What was the year of Oat Beer?

Find out in my short video. It's a fun story.

 

I fly to Poznan

A quick report of a short trip I made last weekend.

I trail over to Schiphol a little after 09:00. Which leaves me time to warm up for the flight a little in the lounge. 

The food isn't too bad in the lounge this time. It's the non-Schengen one that I don't visit often.  Not been impressed with the food in the past. The rostis are really nice. Scrambled egg could do with some seasoning.

 

But there's free-pour whisky. Of which I take advantage. Though don't abuse. It's a thin line that you need to walk when you're an enthusiastic drinker like me.

I bump into Ferry at the gate. He's judging in Grodzisk, too. Though we both live in Holland, we first met in Brazil.

When my boarding pass is checked before getting on the bus, there's a beep and I'm given a slip of paper. I've been upgraded to business class. I guess because the flight is overbooked. Now there's a win.

After waiting on the tarmac for a while the bus return to the gate. Two vehicles have collided close to our plane. We have to wait for that to be sorted out. We depart quite late. 

The food is definitely better than the usual KLM slop. And I get a couple of whiskies to wash it down. Which also helps. 

After landing in Poznan, we're whisked off in a bus to our hotel Along with other just-arrived judges. It takes a while to get to Nowy Tomyśl. After just about enough time to drop of our bags, it's back on the bus to go to Grodzisk.

Where we're judging in the former malt house of the last brewery to make Grodziskie before the style's extinction in the early 1990s. Which is pretty cool. And it's right next to the brewhouse of Browar Grodzisk. Current brewer of Grodziskie

We don't have to judge a stupid number of beers - my table has 17. Just as well, as the judging kicks off in the early evening. There are some pretty good examples in the ones we judge. And a few not so good ones. But there are always a few duds, whenever you judge.

I'm judging with two Polish men, Michal Kopik and Jan Lepek and a German/Greek woman, Dafne Peppa_boy. We have some robust discussions about some beers. Which is part of the fun of judging. If everyone 100% agreed, int would be a pretty dull process.

For those of you that haven't experienced the Grodziskie style, here's an overview of its characteristics.

colour: very pale
grist: 100% oak-smoked wheat malt 
hops:  Polish varieties
yeast: top fermenting
OG: 7.7º Plato
ABV: 3.1%

The last two I've taken from the Classic version brewed by Browar Grodzisk. It's also usually bottle-conditioned.

I like versions where the hops and smoke are in balance. Combined with a light body, making them very drinkable. Quite a few of the beers I judge fit those parameters perfectly. And are a pleasure to drink.

I already know quite a few of the other judges. Which makes things easier. Catching up with Evan Rail after many years is fun. Great to learn that U Rotundy remains a s wonderful as ever. Plus lots of other great stuff about beer in Czechia.

Judging is scheduled to end at 21:00. It's a while after that when all the tables are done  And it's pushing 10:00 when we hit the restaurant Schabowy & Salata.

Our, quite late, evening meal is very decent. What I expect in Poland, where the food is usually pretty good. I do like a good Schnitzel. One made out of actual meat. Unlike the shttty ones made from reconstituted gunk they sell in the supermarkets in Holland.

(I was wondering about the name of the restaurant: Schbowy & Salata. I could get the second bit But what about the first? Kotlet schabowy turns out to be what I called a Schnitzel. It's the Polish version of a fried, thin, breaded piece of pork. Like I said earlier, it was excellent.)

Of course, there's also Grodziskie to drink. From the beautifully elegant, slender glasses. 

It's after midnight when I get my head down Aiming for an 8:00 start tomorrow. A gulp or two of hotel whisky whisks me off rapidly to sleep. 

  

Browar Grodzisk
Poznańska 16B, 
62-065 Grodzisk Wielkopolski, 
Poland.
https://browargrodzisk.com 

Schabowy & Salata
Osiedle Wojska Polskiego 18D, 
62-065 Grodzisk Wielkopolski, 
Poland.

Here's a video report of my trip:

 

Grodzisk

By popular demand, (ell, I think one person said they liked them), here's another travel video.

Where I fly to Poznan and am whisked away to judge in the malthouse of the last brewer in Grodzisk when the style died out in the early 1990s. Then eat a Kotlet schabowy. Which was dead good.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fremlin Double Stout

Now here’s a surprise: Fremlin didn’t parti-gyle their Porter and Stout. Which, certainly by this late in the 19th century, is what I would have expected.

The recipes are also surprisingly different. There’s far more base malt in the Stout, 65% as opposed to just 43%. There’s about half as much of the two coloured malts, around 9% of the grist in total. Which leaves the Stout a bit paler than the Porter. The opposite of what I would have expected.

Fewer oats are also present. Again, around half of what’s in the Porter. It implies that Fremlin marketed two strengths of Oatmeal Stout. One based on the Porter and one on the Double Stout.

There’s less of the cane sugar, but it still makes up almost 20% of the grist. That’s an awful lot still. Especially for a Stout, which would be expected to be quite full-bodied.

A slightly higher hopping rate was employed than in the Porter, 7.5 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, compared to 6.5 lbs. That, combined with the higher gravity, leaves the bitterness level of the finished beer quite a bit higher at 71 IBU.

Was this beer aged? I’ve no real idea. There’s no indication in the brewing record. I don’t think it was vatted. Maybe a couple of months in trade casks. 

1897 Fremlin Double Stout
pale malt	9.75 lb	66.87%
brown malt	0.75 lb	5.14%
chocolate malt	0.50 lb	3.43%
oat malt	0.50 lb	3.43%
brown sugar	2.75 lb	18.86%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.33 lb	2.26%
Fuggles 120 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	2.00 oz
OG	1072
FG	1017.5
ABV	7.21
Apparent attenuation	75.69%
IBU	71
SRM	38
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	175º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	58º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

 

What is Barley Wine?

Another little video, this time looking at the strongest type of English Beer, Barley Wine. And, of course, I mention Whitbread Gold Label, a minor obsession of mine. 

 

Grodziskie

Now there's another bucket list item crossed off. I finally got to drink Grodziskie in Grodzisk.

Last weekend I was in Grodzisk to judge, well, Grodziskie. And what fun it was.

One of my big regrets, beer-wise, at least, was not getting tro try Grodzisk when I was in Poland in the early 1990s. When the original Grodzisk brewery was still active. And I assumed that was my chance gone to experience the style.

Thankfully, the style has been brought back to life in its home town. And is even brewed in the building as the original. How cool is that? And the judging was in the malthouse of original brewery.\

It was quite a short trip for me. Only a short hop of a flight. And just two days away. Almost no effort at all, really.

Lots of fun people there, too. Some I already knew. Some I was meeting for the same time. It's great to still be meeting new people at my age. Which is why I'm going to continue to travel as long as I can. 

Youngs PA fermentation 10th July 1939

We finish with an example of a Pale Ale fermentation. The whole process took 6.5 days, though almost all the action took place in the first 2.5 days. In the last four, the gravity only fell a little over 1º.

Youngs fermentations are quite unusual, with the temperature continually rising during the active phase. Hitting a peak when attenuation was about complete. Most brewers initially allowed the temperature to rise, then used the attemperators to stabilise it.

The rise of around 10º F during fermentation, on the other hand, is pretty typical.

After 42 hours, the wort was dropped. Though, weirdly, the FV number seems to be the same. Though it could be that the fermenting rounds and settling squares each had their own numbers. Most beers were dropped – when they were dropped, because not all beers were – after between 40 and 48 hours.

Youngs PA fermentation 10th July 1939
hours	FV	heat	gravity	action
0	5	60º F	1034.6	pitched
13		61.5º F	1032.1
23		63º F	1027.7
28		64º F	1024.4
37		66.5º F	1019.4
42	5	67.5º F	1016.1	dropped
47		68.5º F	1013.9
52		68.25º F	1011.1
60		69.5º F	1009.4
157		59º F	1008.3	racked
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/29.

 

A dream come true

 Piwo Grodziskie.

Drinking Grodziskie in Grodzisk.
 

 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1939

Some processes next. Boiling and fermentation.

Most of the beers had two coppers and hence two boil times. The exception being the Black Beers, which only had one.

Most of the boils were two hours long. The exception being the two Mild Ales, where it was 1.75 hours. Other than when they were parti-gyled with the Strong Ales, when they were two hours. There’s nothing particularly odd about the length of the boil.

All of the pitching temperatures are around 60º F. Which is what you would expect for standard-strength beers. The temperature rose around 12º F during fermentation. Nothing really to see there. It’s all pretty normal.

The length of the fermentations, on the other hand, is generally quite long. Averaging just shy of 8 days. Which is a little on the long side. But nothing crazy. 

Youngs boiling and fermentation in 1939
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)		Pitch temp	max. fermentation temp	length of fermentation (days)
A	Mild	1.75	1.75	61º F	69º F	9
X	Mild	1.75	1.75	60º F	68º F	8
PA	Pale Ale	2	2	60º F	71.75º F	8
PAB	Pale Ale	2	2	60º F	70.5º F	8
P	Porter	2		59º F	68.5º F	8
S	Stout	2		59º F	74.25º F	8
XXX	Strong Ale	2	2	60º F	71.25º F	4
XXXX	Strong Ale	2	2	59º F	75.5º F	6
	Average	1.94	1.92	59.75º F	71.09º F	7.4
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

Let's Brew - 1897 Fremlin Porter

It’s interesting to see that Fremlin were still brewing a Porter at this date. Probably because of the brewery’s proximity to London. In most of the country, brewers had dropped Porter, though continued to brew Stout.

The grist itself shows a London influence, with more than 11% brown malt. However, there’s no black malt, its place being taken by chocolate malt. Which is a substitution Whitbread also made, except a couple of decades later.

The presence of oat malt betrays that some must have been marketed as Oat Stout. Even though this beer was brewed single-gyle and not parti-gyled with a Stout.

There’s an awful lot of sugar in the recipe. Over 25% of the total. In the brewing record it’s simply described as “cane”. I’ve assumed unrefined brown sugar. In addition, there’s quite a bit of caramel. Which leaves the finished beer pretty dark.

Three types of English hops, two from the 1896 harvest and one from 1897. Pretty fresh, then, considering this was brewed in October. 

1897 Fremlin Porter
pale malt	4.25 lb	41.98%
brown malt	1.25 lb	12.35%
chocolate malt	0.875 lb	8.64%
oat malt	0.75 lb	7.41%
brown sugar	2.75 lb	27.16%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.25 lb	2.47%
Fuggles 145 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1052
FG	1015
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	71.15%
IBU	41
SRM	41
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	180º F
Boil time	145 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

 

Youngs hops in 1939

Time for the final ingredient now: hops. Though they aren’t quite as exciting as the hops and sugars. Why? Because they’re exactly the same two types in every single beer but one. Which is very different from what you’d find at a brewery nowadays, where every beer would tend to have its own individual hopping. Though, in the 1990s, Youngs were doing pretty much the same thing, with only the Lagers having different hops.

The hops were all pretty fresh. Either from the most recent season – 1938 – or the season before, but cold stored (that’s what CS stands for). And all, except for one type in PA, were from Kent. 

Youngs hops in 1939
Beer	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3
A	Kent 1937 CS	Kent 1938
X	Kent 1937 CS	Kent 1938
PA	Kent 1937	Worcs. 1938	Kent 1938
PAB	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
P	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
S	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
XXX	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
XXXX	Kent 1938 CS	Kent 1938
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

What is Berliner Weisse?

Yet another video. This time looking into the history of Berliner Weuisse. A style which, sadly, is close to extinction.

 

Fremlin beer gravities in 1924

When I took Andrew with me to photograph brewing records, I told him to always look inside the front and back covers. Because there's often interesting information scribbled down there.

Annual totals, water treatment, malts used and general notes. I've certainly harvested lots of dead handy stuff from these pages. Fremlin's records have several pages of this stuff. One of which, in their 1924/1925 records, contains the information below.

What it contains is rather typical of the immediate post-WW I period. Where brewers often fiddled around with their beers post-fermentation. Usually watering them down to hit the new lower gravities. Examples of breweries who did this are William Younger and Truman's Burton brewery.

At Fremlin, several beers were created by watering down others: IOS, BB and H. While others either had water added after fermentation or were blended with a low-gravity beer called "Spcl" (I assume that stands for "special". Though I'm not so sure what's special about something so watery. 

Fremlin beer gravities in 1924
beer	declare	action	finish
OS "Sp"	1044.5		1047.3
OS "Ord:	1041.7		1044.5
IOS	1028.4	dilute OS to 1028.4	1032.0
EB "Sp"	1045.3		1045.9
EB "Ord"	1042.3		1043.1
H	1042.3	dilute to 1034.5	1036.1
BB	1038.1	dilute EB or H  to 1038.1	1039.5
DA "Sp"	1032.5	add 12% Spcl @ 1026.4	1032.0
DA "Ord"	1031.1	add 12% Spcl @ 1026.4	1030.6
X	1028.1	dilute DA to 1028.1, add 12% Spcl @ 1026.4	1027.8
3 Star	1043.6	add 12% Spcl @ 1026.4	1041.7
Stock	1043.6		1044.5
EA	1049.2		1050.0
Source:
Fremlin brewing record held at the Kent Archives, document number U3555/2/F/Bx2/1/45.
OS = Oatmeal Stout

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1897 Fremlin Pilsener

Now here’s a really unusual beer. A Pilsener brewed by a regional brewery that didn’t have a specialist Lager plant.

Rather oddly, they seem to have dropped Pilsener during WW I. A time when some other breweries started to experiment with Lager brewing when continental supplies were cut off.

It’s a pretty authentic stab at the style. OK, it uses pale malt rather than lager malt, but I’ll let them off that. Especially as they went to the trouble of a double decoction mash. Not totally sure how they achieved that in a standard UK brew house.

It looks like they had three rests, at 95º F, 135º F and 165º F. Achieving those temperatures through two boils of half the mash. Looks pretty authentic to me.

Unfortunately, I have no idea of the fermentation temperature. As Fremlin couldn’t be arsed to record that. Though, given that they used Carlsberg yeast, I’m guessing that it was pretty cool.

I’m pretty sure that the hops were Bohemian as the name of the grower was Veleke. That’s what I’ve guessed, anyway. They were pretty fresh, coming from the 1896 harvest. 

1897 Fremlin Pilsener
pale malt	8.75 lb	79.55%
flaked maize	2.25 lb	20.45%
Saaz 155 min	1.00 oz
Saaz 60 min	1.00 oz
Saaz 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1047
FG	1010
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	78.72%
IBU	30
SRM	4
Mash at	double decoction
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	155 minutes
pitching temp	53º F
Yeast	Wyeast 2042 Danish lager

action	barrels	temp.	mash temp
dough in	9	cold
mash in	3.5	210º F	95º F
boil	6.25		135º F
boil	6.25		165º F
sparge	5	170º F
sparge	6	170º F
sparge	6	170º F

 

 

 

What was Britain's first Lager?

I'm back on the Lager again. With details of the first Lager ever brewed in the UK. Which was surprisingly early.

 

Colours of Holyrood beers in 2001

A bit of a change of pace today. We're jumping over to Scotland. And quite recently. Why? BEcause I just happened to notice part of the William Younger archive that I hadn't ever done anything with.

It's a set of type-written sheets recording the specifications of the Scottish & Newcastle beers brewed in Scotland. At either the Holyrood brewery (William Younger) or the Fountain Brewery (William McEwan). The particular sheet we're looking at today defines the colours of the beers for bottling brewed at Holyrood.

What particularly struck me were the notes about the colour of the Brown Ale and Sweet Stout. Both were brewed way darker than rewuired because of the quantity of "reprocessed beer" added to them. This would have been ullage (returned beer) and other shit. The change in colour implies an awful lot of it. 

Colours of Holyrood beers in 2001
beer	EBC
* S/Stout	270°
Harp (Bott)	9°
DCA (Double Century Ale)	70°
DBS (McEwans Milk Stout)	270°
PA (Youngers Pale Ale)	24°
K 5/A (McEwans Pale Ale)	48°
** BA (Brown Ale)	85°
Harp (CT)	9°
XXPS	25°
5/b (McEwans Export)	25°
Source:
Holyrood and Fountain beer specifications held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/8/1.
* SS is brewed at a colour of 600° - when blended with reprocessed beer, the final colour is 270°
** BA is brewed at a colour of 220° - when blended with reprocessed beer, the final colour is 85°

 

What is Scottish Sweet Stout?

I explain the wonderful Scottish style of Sweet Stout. Very sweet and barely fermented. Yum!

 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1939

Moving on, let’s look at the rest of the grist. There’s not much in the way of adjuncts. There’s just the one, flaked oats. At least, I think it was flaked oats. The brewing record simply says “oats”, meaning that it could also have been in malted form. I’ve gone with flakes, simply because that was the more common form.

Not using adjuncts in their other beers is quite unusual. Though by no means unique. Whitbread, for example, also brewed adjunct-free. Most brewers, however, employed flaked maize. UK brewers’ favourite adjunct for most of the 20th century.

Every beer contains some malt extract. Presumably there to add extra enzymes. It was reasonably common in mid-20th-century recipes.

Two numbered invert sugars make an appearance. The lightest in colour, No. 1, is, logically enough, in the two Pale Ales. In a relatively large proportion of around 12%. Which would have helped to keep the colour nice and pale, as is appropriate for the style.

No. 3, on the other hand, appears in the Mild and Strong Ales. In a rather smaller amount, just 7% to 8%. Its purpose would be dual, to add both colour and flavour. There was even less in the Black Beers, a mere 5%.

Rather surprisingly, caramel doesn’t turn up in the Black Beers, only the Mild and Strong Ales. In both of the latter, the quantities are quite small. The purpose being colour correction.

The overall average of 12% is a bit below the national average of 16%. Only the two Pale Ales are close to that national figure. 

Youngs adjuncts and sugars in 1939
Beer	Style	flaked oat	malt extract	no. 1 sugar	no. 3 sugar	caramel	total sugar
A	Mild		3.30%		6.60%	0.96%	10.87%
X	Mild		2.21%		7.19%	0.97%	10.37%
PA	Pale Ale		3.23%	12.90%			16.13%
PAB	Pale Ale		2.86%	11.43%			14.29%
P	Porter	5.00%	5.00%		5.00%		10.00%
S	Stout	5.00%	5.00%		5.00%		10.00%
XXX	Strong Ale		2.68%		8.05%	0.75%	11.48%
XXXX	Strong Ale		2.68%		8.05%	0.75%	11.48%
	Average						11.83%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.

 

Youngs malts in 1939

Time to look under the bonnet at what went into these beers. Bullying off with the malts.

There are quite a lot of base malts. Three in total. Four if you include the enzymic malt. The Mild and Pale Ales all have two base malts. For the Mild Ales, that’s, er, mild malt and pale malt. And for the Pale Ales, PA malt and pale malt. Which, I suppose, has some logic to it.

The Black Beers – Porter and Stout – only have a single base malt: mild malt. The cheapest of the base malts. Which is logical in beers with lots of coloured malts which would obscure the base malt’s flavour.

Enzymic malt, used to lower the pH of the mash, only pops up in the two Pale Ales. Presumably, it wasn’t needed in the other beers ass they contained coloured malts. Youngs were extremely loyal to enzymic malt and were still using it in the 1990s. 

All the beers, other than the Pale Ales, contain some crystal malt. It’s a type of malty which, after WW II, became pretty common in Pale Ales. But before the war, it was pretty well unknown in the style.

There’s lots of roasted malt in the Black Beers: 17.5% in total. That’s split across black and amber malt. It’s a slightly unusual for a London grist. More usual was a combination of black and brown malt. Or, in the case of Whitbread, chocolate malt and brown malt.

Overall, the percentage of malt in the grist is quite high, averaging 87%. Higher than the average for the UK, which was 78%.  

Youngs malts in 1939
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	amber malt	mild malt	PA malt	crystal malt	enzymic malt	total malt
A	Mild	13.20%			66.02%		9.90%		89.13%
X	Mild	16.60%			63.07%		9.96%		89.63%
PA	Pale Ale	25.81%				54.84%		3.23%	83.87%
PAB	Pale Ale	32.14%				50.36%		3.21%	85.71%
P	Porter		7.50%	10.00%	60.00%		7.50%		85.00%
S	Stout		7.50%	10.00%	60.00%		7.50%		85.00%
XXX	Strong Ale				80.47%		8.05%		88.52%
XXXX	Strong Ale				80.47%		8.05%		88.52%
	Average								86.92%
Source:
Young's brewing record held at Battersea Library, document number YO/RE/1/8.