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<title>G&ouml;sser Brauerei</title>
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<h1>G&ouml;sser Brauerei</h1>

<p>After years drinking copious quantities of their beer,
CUCC members visited the G&ouml;sser Brauerei at G&ouml;ss (just outside
Leoben) for what is believed to be the first time on 26th July 2004.
Excellent hospitality was received.  Here are some pictures from
the brewery tour;
click the pictures for larger versions (640x480).</p>

<p>The brewery produces 40,000 crates of G&ouml;sser per day, but is
remarkably quiet and spotlessly clean.
Brewing occurs 24 hours
a day in three 8-hour shifts, for five days a week.  The left-hand
picture shows the entrance, whilst in the
centre picture we see the large tower holding the malt silos.  The
final picture shows the mash house, with the entrance below the clock.</p>
<table width="100%">
<tr>
<td align="center"><a href="images/entrance.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/entrance.jpg" alt="Entrance"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/outside1.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/outside1.jpg" alt="Outside view 1"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/outside2.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/outside2.jpg" alt="Outside view 2"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>In the mash house, the malt is ground to grist on an upper level and
then mixed with hot brewing liquor (known as water to the layman) from
the local spring in the
mash tuns.  Here it remains for two and a half hours, before it is transferred
to the lauter tuns where the liquid part, known as wort, is extracted.
After this, the wort is boiled for an hour with hops in the brew kettles.
Then, it is passed through a whirlpool to separate solid matter.</p>

<p>As far as we could tell (and were informed),
no additives such as sugars are used in the
brewing process.  This is pleasing, especially for a brewery of its size.</p>

<p>These pictures show mash and lauter tuns (not sure which ones are
which) together with the computerised control system.  In the centre photo
we see the tubes through which hops are transported from the upper level
into the brewing kettles (not seen in the photographs).</p>
<table width="100%">
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<td align="center"><a href="images/tuns1.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/tuns1.jpg" alt="Mash tuns"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/tuns2.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/tuns2.jpg" alt="Mash tuns and hop transport"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/controls.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/controls.jpg" alt="Control panel"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>The picture below shows an elderly copper mash tun, now unused in favour
of stainless vessels.</p>
<center>
<a href="images/oldtun.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/oldtun.jpg" alt="Old mash tun"></a></td>
</center>

<p>After whirlpooling, the wort is crash-cooled via a heat exchanger which
in turn provides hot water (sorry, liquor) for the rest of the process.
Then it is mixed with yeast and transferred into conical fermentation tanks,
seen in the photo on the left below.  After fermentation, the beer is
filtered in the equipment shown in the remaining two photos.</p>

<table width="100%">
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<td align="center"><a href="images/fermenters.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/fermenters.jpg" alt="Fermenters"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/filter1.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/filter1.jpg" alt="Filtration (1)"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/filter2.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/filter2.jpg" alt="Filtration (2)"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>In addition to filling nitro-kegs, G&ouml;sser bottle not only
their own beer but also that of other breweries.  When we visited,
Puntigamer was being bottled as seen in the photos below.  The right-hand
photo shows the machine which puts bottles into crates.
You can also <a href="movies/bottling.mov">see a movie</a> (10Mb).</p>

<table width="100%">
<tr>
<td align="center"><a href="images/bottling1.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/bottling1.jpg" alt="Bottling (1)"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/bottling2.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/bottling2.jpg" alt="Bottling (2)"></a></td>
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</table>

<p>Some other photos from around the brewery: on the left, a system of
pipework which seemed to be used for receiving or dispatching beer to
tankers; in the centre, some storage tanks; and on the right, an old
lager cask.</p>

<table width="100%">
<tr>
<td align="center"><a href="images/pipework.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/pipework.jpg" alt="Pipework"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/storage.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/storage.jpg" alt="Storage vessels"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/cask.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/cask.jpg" alt="Old lager cask"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>The brewery museum contains various interesting old equipment and
even some adverts featuring the KH bunny!</p>

<table width="100%">
<tr>
<td align="center"><a href="images/advert1.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/advert1.jpg" alt="Advert (1)"></a></td>
<td align="center"><a href="images/advert2.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/advert2.jpg" alt="Advert (2)"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>We came away with the impression of the brewery being particularly
efficient: the solid matter remaining from the mashing and boiling is
burnt (providing 25% of the energy for the plant) and the carbon dioxide
from fermentation is harnessed for use in bottling.</p>

<p>One last picture of all the CUCC folk who went:
<center>
<a href="images/everyone.jpg">
<img src="thumbs/everyone.jpg" alt="Everyone">
</a>
</center></p>

<p>Many thanks must go to Dipl. Ing. Andreas Werner, the G&ouml;sser
Braumeister, together with
Frau Schneeweis and our tour guide for the sponsorship and
an excellent day out.</p>

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