Glossary of German Brewing Terms

--- A ---
Anstellen	The pitching of the yeast
Anschwänzen	The addition of sparge water during the lauter process
--- D ---
Dreimaischverfahren	Triple decoction
Drauflassen	Double Batch. A practice where fresh wort is added to freshly fermenting beer. It allows the use of a smaller pitch of yeast to ferment larger batches.
--- E ---
Einmaischverfahren	Single decoction
Endvergärungsgrad	limit of attenuation
--- G ---
Grünschlauchen	Racking of beer that has not completed fermentation yet. In German brewing carbonation is build up during the lagering process and that requires fermentable extract and yeast to be left in the beer. A popular way of achieving that is to transfer the beer before it has completed its fermentation, i.e. "grün'(green).
--- H ---
Hauptguss	The part of the brewing water that is used during mashing
Hefe	Yeast
Hopfen	Hops
Hopfenstopfen	Dryhopping. The literal translation is hop-stuffing
--- K ---
Kräusen	(can be written as Kraeusen in the Enlish alphabet). Kräusen can mean two things. It refers to the layer of foam that forms on an active primary fermentation. But it can also mean actively fermenting beer which is added to already fermented beer.
--- L ---
Läuterbottich	Lautertun
--- M ---
Maische	Mash
Maischebottich	Mashtun. This refers to a non-heatable mash vessel
Maischepfanne	Mashkettle. This refers to a heatable mash vessel
--- N ---
Nachguss	The part of the brewing water that is used for sparging. In German brewing that is oftentimes less than the amount of water used for mashing (Hauptguss).
--- O ---
Obergärig	Top fermenting. Refers to beers or fermentations done with Ale yeasts.
--- R ---
Reinheitsgebot	Purity Law. A german law from 1516 that dictates that beer can only be brewed with water, malt, hops and yeast.
--- S ---
Scheisse!	Shit!. What a brewer would utter if something goes wrong.
Stammwürze	The German brewer's equivalent of original gravity or original extract. It is expressed in weight % and indicates the amount of extract (sugar, dextrins, proteins, minerals ...) that was dissolved in the pitched wort. For all practical purposes, the weight % scale is identical to the Plato scale and the Stammwürze value can be seen as the original extract in degree Plato.
Sudhaus	Brewhouse. Where the hot brewing processes take place.
Sudwerk	The collection of brewing vessels in the brewhouse.
--- T ---
Tenne	Place where the germination of grain during malting happens.
Treber	Spent grain
--- U ---
Untergärig	Bottom fermenting. Refers to beers or fermentations done with Lager yeasts.
--- V ---
Vergärungsgrad	attenuation
--- W ---
Würze	Wort
Würzepfanne	Brewkettle
--- Z ---
Zubrühen	adding hot water or a decoction to raise the mash temp
Zweimaischverfahren	Double decoction