If my memory serves me correctly, my first spunded lager (at least that I can remember) was Thin Man Brewery’s Bound For The Floor (or maybe it was Band of Gold, it was a few years, and a few beers, ago), and I have been a fan of the brewing process ever since.
So, what is spunding, and what exactly is a spunded lager? Before we go any further, let’s explain.
The long and short of it is, spunded beer undergoes natural carbonation through a process called spunding. This technique involves capturing CO₂ produced during fermentation, rather than force-carbonating the beer later with external CO₂. Spunding is common with German and Czech breweries.
More specifically, yeast ferments wort, producing alcohol and CO₂. When fermentation nears completion, a spunding valve is attached to the fermenter, allowing brewers to control the pressure inside the tank, keeping the CO₂ dissolved in the beer. The beer carbonates itself under pressure, which, in the end, helps retain more delicate hop and yeast aromas.
Former Thin Man head brewer, and current Brickyard Brewing head brewer, the man behind the first spunded lagers I can remember having, says he started spunding his lagers as a way to make improvements in the beer.
“I’m pretty sure I started spunding my lagers in late 2019/early 2020,” Watkins said. “I had been working on improving our lagers for a while and spunding was a logical thing to try out. I had just come back from a tour of agriculture, manufacturing, and brewing in Czechia, and it was certainly being used at the majority of the breweries we visited there.”
Watkins adds that the act of spunding is just one way to make a great beer.
“I’m torn on the impact of spunding. Does it make a difference? Yes. Is it a huge difference? Probably not. “On its own, spunding is just a note, [but when] combined with dozens of other recipe, water, mash, hopping and packaging variables, you can end up with a symphony.”
Buffalo Brewing Company’s John Domres, who is currently making some damn fine lagers in the city of Buffalo, says he employs the use of spunding as one way to make his beer as good as they are.
“Spunding is just one way we develop a great lager. We begin spunding when the diacetyl rest begins. Fermenting yeast produces CO2, which we force back into the beer instead of venting into the atmosphere. It produces a much finer carbonation than via stone,” Domres said.
Russ Haentges, head brewer of Orchard Park’s First Line Brewing, who created perhaps my current favorite spunded lager, First Line’s We The People, considers himself a novice in the spunding game, but has enjoyed the fruits of his labor, so to speak. He also says that it’s a great conversation starter across the bar.
“Spunding has always been a skill that I have wanted to add to my tool belt, so to speak,” Haentges said. “I really enjoy the characteristics that it has lent to our beers. It has also allowed us to really dial in the beers that I previously was close to, but still had work to do on them. I somewhat stumbled into this technique and love the results. Like anything, it’s not perfect and I have a ton to learn. From a taproom perspective, it’s a great conversation piece and I have noticed more and more people turning to those beers compared to the others.”
For a slightly different perspective on the art of spunding, I turned to someone who has to spund his beers, thanks to the Reinheitsgebot, Hofbrauhaus Braumeister Scott Shuler, who says he isn’t allowed to use carbon dioxide for carbonation due to the centuries-old German purity law. As he explains, Shuler is happy with the effects of spunding on the lagers on tap down at Hofbrauhaus. And if you’ve had a Hofbrauhaus lager recently, especially the Pils, you’d agree.
“I am in the unique position of only being able to spund my beers,” he said. “I have the convenience of my European fermenters being designed for this process and they can handle much higher pressures than domestically built fermenters. After a few months of trial and error, I was able to yield pleasant results. The trick for me is timing. I want my lagers to ferment cleanly off gas sulfur compounds and other volatile aromatics, so they are not present in the final beer. But I do not want to start the spunding process too early, which can trick the yeast into stopping fermentation. Towards the end of fermentation, we will set up the parts to begin the spunding process, which can last up to two weeks. The result is a more vibrant lager with tighter and smaller bubbles, better foam retention, and a more complex beer.”
Chances are that you’ve probably had a spunded lager before and just didn’t know it. There’s no shame in that. Now you know, and you can appreciate the process more. Head down to Hofbrauhaus for a few liters of spunded German lager, grab a pint or three at Buffalo Brewing, head out to Orchard Park to First Line for a lager and leave with some cans and make the trip up to Lewiston to see Rudy at Brickyard Brewing for a freshly spunded crispy. These are only a few examples. It’s time to get a fresh local lager in your glass and spund your own path. Cheers.
Brian Campbell is co-founder and Brand Manager of the Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at brian@buffalobeerleague.com, on X (@buffbeerleague), Instagram, Threads and Untappd (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).
