Swedish beers 1868-1892

I bet you haven't been able to sleep, have you, waiting for the next installment on late 19th century Swedish brewing? Today's your lucky day.

Wiener Bryggeriet
First we'll take a look at Wiener Bryggeriet of Skockholm in the period 1868-1882. In 1868, output was 65% Svensköl and 33% Bayerskt öl. By the next year Svensköl had dropped to just 7.5% and Bayerskt öl risen to 90%. In 1882, it was 2% Svensköl and 96% Bayerskt öl. The brewery also produced four other beer types: Svagdricka, Iskällerdricka, Skänköl and Farsköl. Together, these never accounted for more than 2% of total production. In 1868 the brewery experimented with Kulmbacher and Viener style beer, but never put them into production. Brewing of Pilsner on a very small scale began in 1881.

Their Bayerskt öl had an OG varying between 15.3º and 18º Balling, with a final gravity of 7 to 9º Balling, though was sometimes as low as 5º Balling. The finished beer was approximately 5.5% ABW (6.9% ABV) and was lagered for 2 to 3 months.

Their Svensköl had an OG of 12º Balling, was dark, top-fermenting, brewed using an infusion mash and stored for 2 to 3 weeks before sale.

Their Iskällerdricka was a bottom-fermenting beer with an OG of 9º Balling. It was only brewed 2 to 5 times a year.

Until 1875 their Svagdricka was top-fermented using and infusion mash. After that date, a decoction mash and a bottom-fermenting yeast were used. It was only brewed 3 to 8 times a year.

Hopping rates:
Bayerskt öl - 600 g hops per 100 kg malt
Pilsner - 1 kg hops per 100 kg malt
Svensköl - 700-850 g hops per 100 kg malt
Svagdricka - 600 g hops per 100 kg malt

Hops from Bavaria and Brunswick were used for the Bayerskt öl, Swedish hops for the Svensköl and Svagdricka.

(Source: "Grönwalls bryggeri, Nürnbergs bryggeri och Wienerbryggeri" by Samuel E. Bring, pages 252 - 260)


Swedish beer strengths in 1892
Analyses of beer from different breweries, performed in 1892.

Beer type - average OG - max OG - min OG
Porter 18.5º - 23º - 14.8º
Bayerst öl 13.9º - 18.4º - 10.5º
Pilsner-öl 11.9º - 14.3º - 7.4º
Iskallerdricka 8.5º - 11.4º - 5.3º
Svensk-öl 12.3º - 18.4º - 6.7º
Svadricka:
early 6.3º - 8.8º - 4.2º
later 5º - 7.4º - 3º

As you can see, there was considerable variation between different samples.

(Source: "Svenska Bryggareföreningen 75 år", by Bertil Nordenfelt)

Early Swedish lagers

Did I tell you a pile of Swedish brewery histories arrived last week? I'm sure I've already mentioned it somewhere. A bloke called Samuel E. Bring seems to have single-handedly tried to document Stockholm's brewing industry. I have three volumes (out of at least six, as one is numbered VI). They are providing fascinating insights into the early days of lager brewing in Sweden.

Bayerskt öl
The most popular style in Sweden in the period 1870 to 1920 was, by a street, Bayerskt öl. I had been assuming that this was a dark lager in the Munich style. As so often is the case, it's actually a little more complicated than that. According to the Svenska Bryggareföreningen's magazine of January 1887, there were many differences between the Swedish version and the original. Bayerskt öl:

1. had a higher OG
   
2. used lower quality hops so wasn't as bitter
   
3. was paler - between pale yellow and pale brown, whereaas the original was closer in colour to Porter
   
4. had a higher alcohol content because of the higher OG and because the paler malts used meant it was more highly attenuated
   
5. had a higher CO2 content because:
   1. it was served directly from the barrel and not bottled
   2. Swedes liked highly-carbonated drinks
   
   

You may (or more likely not) be interested to know that one Swedish brewery, Falkenberg, still brews a Bayerskt. It's pretty pale, and is only just about dark enough to count as amber.

In 1884, the Bayerskt öl of Nürnbergs Bryggeriet in Sweden had a gravity of 13.8° Balling and was 3.84% ABW (5.3% ABV). In the same period, Pripps Bayerskt öl was 16° Balling and 6.7% ABV. By way of comparison, Löwenbräu (Munich) Lagerbier in 1887 was only 4.25% ABV, despite having a gravity of 14.75° Balling.

Pilsner öl
The first Swedish Pilsner was brewed in 1877 by Hamburgerbryggeriet in Stockholm. Paler and much bitterer than the better selling Bayerskt öl, it immediately found a market, though quite a small one. For both Pripps and Nürnbergs Bryggeriet it only made up around 5% of output in the period 1880-1920. Though, unlike some other styles, its popularity was relatively stable.

The Pripps version was around 15° Balling and 6.4% ABV. Just as with Bayerskt, this is considerably stronger than the original. Even the export beers brewed in Pilsen were only 5.25% ABV.

Pilsnerdricka
In the 188o's Grönwallska Bryggeriet introduced a new style of pale lager, Pilsnerdricka. It was a realtively weak beer, intended to offer a cheaper alternative to Pilsner. Many breweries introduced their own versions under a variety of names (Nürnbergs Bryggeriet's was called Iskällerdricka - "Ice cellar drink").

These are the details of a few beers of this type:

S:t Eriks Bryggeriet 7.4° Balling 2.8% ABV
Nürnbergs Bryggeriet 10.8° Balling 4.5% ABV
F.R. Neumüllers Bryggeriet 8.6° Balling 3.2% ABV
Erlangens Filial 8.2° Balling 3.2% ABV
Münchens Bryggeriet 8.8° Balling 3.4% ABV