Short Pours: Beer vocabulary, Foeder

What is a foeder (pronounced food-er)? I even went to the library to find the definition and they did not have a dictionary with foeder in it.  The librarian thought that since it was a Dutch word, it might not be published in the English dictionary.  If anyone has a dictionary with foeder in it please take a picture and post it on facebook or twitter for us.  Instead you guys are stuck with the Myces definition based off a couple quick google searches.

A standard foeder from foeder crafters

A fermenting foeder from foeder crafters

If you are relatively new to the craft beer scene, or do not really drink many sour beers, you might not know what a foeder is. Without getting too technical they are basically giant wooden vessels to store beer or wine in. Beer Connoisseur says a barrel becomes a foeder at 160 gallons, more scientifically known as a s#$% load. I am not going to get overly in depth on this subject, because you can read a couple of great articles on foeders by Beer Connoisseur and Deschutes.

As sour beer popularity has increased in the aughts, so have the use of foeders. I even found a place in the good ole Show-Me state that makes these majestic vessels. Maybe the Myces family will get to take a tour some day.  Foeder crafters of America, based in Saint Louis constructs these mammoth structures from scratch. They have your standard , horizontal , and fermenting foeders. Who knew there were so many varieties? They range in size from 7 beer barrels (BBL) to 250 (BBL). For reference one BBL is 31 gallons, or double the volume of the keg you bought for college keggers. The price of these bad boys range $6,900 to $45,000, so start saving some money now.

A set of horizontal foeders from foeder crafters

Cheers,
Brett A. Myces