Rye beer
Rye beer is a beer for the production of which rye malt and / or rye from raw fruit is used as a starch supplier for alcoholic fermentation .
Until the 15th century, beer is generally said to have been brewed from rye malt as well. A clear restriction to one region has not been clearly proven. Gradually, rye was displaced as a source of starch. Instead, the barley, which was rather unsuitable for baking, was bred to special brewing barley varieties.
Manufacturing and brewing process
Rye beer requires the brewer to carry out additional work steps in order to achieve better profitability in order to extract the ingredients required for the subsequent alcohol production from the mash. The spectrum of beer types that can be produced essentially corresponds to barley or wheat beers. The brewing process of a rye beer does not differ fundamentally from beers with barley or wheat malt pouring. The brewer understands pouring to mean the types of malt put together for the later beer. There is - depending on the brewing system used - the choice between the so-called infusion brewing process and the two or three mix process. In contrast to wheat or barley, the proportion of mucilage ( pentosans ) in rye is more than twice as high. This proportion is required for dough formation during baking, but the extraction of the wort during the mashing process is made considerably more difficult by the sharp increase in viscosity. In principle, this could be countered by the administration of xylanase . Since this is not compatible with the regulations of the Purity Law, the enzymes present in the grain are specifically activated. The digestion of the pentosans can be achieved - without external addition of these enzymes - by maintaining a so-called rubber or pentosan rest at the level of the mashing temperature of around 35 ° C. The longer this rest is observed, the more complete the breakdown takes place. The actual conversion of starch into the individual types of sugar then takes place by gradually increasing and resting in precisely defined temperature levels. These are called maltose rest (from 60 ° C) and saccharification rest (from 70 ° C). The above-mentioned increased proportion of pentosans in rye malt ultimately makes the lautering process more difficult, i. H. separating the liquid with the extracts ( wort ) dissolved in it and the spent grains . After wort boiling and simultaneous hopping, fermentation can take place. Finally, it should be added that the brewhouse yield from rye beer deposits can often be far below the value to be expected from comparable barley or wheat malt deposits. It is due to this fact that this type of beer will gain limited economic importance.
Properties and taste profile
Rye beer is difficult to compare with conventional beers; it is usually dark and top-fermented . There is usually a wheat beer or ale yeast fermented. The use of rye malt in bottom-fermented beer is entirely possible. Only the expression of fruit or spice aromas increases when using typical wheat beer yeast. Due to the special properties of rye, the beer is cloudy (often more cloudy than wheat beer) and has clear fruit notes. The taste is slightly sour or brotiger than in wheat beer, it can, depending on the proportion of rye even a hint of depending on the version pumpernickel bread have. The foam is usually darker and more coarse-pored. Fatty acids contained in rye can greatly reduce the foam stability. The color of the beer is not tied to light or dark. The expression as a dark beer type is usually due to the regionally available water values (especially the carbonate hardness ). Since a rye malt fill generally has more acid than other types of beer, very hard water with over 20 ° dH can also be used for beer production without prior treatment. By adding darker malts or caramel malts, the bread-like rye aroma is specifically enhanced. The taste of a traditionally produced rye beer can be described as malty, sweet and oily in the initial taste and brings with it a velvety mouthfeel.
Comparable or similar drinks
Pumpernickel- Porter is one of the rye beer types . In the broadest sense, it includes kvass, which is drunk in Slavic countries , in which, in contrast to rye beer, (rye) bread is used as a source of starch rather than malt.
Web links
- Rye beer at better-bier-brauen.de
- Jürgen Pangerl: The myth of rye beer - or maybe none?
Individual evidence
- ↑ A. Maurizio: The history of fermented drinks , page 105, Verlag Dr. Martin Sendet oHG, Wiesbaden 1970
- ↑ rye beer at Braulexikon.de
- ↑ Ludwig Narziss, Werner Back: The beer brewery: Volume 2: The technology of wort preparation , Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3527325337
- ↑ Pumpernickel Porter on gruthaus.de, accessed on February 2, 2015
- ^ WW Rudolf, "Die Lebensmittelindustrie" 16 (1969), Issue 4, pages 133-135.