This cross breed thrives well in these areas, the cold months produced some truly excellent beers.Īlthough there was still no knowledge of how yeast works, brewers understood that yeast could be "harvested" at the end of fermentation and then reused, with a stable end result. It is widely assumed that this Patagonian Bayanus strain reached the higher regions of central Europe (present-day Austria, southern Germany and the Czech Republic) around the 16th century and crossed with Cerevisiae.
It is now understood that this is the yeast strain that forms the other part of the cross. It wasn’t until 2011 when scientists discovered Saccharomyces Bayanus wild, in the Patagonian nature that this was known. Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis is probably across between Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (top-fermenting brewer's yeast, for Ale) and an until 2011, an unknown yeast strain. This rest period (or storage) is called lagering and that is why we call all these beers lager. Bottom fermentation beers need a longer rest period after the main fermentation that occurs in cold conditions (around 0 degrees) compared to top fermenting beers. The word lager comes from the German word lagern, which means "to store".
It is a slow-growing yeast that functions best under cool conditions (8-12 degrees Celsius). It is also called Saccharomyces Pastorianus, after Louis Pasteur. It is he who is responsible for cultivating this pure yeast strain at the end of the 19th century. The yeast used for lager is called Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis, named after the brewer, Christian Hansen. The difference is therefore mainly made during fermentation, with bottom fermentation in the case of lager. If a lot of dark malt has been used, the beer will become dark, the more sugar in the wort, the more alcohol it eventually contains (potentially), and so on. The composition of the wort naturally has a major influence on the final product. A true pilsner-style lager is, nicely described as “a harmonic link between the old and the new world.Īs with any beer, a brewer first makes wort, a sugar-rich liquid made from malt and hops. Craft Lager by Canadian brewers Steamworks is a good example of this. If you’re interested in pilsner, read Czech beer for a more detailed description Lager vs pilsnerĪ good pilsner a is fairly dry, spicy and hoppy lager. A must try and good place to start if you want to explore Pilsner! The beer was loved so much that it still exists today: Pilsener Urquell. From Bavaria, Groll brought a special yeast, which mixed with the soft water of Plzen produced a clear beer, golden in colour and crisp in character. Groll set about trying to produce a good quality lager as the quality of Czech lager at the time was disappointing. Pilsner was first brewed in 1842 by the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll. Ultimately, pilsners are just spicier, more hoppy lagers. The most notable difference between them is that pilsners tend to have more hop forward flavours and they use different yeast. Pilsner is actually type of lager, named after the Czech city Plzen. Both are a collective name for bottom-fermenting beer types. Pilsner, helles lager, Dortmunder, bock and Märzen are examples of beers that are part of the lager family. In short, all lager is beer, but not all beer is a lager. Sounds simple, but we get asked this one a lot. We are going to dive into some of the most common questions about lager, but the end of this article, you'll be a lager expert! Difference between lager and beer?
Lager is actually a collective name for many bottom-fermenting beer styles, where the colour varies from dark brown to light blonde and the alcohol percentage ranges from alcohol-free to over 10%. Depending on where you are, it can also be referred to as pilsner, helles, Märzen or simply lager. The average beer drinker will think of lager as a refreshing, smooth and easy to drink light coloured beer of around 5% alcohol.