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London Pilsner 33
Our delicious pilsner lager — it's so good they named our soi after it!
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Londoner's Pride Cream Bitter
The only pub brewed English Bitter in Thailand
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Background
The desire of the owner, Englishman John Stamp, a
long-time Bangkok resident, to be able to drink
quality English ales was the driving force behind
the opening of The Londoner Brew Pub, as good
draught beer had never been available in
Thailand.
In order to retain complete authenticity, John
imported everything from Europe including the
state of the art microbrewery, ornate bar mounted
hand pumps, 'straight' pint and half pint
glasses, hops, barley, and last but by no means
least, master brewer Peter Schwarzmueller, who
uses his many years of brewing experience to
produce the only freshly brewed draught bitter in
Thailand as well as refreshing Pilsner Beer.
Many of our customers ask how we brew our beers.
The secret, according to Peter, begins with our
unique blend of malted barley, grain and hops...
Brewing the perfect pint
Every single pint of London Pilsner 33 or
Londoner's Pride Cream Bitter served is born in
our cellar. Imported raw barley is left to
germinate, to become malted barley or 'malt'.
Before we can use it, the malt must be dried and
roasted in a kiln.
 We grind the malt and
other grains into a coarse powder, or 'grist'.
Meanwhile, the 'mash tun' — a large copper
vat with an agitator — is filled with water.
We begin heating the water and pour in the grist,
starting the process known as 'mashing'.
'Mashing' is a delicate part of the
brewing process. The aim is to selectively
activate the different enzymes in the malt to
break down the starch into sugars. We do this by
carefully controlling the temperature of the mash
while it is stirred. It's a gruelling process,
split into several stages and lasting about 2
hours in total.
 The first 'mash rest'
at 40℃ activates 'beta-glucanase', which
breaks down the gummy substances in the mash,
making the sugars flow out more freely later in
the process. The second, at around 50℃
activates the 'proteinases', which break down
proteins that might otherwise cause the beer to
be hazy. We must be careful here as the head on
beer is also composed primarily of proteins. An
overly aggressive protein rest will result in a
beer that cannot hold a head!
Finally, a mash rest at 65℃ converts
the starches in the malt to sugar, which play a
vital role later on in the brewing process. The
timing of the the final rest depends on the beer
being brewed.
 For London Pilsner
33, we want to produce low-order sugars, which
are more fermentable by the yeast later on. This
creates a beer lower in body and higher in
alcohol.
For Londoner's Pride Cream Bitter, we want a
fuller-bodied, but weaker beer. For this, we rest
at a higher temperature to create more
higher-order sugars, which are less fermentable
by the yeast.
After mashing, we transfer the mash to the
lauter tun, where we separate the liquid from the
grain in a process known as 'lautering'. The
false bottom in the lauter tun acts as a strainer,
allowing us to easily seperate the two. The
resulting liquid is known as 'wort'.
 At this
point, we add the hops to
the wort and transfer to the kettle for boiling.
Hops are what add the flavour, aroma and
bitterness to the beer. The boiling process
serves to kill off any remaining enzymes,
precipitate proteins (which cause nasty 'hazy'
beer), isomerize hop resins, concentrate and
sterilize the wort. At the end of the boil, the
hopped wort settles to clarify in a vessel called
a 'whirl-pool' and the clarified wort is then
cooled and aerated.
 The wort is then moved
into the 'fermentation vessel' where yeast is added
or 'pitched' with it. The yeast converts the sugars
from the malt into alcohol, carbon dioxide and
other components through a process called
'glycolysis'.
After a week or so, the fresh (or 'green') beer
is run off into conditioning tanks. After
conditioning for a few weeks, the 'bright beer' is
then pumped into our pressurised storage tanks in
the cellar, where it is now ready to be served.
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