Beer in the DDR in he 1980s

Back to the DDR in the 1980s. One of my favourite places. I'd love to go back there sometime for a long weekend.

We saw in the last post that beer production greatly increased in the DDR in the 1970s. Rising from 18 million hectolitres to over 25 mmillion hectolitres. How was this achieved? By installing conical fermenters.

This means introducing new technologies that ensure greater output - with improved quality, it should be added. The key word is: processes that shorten the fermentation time. For this purpose, large-scale fermenters are put into operation in which fermentation and maturation take place. They are built in free construction and are similar to silos in agriculture. The breweries are changing their face, but without changing anything in the basic brewing process. Block brewing plants for reconstructing wort production are also just a means of creating the conditions for more extensive production. The resulting more favorable use of space and the improved technology ensure the necessary supply of wort for fermentation and maturation.

The large-capacity fermenters, or “beer rockets,” as they are popularly known, usually have a capacity of 250 cubic meters. The new process also ensures that the brewing time is reduced by around half. This time saving, combined with the increased volume, significantly increases output in the breweries. The Magdeburg Diamond Brewery has 24 of these “beer rockets” and produces over a million hectolitres annually. Neubrandenburg has a production volume of half a million hectolitres of beer.
"Rund ums Bier" by Emil Ulischberger, Leipzig, 1986, page 49.

Why was he fermentation time halved in a conical fermenter? Were they fermenting warmer? Or just lagering for a shorter time?

I'm guessing that he Magdeburg Diamond Brewery was the largest brewery in the DDR. Based on an output of 25 million hl across 160 breweries, average output was 156,000 hl per brewery. Though it should be remembered that there were still some very small privately-owned breweries making no more than a couple of thousand hectolitres annually.

I seems that there were plans to install conicals in all of the larger breweries in the country. 

Modernization through “beer rockets”
Similar generous reconstruction measures were planned for all important breweries in the GDR, such as the VEB Sachsenbräu Leipzig and the Berlin and Dresden breweries.

Even a traditional brewery like VEB Exportbierbrauerei Wernesgrün is looking for new ways to produce even more of its sought-after specialty beer. At the end of 1973, a fermentation and lagering facility was built here, the first such complete facility in the GDR. It consists, among other things, of 12 large-capacity fermenters, which can produce 150,000 more hectolitres of beer annually.

Long-term tests for new processes are also underway at VEB Radeberger Exportbierbrauerci, which is not the largest with an annual production of 330,000 hectolitres, but is the most important export beer brewery in the republic with 50 percent of its output as export beer. Despite all the innovations, the Radeberg beer brewers always strive to ensure that both the beer type and quality are always maintained.
"Rund ums Bier" by Emil Ulischberger, Leipzig, 1986, pages 49 - 50.

Wernesgrüner and Radeberger were considered the premium beers of the DDR. I can't say that I cared for either. I much preferred the beers brewed in either Berlin or Thuringia. I don't think many of those had conicals installed.