Franconian Beer Message Board

A day in a brewery, Neuhaus

Posted by barry on 2011-06-09 02:37:41

And this was a day - starting from about midday and lasting until 7 pm, only ending because we had to walk back to Eschawo in time to make the stamtisch at the Weisser Schwann. The people in Neuhaus really do know how to organise a p*** up in a brewery and how! Unlike Eschawo, Neuhaus kommunbrauhaus is set up for hospitality, with a really nice little room for visitors. Brewing on this scale is a relatively boring job, bit like being a shepherd, with most of the time spent watching rather than doing. Neuhaus brauhaus was modernised in 1993 and is much more sophisticated than that in Eschawo, whose belt and pulley system has to be seen to be believed. So the Neuhaus brewers appear to compensate for the time spent in the brauhaus by inviting all and sundry to visit and partake of food and drink. Our host was the convivial Manfred Punzmann from Schoilmichel and the braumeister was Herr Teicher. Manfred's English is possibly worse than my German, so he thoughtfully invited a translator in the shape of Bayerische TV reporter Gerhard Beer - what a name for an afficionado of liquid bread! The original idea was for a camera crew from Ba TV to film an Irish 'braumeister' observing brewing in Neuhaus but this was scuppered by a change in brewing days, saving yours truly from having to confess that his brewery cinsisted of a 40 litre plastic bucket in his kitchen! In spite of regular breaks for refreshments - fresh Schoilmichel zoigl straight from Manfred's cellar - I did manage to watch some of the proceedings and got some nice photo's of the brewing and some shots of the brew being pumped into the kuhlschip (is that the right spelling?), with clouds of steam adding a really really dramatic touch. Like all the Neuhaus brewers, Manfred uses mainly pilsner malt, with 10% munchener to vary the taste, and this is milled in Neuhaus' own mill. Also, Halltauer pelleted hops (sorry Nick), which Gerhard told me have gone down in quality due to over use of pesticides and other bad agricultural practices. Manfred also showed us around his cellar, which provided the big surprise of the day. People who have visited Schoilmichel will recall that it is a pretty homely place but the cellar is 100% modern and must have cost a bomb. Everything is stainless steel and looks really new. Being next to the brauhaus, he can pump the wort straight into his fermentation tanks, which saves using the brewery tanker. The brauhaus has a good graphic display with photo's of the old equipment and processes. Before modernisation, everything was done by hand, including ladling the wort out of the tun with small wooden containers into large wooden barrels, which were then horse drawn to the individual stube, where they had to be ladled into barrels and stored in the cellars. I was told that all the stube, both in Eschawo and Neuhaus, are now fully equipped with modern refrigeration equipment to ensure consistency. This day was an eye opener in many ways and also a great tribute to the hospitality of the zoigl brewers in Neuhaus. When we somewhat regretfully left around 7 pm, Gerhard, Manfred and a number of visitors were still blissfully drinking and eating and seem ready to settle in for the evening! I would like to use thius opportunity to thank Manfred, and his friends, for a great day out, which, I hope we can repeat some time in the future. This posting is already long enough, specially considering that it has nothing to do with Franken beer, so, if anyone wants any more details, let me know and I'll try to provide.

A day in a brewery, Neuhaus by TreinJan on 2011-06-09 03:26:08

A day in a brewery, Neuhaus by Mark Andersen on 2011-06-09 06:17:44

A day in a brewery, Neuhaus by Uncle Jimbo on 2011-06-09 09:06:50

A day in a brewery, Neuhaus by john ratcliffe on 2011-06-09 11:56:25