bottom fermentation

English

Noun

bottom fermentation (countable and uncountable, plural bottom fermentations)

1. (brewing) A slow alcoholic fermentation process carried out at low temperatures during which the yeast sinks to the bottom of the liquid. Used in brewing lager-type beers.

   Antonym: top fermentation

   • 1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 90:

     Carlton was mainly equipped to produce top-fermentation bulk beer, the old fashioned English ale. But the public taste had changed. On 27 April the brewers reported to the board that the public taste now was largely for bottom-fermentation beer or lager.

   • 2004, Harold McGee, chapter 13, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN:

     Bottom fermentation goes on at distinctly lower temperatures, 43 to 50 ° F/ 6– 10 ° C, takes six to ten days, and produces a milder flavor. Bottom fermentation is the standard technique in the United States.

Related terms

• bottom-fermented
• bottom-fermenting