Franconian Beer Message Board

Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech
Posted by Mosquit on 2015-01-19 03:39:03
>> The one works at warmer temps and faster, the other colder and slower. (Right?)

This is not true. It is not related to any temperatures AFAIK even if many people thinks it is. Both of them ferments at warmer temps and faster (and they prefer to; from micro-biological point of view). However Saccharomyces pastorianus (sometimes called also in different names, I mean "bottom") are able to ferment ALSO in lower temps (beside of other differences).And somebody found, that when fermenting at lower temps, they produce "cleaner" beers. Actually, Budweisser strain (commercial example:WLP802, or directly from Budweisser their "H-strain" ferments even at 0°C (not lower). Very slowly, but yes it does. 

AFAIK this (top/bottom) terms are more related to:
1) from where you collect the yeast for future batches, and/or
2) how the yeast behaves during fermenting the beer. I think that top-fermenting yeast are usually clump together into chunks (and chunks then have the bigger surface area than one single cell -> they are taken to the top by CO2 produced by another cells). As opposite, bottom-fermented yeast are "loners".  

As far I know the tradition of bottom-fermented beers in Franconia goes somewhere into 14th century. This is similar as in Bohemia; however, most beers here were anyway top-fermented. I do not know if it was the same in Franconia. 

Since middle 1850s the Bohemian breweries started to use bottom fermented yeast again; around the 1900 there remained only a few breweries who still did top-fermented beers. 
Then long story (in the communist era) of only (100%) bottom-fermented beers was followed by first microbreweries after 1989 with top-fermented beers (+ also some commercial attempts, even from our big brewery Gambrinus).

Nowadays also some middle-size and big breweries are producing top-fermented beers; however I woudl expect that it is still under 2% of total beer produced in CZ. 
 
Followups:
                           Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by Nick B. on  2015-01-19 05:04:33
                             Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by Mosquit on  2015-01-19 05:38:56
                               Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by barry on  2015-01-19 06:36:34
                                 Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by Mosquit on  2015-01-19 06:43:27
                             Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by FredW on  2015-01-19 08:03:52
                               Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by Nick B. on  2015-01-20 05:09:00
                                 Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by Mosquit on  2015-01-20 06:27:18
                                   Untergärig vs. Obergärig - top/bottom fermenting naming + history in Czech by Nick B. on  2015-01-20 07:13:21
                                     Repitching yeast by FredW on  2015-01-20 07:35:41
                                       Repitching yeast by Mosquit on  2015-01-20 09:03:27
                                         Repitching yeast by Nick B. on  2015-01-21 00:52:36
                                           Repitching yeast by Nick B. on  2015-01-21 00:53:26
                                           Repitching yeast + cost calculation by Mosquit on  2015-01-21 02:44:18
                                             Repitching yeast + cost calculation by Mark Andersen on  2015-01-21 07:29:12
                                               Repitching yeast + cost calculation by Mosquit on  2015-01-21 07:53:28