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Bottling.?Formerly it was the general custom to brew a special beer for bottling, and this practice is still continued by some brewers. It is generally admitted that the special brew, matured by storage and an adequate secondary fermentation, produces the best beer for bottling, but the modern taste for a very light and bright bottled beer at a low cost has necessitated the introduction of new methods. The most interesting among these is the "chilling" and "carbonating" system. In this the beer, when it is ripe for racking, is first "chilled," that is, cooled to a very low temperature. As a result, there is an immediate deposition of much matter which otherwise would require prolonged time to settle. The beer is then filtered and so rendered quite bright, and finally, in order to produce immediate "condition," is "carbonated," i.e. impregnated under pressure with carbon dioxide (carbonic acid gas).
Foreign Brewing and Beers.?The system of brewing which differs most widely from the English infusion and top fermentation method is the decoction and bottom fermentation system, so widely employed, chiefly on the continent of Europe, for the production of beers of the "lager" type.
The method pursued in the decoction system is broadly as follows:?After the grist has been mashed with cold water until a homogeneous mixture ensues, sufficient hot water is introduced into the mash-tun to raise the temperature to 85-100° F., according to circumstances. Thereupon, about one-third of the mash (including the "goods") is transferred to the Maisch Kessel (mash copper), in which it is gradually brought to a temperature of (about) 165° F., and this heat is maintained until the mash becomes transparent. The Dickmaische, as this portion is called, is then raised to the boil, and the ebullition sustained between a quarter and three-quarters of an hour. Just sufficient of the Dickmaische is returned to the mash-tun proper to raise the temperature of the whole to 111-125° F., and after a few minutes a third is again withdrawn and treated as before, to form the second "thick mash." When the latter has been returned to the mash-tun the whole is thoroughly worked up, allowed to stand in order that the solids may deposit, and then another third (called the Läutermaische or "clear mash") is withdrawn, boiled until the coagulable albuminoids are precipitated, and finally reconveyed to the mash-tun, where the mashing is continued for some time, the final heat being rather over 160° F. The wort, after boiling with hops and cooling, much as in the English system, is subjected to the peculiar system of fermentation called bottom fermentation. In this system the "pitching" and fermentation take place at a very low temperature and, compared with the English system, in very small vessels. The fermenting cellars are maintained at a temperature of about 37-38° F., and the temperature of the fermenting wort does not rise above 50° F. The yeast, which is of a different type from that employed in the English system, remains at the bottom of the fermenting tun, and hence is derived the name of "bottom fermentation" (see Fermentation). The primary fermentation lasts about eleven to twelve days (as compared with three days on the English system), and the beer is then run into store (lager) casks where it remains at a temperature approaching the freezing-point of water for six weeks to six months, according to the time of the year and the class of the beer. As to the relative character and stability of decoction and infusion beers, the latter are, as a rule, more alcoholic; but the former contain more unfermented malt extract, and are therefore, broadly speaking, more nutritive. Beers of the German type are less heavily hopped and more peptonized than English beers, and more highly charged with carbonic acid, which, owing to the low fermentation and storing temperatures, is retained for a comparatively long time and keeps the beer in condition. On the other hand, infusion beers are of a more stable and stimulating character. It is impossible to keep "lager" beer on draught in the ordinary sense of the term in England. It will not keep unless placed on ice, and, as a matter of fact, the "condition" of lager is dependent to a far greater extent on the methods of distribution and storage than is the case with infusion beers. If a cask is opened it must be rapidly consumed; indeed it becomes undrinkable within a very few hours. The gas escapes rapidly when the pressure is released, the temperature rises, and the beer becomes flat and mawkish. In Germany every publican is bound to have an efficient supply of ice, the latter frequently being delivered by the brewery together with the beer.
