Franziskaner, Wietbier and Homebrew

[Chin Diesel]

I'm enjoying a couple of cold brews of my favorite brewski Franziskaner after a couple of grueling hours pick up hoops at the church.

Problem is, it's tough to find on a consistent basis here in Florida.

Does anyone homebrew? What are the costs for a decent set up? And, is there a difference in complexity in terms of homebrewing lagers vice pilsners, vice wietbiers? I'd really enjoy brewing up some great wietbiers with hints of clover, allspice, banana, etc.

 

[Coach McGurk]

Not a big fan of wheat beers personally, but I like where your head is at. I don't brew, but know a few who do and lived in Munich for a time so I know the style very well. The problems with layering is its a Completly different beast from brewing an ale. Lagers must be stored COLD for a long time (the style was developed in the alps because the alpine caves would stay in the 40s even in the summer so the brew could be stored (lager essentially means to store). I believe you can whip up ale in a few days-weeks, where a think the minimum you want to spend on a lager is 6 weeks and up to months....stored very cold...the entire time.
Also by nature you need different yeast (that can survive the cold) and you need the right hops to get the style you are looking for. I believe the hops fransiskaner uses are from the halertau (sp) and are quite rare. Regular hops are very expensive these days let alone hops that are only grown on like 40 acres in the world (slight exaggeration)....lastly use 6 row barley if you chose to make a real lager.....I couldn't tell you jack about wheat as a malt.
Most importantly (and least followed by a home brewer) real Bavarian lagers use only 4 ingredients: malt ( barley....or wheat)' hops, yeast and naturally water. They don't even add sugar (soak the malt for a few days and it will partially germinate yielding its own sugar supply....) that's about all I have for now.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm enjoying a couple of cold brews of my favorite brewski Franziskaner after a couple of grueling hours pick up hoops at the church.

Problem is, it's tough to find on a consistent basis here in Florida.

Does anyone homebrew? What are the costs for a decent set up? And, is there a difference in complexity in terms of homebrewing lagers vice pilsners, vice wietbiers? I'd really enjoy brewing up some great wietbiers with hints of clover, allspice, banana, etc.

Thought for sure we had 3 new recruits on campus this weekend!!!

 

[Drumguy]

Thought for sure we had 3 new recruits on campus this weekend!!!

My first thought too with the German bent to the team! The Wheat Beer hit and I realized we had another worthy topic!