WHAT THE FUNK IS A FOEDER?
By nature, the beers that come from our American White Oak Foeders are one-of-a-kind. As much as we may aim to keep the recipe the same, the (good) bacteria that lives in the oak will always impart its own flavour and complexity. Though a new batch of a beer will taste very similar to the last, it’s microbially unique – cool! And because we have only two foeders vs. 12 fermentors it takes much longer for these unique brews to return to the lineup, if they can be repeated at all.
The foeders allow us to separately ferment and age beer with wild yeasts such as Brettanomyces and other bacteria without infecting our other tanks and equipment dedicated to ‘clean’ beer. Since the tanks are made of oak, these yeasts and bacteria will live in the wood forever and carry over from batch to batch. Foeders also have a high beer to wood ratio meaning we’re less likely, and often not looking, to taste wood characteristics in the final beer, compared to when we use oak barrels. While they have their place for certain beers, barrels can also be a LOT of work to fill, empty, stack, store, sample, etc., meaning our foeders are not only more efficient, but also give the brewers more control over the process to create more consistent, complex and flavourful beers!
Foed for thought! A foeder (pronounced FOOD-er) is a large fermentation and aging vessel made of wood. In January 2019, we installed two foeders that are made of entirely New American White Oak from Foeder Crafters of America. They’re uniquely shaped like a fermenter with a stainless steel conical bottom (as opposed to flat-bottomed), which allows for easy dumping of hops, yeast and fruit. There’s a super neat cooling plate inside each foeder that helps regulate the temperature of the tanks so that we can crash-cool them as we would a stainless fermenter, for cold aging.
Gotta have that funk! Greek for ‘British Fungus,’ Brettanomyces is a ‘wild’ yeast impacting the flavour of beer. Not really named after the Brits, but after a brainy beer loving scientist observing spoilage of English Ales, Brettanomyces can have a polarising flavour profile. Clove, leather and horse blanket are common descriptors, but Brettanomyces can also achieve a dry mouth feel, and add subtle funk, and earthy flavours that can complement different beer styles.