thinks in generations rather than quarterly returns. Now, with a beautiful automated Rolec brewhouse and an attached beer hall, they\\u2019re producing award-winning lagers at scale\\u2014including the Oktoberfest that we named one of our Best 18 Beers in 2018\\u2014all while making very intentional decisions about process and ingredients.
\\n\\nIn this episode, brewing operations director Tom Everett and quality manager Jack Van Pappegem talk through their approach to ingredients and process, including:
\\n\\n- \\n
- avoiding decoction of many pale lagers, despite having an automated and dedicated decoction vessel \\n
- finishing pale lagers dry, but not too dry \\n
- using small amounts of specialty malts to build character \\n
- managing the grain crush \\n
- keeping a tight focus on pH \\n
- strategies to promote healthy fermentations \\n
- selecting yeast for the ideal character \\n
- lagering in cylindroconical unitanks \\n
- brewing Oktoberfest lager as well as dark lagers
And more.
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