Lager beer, historically tied to the seasons, has always required brewers to make some predictions. Working in the cool of winter, a 16th century Bavarian brewer would have had to estimate well in advance how much beer would be needed in the warmer months of the year, so they could try to fit it all in the caves.
Today, brewing lager is a year-round endeavor, but prediction remains intrinsic to the practice—and that’s especially true when a brewery must balance top-fermenting ales with lagers that can take three or four times longer to make. Time is money, and every extra day a beer spends in a tank represents an opportunity cost.
It wasn’t so many years ago that craft-beer enthusiasts would jeer at the family of styles that includes virtually all the world’s top-selling brands. Those days are gone, and now these more flavorful lagers are finding new fans on both sides of the bar. And while today’s craft-lager scene is exciting and inspiring, there’s no escaping the additional challenges of bringing a lager to market.
Here, we hear from a handful of dedicated lager brewers about how to fit slow beer into fast-paced production schedules. Unexpectedly, perhaps, no one here suggests speeding up fermentation times or cutting tank time short as an easy solution. Yet each brewery has its own unique approach to streamlining lager production in the modern craft context.