A Bavarian brewer, Josef Groll was hired by the town brewery of the Bohemian town Plzeň (Pilsen). The brewers of Bohemia got their hands on the new technology and were able to make what later on became known as pilsner malt. Pale ales became possible and brewers from around Europe became interested in the new English kilns that could deliver the light colored malt. The brewers and maltsters of 18th century Britain devised a new kilning method which resulted in a very lightly kilned white malt. Up until the scientific and technological advances of the British Industrial Revolution malted barley had been dark and so was all beer.
Lightly kilned malt and the British Industrial Revolution. The Bavarians were brewing dark lagers such as dunkel and doppelbock.
It was gradually isolated and strengthened. Even though the nature of the microorganisms responsible for the fermentation of beer was not yet understood repitching yeast from batch to batch helped cultivate a cold temperature loving lager yeast strain which out-competed common ale and wild yeasts.
Regulations that effectively prohibited the brewing of beer during warm months played an instrumental part in the dominance of lager yeast in Bavaria. Lagers emerge as the dominant beer in Bavaria.
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Not until the 1500s was lager yeast unknowingly cultivated by Bavarian brewers through a series of practices having to do with cold temperature fermentation and storage. For most of its history all the beer brewed around the world was ale.
Lager is by far what most people mentally reference when they think of ‘beer’.