Discussion on Lager brewing and promotion of various beer-related sponsors

This week’s episode is a panel discussion on lager brewing, recorded in front of a live audience late one night on the patio of Cerveza Fauna after a full day of judging for the Copa Baja beer festival in Mexicali, Mexico, in late 2023. Joining the discussion are three prominent lager brewers—Ashleigh Carter of Denver’s Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Ryan Brooks of San Diego’s SouthNorte, and Jeff Bagby (who, earlier this week announced that he was joining Green Cheek Beer as they acquire Bagby’s brewery in Oceanside, California).

The location in Mexico provides the perfect backdrop for diving into Mexican, Mexican-style, and adjunct lagers, and the discussion also focuses on dark lagers. Along the way, they cover creative and technical points such as:

• the challenge of brewing great lager in smaller batch sizes
• understanding other brewers’ commercial approaches through lab analysis
• priorities for gear and process
• techniques for brewing better lager on systems designed for single-infusion ale
• understanding the impact of water on lager brewing
• selecting yeast for Mexican-style lager
• approaches to natural carbonation
• brewing with corn via cereal mash versus pre-gelatinized products
• making specialty beer with popcorn
• clever approaches to building color without intense dark malt flavor

And more.

This episode is brought to you by:

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Ss Brewtech (https://SsBrewtech.com). "Ss Brewtech was founded by a group of home and craft beer brewers, dedicated to bringing an engineering-first approach to brewery equipment. Ss brewhouses are used to formulate new beer recipes at some of the world's greatest breweries. To learn more, head over to SsBrewtech.com"
Christian Hansen (https://www.chr-hansen.com/en/legal-notice): Christian Hansen are the fermentation experts with over 100 years experience in dairy and wine, and are now bringing that knowledge of microbes to brewers with their SmartBev range of frozen liquid yeast and freeze-dried bacteria.Go to Chr-Hansen.com to learn more.
California Craft Beer Summit (https://cacraftbeersummit.com). Everyone’s talking about 2024 California Craft Beer Summit, March 12-14 in Sacramento. Kicking off the Summit as the Keynote speaker is Rob Tod, the pioneer who built Allagash Brewing. Check out the full schedule at the website cacraftbeersummit.com.

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