Kellerbier, literally “cellar beer,” is a relatively unknown beer style in North America, yet in its home in Bavaria, Kellerbier ranks among the most popular beer garden brews. This beer is especially popular in Franconia, a region in southern Germany where the style originated. Franconia holds the distinction of having the greatest density of breweries in the world. There are about a hundred, mostly small, artisanal breweries and brewpubs within a 50-mile radius around Bamberg, the beer capital of Franconia, and many make Kellerbier or a closely related style, such as Zwickelbier or Zoiglbier.
Kellerbier profile
Traditionally, Kellerbier is an “unbunged” (ungespundet in German) cask-conditioned lager, requiring slow, cool maturation in oak, for several months. When served on tap, Kellerbier is usually just gravity-poured. For homebrewers, this means no priming. If you dispense your beer out of Cornelius kegs, use a minimum amount of pressure, perhaps 3 PSI. When tapped the traditional, unpressurized way, the brew runs yeast-turbid into the mug. Because of the lack of carbonation, a Kellerbier typically produces next to no head — more like a British ale than a German lager.
Authentic Kellerbier is unfiltered, unpasteurized and strongly flavored with aromatic hops (Hallertauer or Hersbrucker are traditional). It is also generally brewed to a Märzenbier strength of roughly 5–5.5% alcohol by volume.
The Kellerbier grain bill and color, too, are Märzen-like, with an emphasis on the darker versions of Munich malt of about 20 °L. In fact, the flavor of Munich malt (I use about 30% of the grain bill; the rest is Pils malt) is one of the key characteristics of an authentic Kellerbier. Compose your mash for a light to deep amber beer color in the 10 to 20 SRM range, best with a reddish or orange tinge.
To imitate cask-conditioning in a homebrew environment, where casks are hard to come by, resort to the old oak-chip tea trick, which is explained in the recipe to the right. Most modern beer casks are all pitch-lined and thus impart no flavor to the beer. But in the Middle Ages, pitch-lining was not necessarily universal. Therefore, if an authentic medieval flavor is what you seek, you can imitate cask-conditioning in raw, charred wood by resorting to the oak-chip treatment.
The Kellerbier’s body should be medium — less heavy than that of a bockbier, but softer and more full-bodied than that of a regular Bavarian lager. The middle flavor should be substantial and slightly bready. The cask treatment (real or by “tea”) contributes to the brew’s mellow taste. It is also responsible for the brew’s surprisingly dry finish, considering the amount of Munich malt in the grain bill. The dryness in the finish, therefore, is more perception than reality. What comes through though is a touch of non-sweet, slightly nutty maltiness that nicely balances the brew’s noble-aromatic German hop character.
When poured, Kellerbier should have a pronounced but delicate hop nose. The overall impression is one of surprising drinkability, considering the brew’s “weight.” This beer is rarely served chilled, which would kill its bouquet, nor is it served at room temperature, which would keep the beer from being refreshing. For storage, on the other hand, you can keep it in the refrigerator. Just let it warm up a bit before you serve it. A Kellerbier tastes most balanced at a cellar temperature of perhaps 50–55 °F (10–13 °C). Because of its aromatic qualities from the noble hop varieties and its oakiness from the long aging in casks, Kellerbier makes for a great appetite-enticing aperitif beer.
Kellerbier is traditionally drunk out of earthenware rather than glass mugs. One of the finest Kellerbiers I have ever had was in a pub in the Franconian hop-growing village of Hersbruck, where I was served a brew called Bruckmüller Kellerbier. The Bruck-müller was a satisfying quaff with a local brewing tradition dating back
to 1490.
Commercial Kellerbier availability
In North America, brewpubs and microbreweries rarely make Kellerbier, and the few brands that are imported are only sparsely distributed. Part of the reason for the relative dearth of imported Kellerbier is the brew’s inherently short shelf life. If made authentically, it just doesn’t ship well. Kellerbier is fairly rare outside Bavaria, because small artisan breweries (no matter where they are located) usually do not own sophisticated, oxygen-eliminating bottling equipment that is a prerequisite for making beers safe for transport over long distances. Most Kellerbiers, therefore, are served only locally, right out of the casks in which they are allowed to age.
The few Kellerbiers that are transported to more distant markets for modern beer distribution are always packaged in standard kegs and bottles. Such beers are often aged at atmospheric pressure in steel tanks rather than casks. They may also be mildly filtered before the filling process to remove some of the beer’s natural cloudiness. Finally, they may be carbonated for just a touch of effervescence. These characteristics, of course, make them less authentic than classic cask-conditioned brews.
Perhaps the most readily available Kellerbier in the New World is the St. Georgen Bräu Kellerbier, sold in half-liter bottles with a traditional wire-bale top. The St. Georgen Brewery is located in the small Franconian village of Buttenheim, slightly south of Bamberg, where it has been a family-run business since 1624. The St. Georgen Kellerbier is a happy medium between authenticity and the dictates of modernity. Though it is bottled, it is still cask-conditioned the old-fashioned way, as was done before the invention of refrigeration in the late 19th Century. After fermentation, the St. Georgen brew is allowed to mature for a few months in sturdy oak casks in rock caverns right outside the village — a true “cellar beer.”
Zwickel and Zoigl – Two Keller variations
There are two sub-styles of Kellerbier, called Zwickelbier and Zoiglbier (or just Zoigl), neither of which appears to be available in the New World. Given current usage of these two terms in Bavaria, one can argue that Zwickelbier and Zoigl (bier) are just different names for Kellerbier. However, I have found that, on average, beers designated Zwickel or Zoigl tend to have slightly different characteristics that set them apart from mainstream Kellerbiers and turn them into distinct brews.
Both Zwickelbier and Zoiglbier are generally more effervescent than Kellerbier. Zwickelbier tends to be more pétillant than Zoiglbier because its maturation casks or modern tanks are bunged or capped (gespundet in German) just before the end of fermentation. This allows for just enough carbon dioxide to build up giving the Zwickelbier a nice creamy head when poured. Both Zwickelbier and Zoiglbier are generally slightly weaker in alcohol, both below 5% ABV. They are also both slightly darker than Kellerbier, — whereby Zoiglbier tends to be the darkest due to the use of highly kilned caramel malts. Milder versions of Zwickelbier are sometimes brewed with dehusked malt and both brews tend to be less hop-accented than Kellerbier. Nowadays, Zoiglbier is brewed exclusively with Hallertauer. While Kellerbier is aged for months, Zoiglbier is usually aged for only a few weeks, and Zwickelbier tends to be served as soon as it finishes fermenting.
What’s in a Name?
The name Kellerbier, of course, stems from the brew’s cask maturation in cool cellars. The name Zwickelbier simply derives from Zwickel, the German name for a sampling device. A Zwickel is usually mounted on the flat side of a cask or the manhole door of a tank for drawing tastes to check on the brew’s progress.
As for Zoiglbier, the story is more complicated: Zoigl is the Franconian vernacular for “sign.” In Franconian medieval homebrewing (and farm brewing), a Zoigl was a six-pointed white-and-blue star, made from two triangles of wooden slats and assembled into a shape that is similar to the Star of David. Inside the star was usually a cutout of a beer mug or a pine branch.
Burghers and farmers used to hang a Zoigl in front of their doors whenever they had homebrew ready to drink. It was an invitation to the neighbors to come over and have a few. One triangle of a Zoigl symbolized the three elements involved in brewing: fire, water and air. The other triangle symbolized the three ingredients of brewing: malt, hops and water. The function of yeast in brewing had not yet been discovered in the Middle Ages. Rather yeast was considered a byproduct of fermentation, known as “stuff” (Zeug in German).
In the Bavarian regions north of the River Danube, the right to brew came automatically with the deed to a parcel of land. These brew-privileged medieval landowners often brewed their beers in communal brew houses, with open brew kettles and a powerful wooden fire underneath. Communal brew houses were set up as a public safety measure, because they reduced the incidents of fire, an ever-present danger in cramped medieval cities. Communal brewing is probably the origin for the custom of communal beer consumption under the Zoigl.
Kellerbier by the numbers
OG 1.056 (14 °P)
FG 1.014 (3.5 °P)
SRM 10–20 (rarely lighter or darker)
IBU 35
ABV 5–5.5%
Caveman Kellerbier
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.056 FG = 1.014
SRM = 15 IBU = 35 ABV = 5.4%
Ingredients
8.0 lbs. (3.6 kg) Weyermann
Bavarian Pils malt (2 °L)
3.75 lbs. (1.7 kg) Briess Munich
malt (20 °L)
2 cups French oak chips
(light toast)
8 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh or
Hersbrucker hops (bittering)
(2 oz./55 g of 4% alpha acid)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Hallertauer
Mittelfrüh or Hersbrucker hops
(flavor/aroma)
1 pkg. Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian
Lager), Wyeast 2308 (Munich
Lager), White Labs WLP838
(Southern German Lager), or
White Labs WLP920 (Old
Bavarian Lager) yeast
Step by Step
On the day before brew day, make an “oak chip tea” as follows: Mix about two cups of oak chips in hot but not boiling water (180 °F or 80 °C), in a tightly sealable jar. Seal the hot jar, let it cool off, and then keep it in the refrigerator overnight. Before steeping, toast the oak chips on a cookie sheet in a 250 °F (121 ºC) oven for about an hour. Use the tea at pitching time. On brew day, start a traditional multi-step infusion mash with a conventional dough-in at 122 °F (50 °C). Let the mash rest for about half an hour before infusing it with hot water until the temperature reaches 148 °F (64 °C). Keep the mash at that temperature for 15 minutes; then raise the temperature to 156 °F (69 °C) for another 15-minute rest. Then sparge slowly with near-boiling water until the mash is at a temperature of 170 °F (77 °C).
Lower the sparge water temperature, to keep the mash at or slightly below 170 °F (77 °C) for the rest of the sparge. Stop the sparge at a kettle gravity of about 1.050 (12.5 °P), to allow for evaporation loss during the boil. Boil for about 90 minutes. Add the bittering hops, as usual, about 15 minutes into the boil. At the end of the boil, check the kettle gravity. Make adjustments, if needed, by adding water or lengthening the boil time.
Once the kettle is at the correct original gravity, add the flavor/aroma hops. Stir the wort gently with a spatula to create a whirlpool effect. Wait about half an hour to allow the trub to settle. Then heat-exchange the wort off the trub. Reduce the wort temperature as close to a fermentation temperature of 48 °F (9 °C) as your setup allows. Strain the oak chips off the liquid and add this cool, sterile “tea” to the fermenter. Then pitch the yeast, aerate and place the brew in a cool place. Let it ferment to completion (in perhaps three weeks). Rack the brew into a clean carboy and let it warm up to room temperature for a two-day diacetyl rest. Rack the brew again, but do not prime it. Let it mature unpressurized for about two months at a typical cellar temperature of about 50–
55 °F (10–13 °C). Do not rack again.
Caveman Kellerbier
(5 gallons/19 L, extract plus grain)
OG = 1.056 FG = 1.014 SRM = 15 IBU = 35 ABV = 5.4%
Ingredients
6.5 lbs. (2.95 kg) Weyermann
Bavarian Pils liquid malt extract
3.0 lbs. (1.4 kg) Briess Munich
malt (20°L)
2 cups French oak chips
(light toast)
8 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh or
Hersbrucker hops (bittering)
(2 oz./55 g of 4% alpha acid)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh
or Hersbrucker hops (flavor/aroma)
1 pkg. Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager),
Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager),
White Labs WLP838 (Southern
German Lager), or White Labs
WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager)
Step by Step
Make an “oak chip tea” as described for the all-grain batch. Then mill the specialty malt coarsely and divide it equally into two muslin bags. Place these in at least two gallons of cold water and raise the temperature slowly, for about half an hour, until it reaches 170–190 °F. At this point bubbles should start to pearl up in the liquid, but the pot must not boil. Lift the bags out of the steeping liquid and rinse them with several cups of cold water. Do not squeeze them. Discard the spent grain. Turn off the heat and stir in the canned extract. Fill the kettle and bring the wort to a boil. Add the bittering hops and continue with the instructions for the all-grain recipe.
Caveman Kellerbier
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.056 FG = 1.014 SRM = 15 IBU = 35 ABV = 5.4%
Ingredients
5.8 lbs. (2.63 kg) Weyermann
Bavarian Pils liquid malt extract
2.7 lbs. (1.22 kg) Weyermann
Bavarian Dark liquid malt extract
2 cups French oak chips
(light toast)
8 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh or
Hersbrucker (bittering) (roughly
2 oz. or 55 g of 4% alpha acid)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh or
Hersbrucker (flavor/aroma)
1 pkg. Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager),
Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager),
White Labs WLP838 (Southern
German Lager), or White Labs
WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager)
Step by Step
Make an “oak chip tea” as described for the all-grain batch. Mix the two malts with your hot brewing liquor. Bring the wort to a boil and add all hops. Then follow the remaining instructions for the all-grain recipe.
