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Past isn’t necessarily prologue for today’s lager brewers, but it certainly is at Goldfinger Brewing in Downers Grove, Illinois. A family history of brewing lager and manufacturing equipment for brewers in Poland and Czechia was just the kick that Tom Beckmann needed to pursue his dream of building a small, contemporary, lager-focused brewery. Now, as the brewery undertakes its next expansion, Beckmann is committed to widening the lager discourse, to showcasing the potential of both European and domestic ingredients in lager brewing, and to embracing flavor and character across a range of different lager styles. In this episode, Beckmann discusses:
- building on his family brewing history in Poland and Czechia
- designing and constructing a brewhouse for lager brewing
- step-mashing and decoction strategies for various pale lagers
- using sterile air rather than pure oxygen to reduce yeast stress
- cereal cooking vs. gelatinized adjuncts for certain lagers
- blending domestic and imported pils malt for the best flavor, performance, and price
- the tactile experience of different malts
- selecting Tettnanger hops for pils and Hallertauer Mittlefrüh for helles
- the fundamentals of Polish pils
- the American Zoigl project in conjunction with Live Oak, Urban Chestnut, and others
And more.
This episode is brought to you by:
G&D Chillers
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This episode is brought to you by our friends at BSG. Who invite you to experience one of the newest hops from their Hop Solutions line, HS Grove™. Developed for hop-forward beer styles, HS Grove boasts incredible biotransformation qualities. Giving you the power to transform your next IPA into stone fruit powerhouse. Choose HS Grove™ for West Coast IPA, New England IPA, Double IPA, American pale ale, or any beer style where delicious fresh fruit aromatics are desired. Visit BSGCraftbrewing.com to learn more.
Is your brewery making its own ciders, seltzers, and other beverages beyond beer? If you need a central source for fruit flavor, Old Orchard has you covered. Old Orchard supplies flavored craft juice concentrate blends to beverage brands for the production of beer, cider, seltzer, wine, spirits, kombucha, and more. Flavor your lineup and streamline your sourcing by heading to oldorchard.com/brewer
ProBrew is excited to announce that we are currently featuring short lead times, between 2-4 weeks, for our in-stock ProFill Rotary Can Fillers! These can fillers run at speeds between 100 – 600+ cans per minute while achieving precise and consistent filling volumes not achievable by most inline and mobile fillers. For more information, fill out our contact form on www.probrew.com or email [email protected] to learn exactly how we can take your operations to the next level. ProBrew, brew YOUR beer.
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We’ve got some exciting news from GW Kent – they are expanding their product range to include many varieties of Ardagh cans, can handles, cleaning chemicals, and quality malts. Now you can shop spare parts for the cellar, ingredients for the brewhouse, and canning supplies for the packaging team all in one convenient location. GW Kent’s new and improved website makes it easier than ever to quickly obtain the materials you need to keep your business brewing. Start saving today at gwkent.com!