Busy, busy, busy

I've dropped down to 90% in my day job. Which means that I get every other Friday off. Not that I sit at home staring at the telly. I've far too many things to be getting on with to do that.

This morning I've been soaking the labels off bottles, scanning the BBPA Statistical Handbook 2017, putting together  a pre-WW I Adnams Tally Ho recipe  and writing this blog post. I really need to crack on with stuff for a good reason. I'm off to South America a week tomorrow. I need to get more than a week ahead in my posts as I don't want to be messing about posting while I'm away.

I've never been to South America before so I'm pretty excited.Kristen managed to get me an invitation to Conferência de Cervejeiros in Santiago de Chile. Where I'll be doing some judging and giving a talk.

It seems that there's a lot going on in the beer world down there. I can't wait to see what they're brewing. And taste it as  well, obviously. I'm sure that I'll be writing all about it as soon as I'm back.

While I'm so busy, why not buy one of my two most recent books. It might encourage me to write more:

There's never been a set set of historic homebrew recipes like it. Not just adjunct-laden,watery British beers but all sorts of weird stuff like Continental Lagers and North American Ales. Amstel's beers of the 1950's anyone??

Please buy it. It's dead good. And Andrew's shoes will need replacing soon.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/lets-brew/paperback/product-23289812.html

And there's also my sadly neglected Scottish masterpiece:
 
http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/scotland-vol-2/paperback/product-23090497.html

It contains a ridiculousnumber of  recipes - 370-something - covering the whole range of Scottish beers from the 1840's to the 1970's.

Bavarian Weizenbock

div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> Strangely, I’ve got almost as many 19th century analyses of Weizenbock as I do of standard-strength Weissbier. Isn’t that odd?

Though I’m only 100% certain about three of them. The Streicher one may be from Switzerland. I haven’t been able to track down a place called Rorsach. The closest name I can find is Rorschach in Switzerland.

One thing immediately strikes me about these beers: only one could legally be called Bock in Germany today. Because there’s a minimum OG of 16º Plato for Bockbier. Which obviously wasn’t the case in the 19th century.

The Streicher beer stands out because of the high level of acidity, making me think that it might well be a different type of Weizenbock. It’s strange to see a strongish beer that’s so acidic. The relatively high degree of attenuation might betray the presence of Brettanomyces.

Bavarian Weizenbock 1866 - 1892
Year	Brewer		Beer	OG Plato	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Acidity
1866	Hofbräuhaus	Munich	Weisses Bockbier	15.37	1062.6	1020	5.52	68.03%
1888	Schramm	Munich	Weissbier Bock	17.34	1071.1	1027.7	5.61	61.04%	0.180
1888	Schneider	Munich	Weissbier Bock	14.40	1058.4	1020.8	4.86	64.38%	0.180
1892	Streicher	Rorsach	Weizenbock	14.49	1058.8	1014.2	5.80	75.85%	0.420
	Average			15.40	1062.7	1020.7	5.45	67.33%	0.260
Source:
"Handbuch der chemischen technologie mit besonderer berücksichtigung der gewerbestatistik" by Johannes Rudolf Wagner, 1875, page 614
König, J (1903), Bier in Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pp 1101 - 1156, Julius Springer, Berlin.

You can probably guess what’s coming. Some modern Weizenbocks. It’s pretty obvious what one of the main differences is going to be.

Bavarian Weizenbock in 2014
Brewer	Town	Beer	OG Plato	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Weihenstephan	Freising	Vitus	16.5	1067.5	1008.8	7.70	86.95%
Göller	Zeil am Main	Weizen Bock	17.5	1071.8	1018.2	7.00	74.73%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Vitus	16.5	1067.5	1008.8	7.70	86.95%
Brauerei Reblitz	Bad Staffelstein	Reblitz-Weizenbock	16.1	1065.7	1010.8	7.20	83.64%
Kitzmann-Bräu	Erlangen	Weißbier-Bock	16	1065.3	1011.8	7.00	81.93%
Brauerei Hofmann	Pahres	Weizenbock	16.5	1067.5	1015.4	6.80	77.25%
Average			16.5	1067.5	1012.3	7.23	81.91%
Sources:
The relevant brewery websites

That’s right, the OG of the modern versions is higher. As it has to be by German law. It’s about 5 OG points, or 1.1º Plato higher. That, couple with a much higher degree of attenuation adds up to much stronger beers, averaging 7.23% ABV as opposed to 5.45% ABV.

I’ve noticed before that there were few really strong beers in the 19th century in Germany. The higher OG beers often have very poor degrees of attenuation, leaving them under 6% ABV.

Let’s Brew Thursday - 1945 Barclay Perkins XX

I’m almost done with watery Barclay Perkins Milds. But not quite. Just two to go.

This beer was originally brewed in July 1945, after the war in Europe had ended, but while fighting was still going on in the Pacific. Which must have seemed pretty weird. In London the blackout was finally lifted and the lights had come back on, but British servicemen were still dying in the Far East.

How does this differ from their 1944 Mild? Not very much, is the short answer. It still contains the same malt: SA malt, crystal malt and amber malt. The only difference there is that mild malt makes up most of the base. The non-malt sources of fermentables are much the same: No. 3 invert sugar and flaked barley.

The one radical departure is the inclusion of malt extract. I’m guessing the reason behind that was the enzymes, but I could be wrong. It’s such a small amount that I struggle to find another reason for its inclusion.

Other than that, the proportion of sugar has increased, from just over 9% to almost 15%. Not sure why that should be. It was too soon after the German surrender for the sugar supply to have improved. And sugar and sweets remained rationed for several more years.

Quite a lot of the hops – more than half – were from the 1942 and less than a quarter from 1944. To account for that, I’ve reduced the total hops from 1.50 ozs. to 1 oz.

This was another heavily primed beer, with the primings raising the effective OG a full four gravity points to 1035.4º. Given that there would have been a secondary fermentation in the case, the eventual strength would have been over 3% ABV.

One last note. As brewed, this beer will come out about 14 SRM. You’ll need to add more caramel to get the colour of the beer as served in the pub.

1945 Barclay Perkins XX
mild malt	3.75 lb	55.35%
amber malt	0.67 lb	9.89%
crystal malt 60 L	0.50 lb	7.38%
flaked barley	0.67 lb	9.89%
malt extract	0.125 lb	1.85%
No. 3 invert sugar	1.00 lb	14.76%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.06 lb	0.89%
Fuggles 90 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.25 oz
OG	1031.5
FG	1010
ABV	2.84
Apparent attenuation	68.25%
IBU	14
SRM	20
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Bavarian Weissbier

It’s odd how often I forget one type of German top-fermenting beer: Bavarian Weissbier. Especially as it’s by far the most popular sort.

Maybe it’s because it comes from the South, which I associate with Lager brewing. Whatever the reason, it is a little strange. Time to put that right.

Searching through my various spreadsheets, I see that I’ve a rather limited number of analyses of this type of wheat beer. I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised. This type Weissbier was quite obscure in the 19th century, produced by a small number of breweries in pretty small quantities. It’s only in the last 30 years of so that the style has been available throughout Germany.

It also used to be exclusively brewed by specialist outfits. Now a large percentage of Bavarian breweries, ones that originally only brewed bottom-fermenting beers. It’s simple economics. The market for Weissbier has been expanding and brewers don’t want to miss out. Weissbier’s share rose from less than 2% in 1981 to almost 8% in 2010. In the southern States, Baden Württemberg and Bavaria, the market share is more than double that.

German beer sales by type 1981 - 2010
Beer type	1981	1989	1994	2000	2003	2005	2008	2010
Pils	48.5	57.5	66	67.9	62	57.9	55.2	55.1
Export/Edel/Spezial	20.8	10.9	9.7	9	9.6	10.4	9.8	9.8
Weizen	1.4	4.9	4.8	5.7	7.1	7.9	8.3	7.9
Sources:
Brauwelt Brevier 2003
Deutscher Brauer-Bund, Bonn
Brauwelt nr. 46-47 (2006) page 1431

Here are the few analyses from the 19th century that I have:

Bavarian Weissbier 1866 - 1899
Year	Brewer	Town	Beer	OG Plato	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Acidity
1866	Unknown	Munich	Weissbier	11.62	1046.6	1012.9	4.38	72.32%
1888	Röckl	Munich	Weissbier	12.38	1049.8	1014	4.65	71.89%	0.158
1888	Schneider	Munich	Weissbier	12.52	1050.4	1015.9	4.46	68.45%	0.171
1888	Schramm	Munich	Weissbier	12.99	1052.4	1016.2	4.69	69.08%	0.149
1899	Unknown	Munich	Weissbier	12.59	1050.7	1016.4	4.44	67.65%
	Average			12.42	1050.0	1015.1	4.52	69.88%	0.159
Source:
König, J (1903), Bier in Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pp 1101 - 1156, Julius Springer, Berlin.

What can we learn from that? The OGs are pretty low, as is the rate of attenuation. But how they compare to today? Let’s take a look:

Bavarian Hefeweizen in 2014
Brewer	Town	Beer	OG Plato	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Ammerndorfer Bier Dorn Bräu	Ammerndorf	Hefe Weisse	13.2	1053.3	1014	5.10	73.72%
Hermann Sigwart	Weißenburg	Kirchweihweizen	13.2	1053.3	1011.1	5.50	79.17%
Hermann Sigwart	Weißenburg	Weißenburger Weiße	12.9	1052.0	1012.8	5.10	75.39%
Göller	Zeil am Main	Steinhauer Weisse	12.8	1051.6	1010.2	5.40	80.32%
Püls-bräu	Stadtsteinach	Weismainer Weisse	12.8	1051.6	1011.6	5.20	77.51%
Brauerei Kanone Löhr	Schnaittach	Weizen (hell)	12.8	1051.6	1013.9	4.90	73.15%
Weihenstephan	Freising	Hefeweissbier Leicht	12.7	1051.2	1010.5	5.30	79.48%
Arnsteiner Brauerei	Seinsheim	Hefe-Weissbier	12.7	1051.2	1012.7	5.00	75.18%
Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Hefeweissbier Leicht	12.7	1051.2	1010.5	5.30	79.48%
Kitzmann-Bräu	Erlangen	Weißbier	12.6	1050.7	1007.9	5.60	84.53%
Paulaner	Munich	Hefe-Weißbier Naturtrüb	12.5	1050.3	1008.2	5.50	83.70%
Hacker-Pschorr	Munich	Hefe Weisse	12.5	1050.3	1008.2	5.50	83.70%
Hacker-Pschorr	Munich	Sternweisse	12.5	1050.3	1008.2	5.50	83.70%
Klosterbrauerei Andechs	Andechs	Weissbier Hell	12.5	1050.3	1008.2	5.50	83.70%
Göller	Zeil am Main	Kaiser Heinrich Urweisse hell	12.5	1050.3	1010.4	5.20	79.43%
Distelhäuser	Tauberbischofsheim	Hefeweizen	12.5	1050.3	1008.9	5.40	82.31%
Brauhaus Leikeim	Altenkunstadt	Steinweisse	12.5	1050.3	1008.2	5.50	83.70%
Brauerei Reblitz	Bad Staffelstein	Nedensdorfer Hefeweizen	12.5	1050.3	1012.6	4.90	74.96%
Hermann Sigwart	Weißenburg	Hefe-Weizen	12.5	1050.3	1012.6	4.90	74.96%
Bürgerbräu Hersbruck	Hersbruck	Albweizen	12.5	1050.3	1011.1	5.10	77.94%
Brauerei Hofmann	Pahres	Weißbier	12.4	1049.9	1010	5.20	79.96%
Brauhaus Leikeim	Altenkunstadt	Helle Weiße	12.3	1049.5	1008.1	5.40	83.63%
Pyraser Landbrauerei	Thalmässing	Angerwirts Weizen	12.2	1049.1	1009.2	5.20	81.35%
Albertshöfer Sternbräu	Albertshofen	Weizenbier	12.1	1048.6	1010.2	5.00	79.03%
Privatbrauerei Kesselring	Marktsteft	Schlemmer Weißbier	12	1048.2	1007.6	5.30	84.24%
Braugasthof Grosch	Rödental	Grosch Weissbier	12	1048.2	1009.8	5.00	79.67%
Löwenbräu	Munich	Weisse	11.8	1047.4	1007.5	5.20	84.17%
Wolf	Zeil am Main	Land Weisse	11.6	1046.5	1008.2	5.00	82.38%
Zum Löwenbräu Flair Hotel	Adelsdorf	Aischgründer Karpfen-Weisse	12.9	1052.0	1011.3	5.30	78.27%
	Average		12.5	1050.3	1010.1	5.24	79.96%
Sources:
The relevant brewery websites

Now isn’t that interesting? The average OG is almost identical. You couldn’t say that about many styles when comparing the 19th century to today. But the big difference in the rate of attenuation means that modern versions 0.75% ABV stronger on average. That isn’t a surprise. One of the biggest changes in German beer is the increased rate of attenuation.

In many styles this has been accompanied by a drop in OG. If you look at Pils, the rate of attenuation has increased, but the ABV has remained the same. With the system in place in Germany, where the tax is calculated on the OG of the beer, there’s a financial incentive to keep the OG as low as you can. No surprise that that’s exactly what breweries have done.

Weizenbock next.

German Export Dunkles 1878 - 1900

I’ve got a stack of analyses extracted from “Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel” that I’ve never done anything with. Time to put that right.

I’ve always had a soft spot for a Dunkles, myself. Or Lager Dark Mild as I like to call it. Though. Sadly, it’s been in decline for decades. In Munich, where it was the most popular style until WW II, it’s no longer universally available. It’s deeply unfashionable, just like Mild. Though there are pockets of popularity in Franconia.

But Dunkles wasn’t just Dunkles. Forgetting Bock and Doppelbock for the moment, it came in two major types: Dunkles Lagerbier and Export Dunkles. The difference between the two being their strength. Lagerbier being 11-13º Plato and Export being 13-15º Plato. Or so. There was no style police at the time, so these numbers are approximate.

The 39 samples have an average OG of 1058.2º, or 14.39º Plato. Which is about what I would expect. But there are a few outliers, notably the examples from Kulmbach which have a gravity more in line with a Bockbier. I’d expect that, as the Dark Lagers from Kulmbach were well known for being strong.

The degree of attenuation varies considerably, too. The average of 67% is about what I would expect. I’ve noticed that the attenuation of 19th-century Lagers was often quite poor. I’m more surprised by the ones over 75% than by the ones under 60%.

I'm shocked by how high the acidity of  most examples is. I'd expect a Lager to be well below 0.1%.

You’ll probably recognise some of the names as several of the still extant Munich breweries are included, like Spaten and Löwenbräu. I’d love to know what these beers tasted like. Probably right down my street: big, chewy, malty beers.

German Export Dunkles 1878 - 1900
Year	Brewer	Town	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Lactic acid %
1878	Puszta	Kulmbach	Export Dunkel	1053.2	1018.2	4.53	65.79%	0.13
1878	Unknown	Nürnberg	Export braun	1055.4	1018.0	4.84	67.48%
1878	Unknown	Nürnberg	Export braun	1063.4	1021.0	5.50	66.88%
1884	Aktien-Export-Brauhaus	Kulmbach	dunkeles Export	1067.6	1025.9	5.39	61.69%	0.18
1884	Henninger	Erlangen	dunkeles Export	1058.8	1014.5	5.76	75.34%	0.148
1884	Carl Niklass	Erlangen	dunkeles Export	1063.3	1020.0	5.61	68.40%	0.127
1884	Kubra	Kyffhäuser	dunkeles Export	1050.8	1014.4	4.73	71.65%	0.135
1884	Unknown	Kulmbach	dunkeles Export	1061.9	1024.0	4.90	61.23%	0.153
1884	Spaten	Munich	dunkeles Export	1049.7	1022.0	3.56	55.69%	0.099
1891	National-Aktien-Brauerei	Braunschweig	"Münchener" Export	1056.5	1017.8	5.01	68.50%
1891	National-Aktien-Brauerei	Braunschweig	"Kulmbacher" Export	1061.0	1020.2	5.29	66.89%
1891	Aktien-Brauerei Streitberg	Streitberg	"Löwenbier"	1064.2	1013.5	6.63	78.97%
1891	Unknown	Kulmbach	dunkeles Exportbier	1065.7	1027.9	4.88	57.53%	0.137
1891	Unknown	Kulmbach	dunkeles Exportbier	1067.6	1023.0	5.78	65.98%	0.142
1891	Bergische Brauerei-Gesellschaft	Elberfeld	Münchener Exportbier	1053.6	1011.0	5.55	79.48%	0.126
1891	Gambrinusbräu, Böhmisches Brauhaus	Berlin	Münchener Exportbier	1052.5	1020.3	4.16	61.33%	0.117
1891	Munkebräu Exp.-Br.	Flensburg	Münchener Exportbier	1052.4	1017.6	4.50	66.41%	0.151
1891	Exp.-Br. Bamberg	Bamberg	Münchener Exportbier	1057.2	1016.8	5.23	70.63%	0.173
1891	Gaardener Exp.-Br.	Gaarden bei Kiel	Prälatenbräu	1053.9	1011.9	5.46	77.90%	0.12
1891	Hansa-Br. Gesellschaft	Hamburg	Münchener Exportbier	1053.6	1015	5.01	72.01%	0.129
1891	Andr. Müller, Exp.-Br.	Bremen	Münchener Exportbier	1054.8	1010.3	5.80	81.20%	0.144
1891	W. Remmer	Bremen	Münchener Exportbier	1061.3	1016.3	5.85	73.41%	0.145
1891	Pschorrbräu	Munich	Münchener Exportbier	1056.3	1018.9	4.84	66.43%
1891	Löwenbräu	Munich	Münchener Exportbier	1056.5	1023.4	4.26	58.58%
1891	Leistbräu (Franziskaner)	Munich	Münchener Exportbier	1057.6	1023	4.46	60.07%
1891	Hackerbräu	Munich	Münchener Exportbier	1057.5	1020.1	4.84	65.04%
1891	Bürgerbräu	Munich	Münchener Exportbier	1057.6	1024.1	4.31	58.16%
1891	Metzgerbräu	Munich	Münchener Exportbier	1057.1	1019.7	4.84	65.50%
1892	Prschorrbräu	Munich	dunkeles Export	1058.6	1020.3	4.95	65.33%	0.162
1893	Spaten	Munich	Spatenbräu	1055.3	1015.3	5.20	72.33%
1893	Spaten	Munich	Exportbier	1056.2	1013.9	5.50	75.27%
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	Kulmbach	dunkeles Exportbier	1076.9	1025.8	6.63	66.45%
1893	Weihenstephan	Freising	Exportbier	1056.2	1024.7	4.05	56.05%
1893	Henninger	Erlangen	Exportbier	1060.9	1022.6	4.95	62.89%	0.281
1894	Spaten	Munich	Exportbier	1060.3	1020.1	5.21	66.67%	0.180
1898	Unknown	Munich	Export	1055.0	1019	4.66	65.45%
1898	Unknown	Munich	Export	1058.1	1019.3	5.03	66.78%
1898	Unknown	Nürnberg	Export	1053.5	1016.9	4.74	68.41%
1900	Spaten	Munich	Exportbier	1058.1	1020	4.93	65.58%	0.160
	Average			1058.2	1019.1	5.06	67.16%	0.149
Source:
König, J (1903), Bier in Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pp 1101 - 1156, Julius Springer, Berlin.