AMERICAN BREWERS’ REVIEW Feb. 1897
A Glimpse of the Fermentation Room of a Brewery in Brazil
Outfit. – Arrangements for temperature very primitive. Temperature same as out of doors in the shade, i.e. 25 – 30o C. Ventilation by way of window. Coils or floats for regulating the fermentation temperatures are unknown. Air saturated with bacteria and mould germs. Cleanliness is an unknown quantity.
Labor. – On the whole worse than unreliable, recruited from all parts of the world; by trade tailor, shoemaker, barbers, ventriloquists, and tramps. It is not the style to work at a trade more than three weeks.
Fermentation. – The beer on the surface cooler having been waiting more than a sufficient time to get cooled, that is to say, from 5 am to 5 pm at a temperature out of doors of 25 to 30o C, it must at last be subjected to fermentation. If nothing happens to prevent, it reaches the tubs as a temperature of 26o C and a density of say 12o B. Then comes the guardian angel of the Brazilian Brewers, the yeast Lagos which is commonly used in this country. It goes into the wort in quantities of 15 liters per 50 hectoliters.
10 am – Fermentation sets in, the foam lifts. Temp. 26.5o C Density 12o B
Noon – High kraeusen, similar to those of bottom fermentation. (The Lagos yeast does not rise to the surface and is not skimmed off, but when fermentation is finished lies on the bottom, somewhat looser than common, good bottom fermentation yeast.) Temp. 27o C Density 11o B
6 pm – Kraeusen still higher, rising above the rim of the tub. Temp. 28o C Density 10.1o B
8 pm – Kraeusen drop rapidly, a brown film forms.
12 pm – Kraeusen have quite dropped. Temp. 29o C Density 7.8o B
6:30 am – Stormy fermentation, almost boiling. Temp. 30o C Density 6o B
1 pm – Stormy fermentation continues. Temp. 31o C Density 5.1o B
5 pm – Stormy fermentation continues. Temp. 31-32o C Density 4.2o B
6 am – Racking off on casks. No “breaking” of this beer. Temp. 30-31o C Density 3o B
The beer is racked into little casks of 7 bl. and is roused twice a day. The temperature of the storage room is the same as that of the fermenting room, that is, the same as out of doors. After eight days’ storge the beer still remains very turbid with yeast and has a density of 2 to 1.5o B. It is fined according to requirements and racked into bottles in the most primitive manner.
After being on storage in bottles for two weeks a beer of an original density of 12o B still shows 1 to 1.5o B and a good deal of sediment of yeast and bacteria, which settles quickly after being stirred. When decanted the beer has large amounts of carbonic acid gas. The taste is adapted to the demands of the Brazilians. The beer will keep for one month.
If the outside temperature is too high and the wort remains too long on the surface cooler, or the temperature during fermentation rises too high (32 to 33o C), the brewer is relieved of further care for such brews.
I should like to add that, owing to the keep competition, of late years, by the bottom-fermentation breweries which make beer and sell it much higher but do a fine business, nevertheless, the manufacturers of top-fermentation beers are being compelled to improve their methods of manufacture and, as a matter of fact, some of them seem to have taken up the fight.
John Hotz,
Brewmaster Cervejaria Logos, Rio de Janeiro
Crescent City Brew Talk 