Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Lagerbiers from around Dresden 1878 - 1880

More from the wonderful tables of "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel" from 1903. It's undoubtedly the best single source of 19th-century beer analyses I've found.

This is an interesting set, having been collected in one area over just a couple of years. I recognise some of the names: Waldschlösschen,  Feldschlösschen and Radeberg. Though, given the range of gravities, I don't believe these are all really a single type of beer.

Unfortunately, only in a couple of cases is there any mention of the colour. I wouldn't like to guess what the colour of the others was. If it was 20 or 30 years later, I'd assume most were pretty pale. But the 1870's is a bit early for Pale Lager. That was still mostly a product of Bohemia and Austria, with the Viennese or Munich styles most popular elsewhere in Europe. There are two examples whose colour I'm prepared to guess: the bömisch is pale and the Bavaria dark. The rest are anybody's guess.

The most identifiable type is bömisch. The two examples are some of the weakest and it looks like bömisch is the equivalent of Výčepní Pivo. The gravities are very low for German bottom-fermenting beers. The weakest Helles seems to fit in with the bömisch stylistically. All three have relatively high degrees of attenuation.

While I'm on the topic of attenuation, you'll note that it's a good bit higher than in the Winterbier and Sommerbier from Nürnberg we looked at. Sommerbier averaged 71.17% and Winterbier 69.30%, as opposed to 74.37% here. That could be connected with their generally higher gravity: Sommerbier averaged 1058 and Winterbier 1053.6.

Of course, modern Lager have much higher degrees of attenuation, more like 85%. Which explains why, though the gravities are higher than today, the ABV, at 5%, is very similar to today's equivalent beers.

The next identifiable group is Dunkles, though they both come from the same brewery, Waldschlösschen. They're both around what I would call Export strength of around 15º Plato. While we're talking about strength, Waldschlösschen has the largest range of gravities, supplying both the highest and lowest. The strongest, Bavaria, is up in Bock territory and approaching Doppelbock land.

Lagerbiers from around Dresden 1878 - 1880
Date Year Brewer Beer Style FG OG ABV App. Atten-uation
1878 Waldschlösschen Lagerbier bömisch Lagerbier 1008 1037.9 3.89 78.89%
Aug 1879 Nöthnitz Lagerbier Lagerbier 1010 1042.4 4.19 76.42%
Nov 1879 Nöthnitz Lagerbier Lagerbier 1009.9 1042.5 4.23 76.68%
1878 Radeberg Lagerbier bömisch Lagerbier 1008 1044.0 4.69 81.82%
1878 Waldschlösschen Lagerbier Hell Helles 1010 1044.7 4.51 77.63%
1878 Hofbrauhaus (Dresden) Lagerbier Lagerbier 1011 1045.5 4.49 75.82%
1878 Reisewitz Lagerbier Lagerbier 1014 1048.6 4.49 71.19%
1878 Medingen Lagerbier Lagerbier 1012 1049.8 4.91 75.90%
Dec 1879 Felsenkeller Lagerbier Lagerbier 1013.4 1050.4 4.80 73.41%
1878 Felsenkeller Lagerbier Lagerbier 1014 1050.5 4.74 72.28%
1878 Plauenscher Lagerkeller Lagerbier Lagerbier 1012 1050.5 5.00 76.24%
Jan 1879 Meissener Felsenkeller Lagerbier Lagerbier 1012 1050.5 5.00 76.24%
Jul 1879 Feldschlösschen Lagerbier Lagerbier 1013 1050.5 4.88 74.26%
1878 Radeberg Lagerbier Lagerbier 1012 1050.8 5.05 76.38%
Sep 1879 Bayerisches Brauhaus Lagerbier Lagerbier 1011 1050.9 5.20 78.39%
1878 Bayerisches Brauhaus Lagerbier Lagerbier 1015 1051.2 4.69 70.67%
Feb 1880 Plauenscher Lagerkeller Lagerbier Lagerbier 1014.1 1052.6 5.00 73.19%
1878 Gambrinus Lagerbier Lagerbier 1012 1053.0 5.34 77.36%
Nov 1879 Gambrinus Lagerbier Lagerbier 1013.6 1053.3 5.16 74.48%
1878 Felsenkeller Lagerbier Lagerbier 1016 1053.6 4.88 70.15%
Feb 1880 Elsterwerda Lagerbier Lagerbier 1018.2 1053.9 4.63 66.23%
Feb 1880 Reisewitz Lagerbier Lagerbier 1016 1054.2 4.95 70.48%
1878 Feldschlösschen Lagerbier Lagerbier 1013 1054.4 5.39 76.10%
1878 Hofbrauhaus (Dresden) Lagerbier Lagerbier 1019 1054.8 4.63 65.30%
Jan 1879 Hofbrauhaus (Dresden) Lagerbier Lagerbier 1019.5 1054.8 4.56 64.42%
Jul 1879 Hofbrauhaus (Dresden) Lagerbier Lagerbier 1014.2 1055.5 5.36 74.39%
Feb 1879 Waldschlösschen Lagerbier Hell Helles 1012.3 1056.2 5.71 78.09%
1878 Waldschlösschen Lagerbier Dunkel Dunkles 1013 1057.6 5.81 77.43%
Feb 1880 Waldschlösschen Lagerbier Dunkel Dunkles 1015.2 1061.1 5.98 75.12%
1878 Hofbrauhaus (Dresden) Lagerbier Lagerbier 1019 1063.0 5.71 69.84%
1878 Waldschlösschen Lagerbier Bavaria Lagerbier 1014 1072.1 7.61 80.58%
Average 1013.4 1052.0 5.01 74.37%
Source:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

There are some examples which are clearly versions of the same beer. For example, the Felsenkeller at 1050, Gambrinus at 1053, Hofbrauhaus at 1055 and Nöthnitz at 1042. And you can see some breweries had a range of beers at different gravities: Hofbrauhaus at 1045, 1055 and 1063; Feldschlösschen at 1050 and 1054; Felsenkeller also at 1050 and 1054.

One odd thing. If I remove the extremes at either end - all the beers with gravities below 1048 and above 1058 - the averages for the remaining beers come to almost exactly the same as for the whole group.

There's loads more Lager fun in "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel". Just a lot of work extracting it all. Expect more dribbles regularly.

2 comments:

Pivní Filosof said...

As in the previous post on this topic, you bring attention to the different attenuation levels between modern lagers and those from 100+ years ago.

When did lagers achieve their current levels of attenuation? And why? Was it to extend its "shelf life" or to make it more drinkable?

Ron Pattinson said...

Pivní Filosof,

I think it's been a gradual process.

I'm sure it's all to do with money: getting the same ABV from fewer ingredients. And pay less tax because the gravity is lower.