What are Licht and Donker Lagerbier?

For the first time I stray outside the UK with one of my videos, taking a look at the cheap and cheerful pale and dark 3.5% Dutch Lagers from before WW II.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Heineken Donker Lagerbier

Another wartime Heineken recipe. A beautifully watery one. But isn't low-alcohol beer all the rage?

Heineken’s other Lagerbier suffered the same gravity reduction as its paler sibling. Down to the waste of time drinking level.

A lot has been going on with the grist. First, there’ the placement, as with all their beers, of some of the malt by sugar. The quantity of caraamber has declined a little, that of caramel malt almost doubled along with a massive increase in the amount of carafe. The latter change I’m sure being to maintain the colour after the addition of so much sugar.

Unlike the pale version, dark Lagerbier has had its hopping rate cut, reducing the (calculated) IBUs from 14 to 12. Bugger all, really, even for a beer this watery. The hops were the same “SuK” from the 1940 season is in the pale version.

1941 Heineken Donker Lagerbier
pilsner malt	2.75 lb	63.51%
caramel malt 60 L	0.25 lb	5.77%
caraamber	0.25 lb	5.77%
carafa III	0.33 lb	7.62%
sugar	0.75 lb	17.32%
Hallertau 90 mins	0.25 oz
Hallertau 60 mins	0.25 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	0.33 oz
OG	1021
FG	1005.5
ABV	2.05
Apparent attenuation	73.81%
IBU	12
SRM	15
Mash double decoction
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	48º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

 This recipe is one of 553 in my recently-released BlitzKrieg!, the definitive book on brewing during WW II.

Get your copy now!

The second volume contains the recipes. But not just that. There are also overviews of some of the breweries covered, showing their beers at the start and the end of the conflict.

Buy one now and be the envy of your friends!

 

More Heineken mashing schemes

Just four nights away and it's incredible how much of a backlog has built up. Of things that need to get done. And there was me thinking that life would be simpler once I'd got employment out of the way.

I've not the time to tell you all the fun I had in Germany. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, I've got some lovely decoction mashed for you. They complete the set of Heineken beers. I had worried that the pilot brewery wouldn't have made any batches of these two beers, Heineken's session Lagers. The first book contained none. Fortunately, there are some brews in the second book.

I was surprised that the mashing scheme of Domker Lagerbier was so complicated. It's a lot of effort for the equivalent of Mild Ale. Just like Beiersch, there's a triple decoction. Except the use of rice adds an extra level of complexity. At over 8 hours, it's the longest of any of the schemes.

The scheme for Licht Lagerbier is generally the same as for Pils, except some of the times are different. Especially during the sparging process.

Donker Lagerbier 30th Mar 1936
step	duration (minutes)
Mash in at 34º C (93º F)	5
Mash in rice at 17º C (63º F)	5
Draw off first decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F)	15
Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F)	15
Boil first decoction	15
Rest whole mash at 50.5º C (123º F)	15
Draw off second decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F)	20
Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F)	10
Boil second decoction	25
Rest whole mash at 65º C (149º F)	10
Draw off third decoction and raise to 100º C (212º F)	5
Boil third decoction	20
Mash at 72º C and mash out (162º F)	60
Sparge at 67º C (153º F) and rest	60
Draw off main wort	75
Draw off second wort	130
Total time	485
Source:
Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 834-1789.

Licht Lagerbier 23rd Mar 1938
step	duration (minutes)
Mash in at 50.5º C (123º F)	10
Mash in rice at 28º C (82º F)	5
Draw off first decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F)	30
Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F)	15
Boil first decoction	15
Rest whole mash at 64.5º C (148º F)	30
Draw off second decoction and raise to 100º C (212º F)	15
Boil second decoction	15
Mash at 75.5º C (168º F) and mash out	45
Sparge at 71.5º C (161º F) and rest	45
Draw off main wort	45
Draw off second wort	150
Total time	420
Source:
Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 834-1789.

Reducing beer gravity

Almost as soon as Holland had been occupied by the Germans, the Dutch brewers' organisation, the CBK, began to discuss reducing beer strengths to preserve barley and malt supplies. 

"XI. REDUCING THE BEER GRAVITY.
INCREASES ON THE BEER TAX.
Mr Stikker recalled the discussion in the previous meeting about the gravity reduction in connection with the uncertain supply of raw materials and the plan itself to propose surcharges on the excise duty to levy in accordance with the gravity reduction in order to prevent too large an increase in excise duty. This last point was informally discussed with the Department of Finance, which considered the position of the breweries to be loyal and considered the reduction in gravity to be motivated. If the gravity reduction is effected by a C.B.K. regulation, i.e. a regulation under private law, this does not include imported beer; if their strength did not follow the Dutch strength, this would form a difficult competition. This has been discussed with the Department of Trade, N & S without a solution being found. Perhaps a settlement can be found, although the danger will not be so great. If necessary, contact can be made with the German brewery organizations."
Minutes of the management of the CBK on 21st June 1940, held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 31121-1, page 355.

Note that, umlike in the UK, this move wasn't being required by the government but by a voluntary agreement amongst the brewers. Which consequently had no force in law.

It's weird that they were worried about unfair competition from German imports. I think that shows how the reality of the new situation hadn't really sunk in. I'm not that discussions with German brewers would have yielded much. Their German colleagues had much more important concerns.

Representatives of the different breweries had varying opinions about when the gravity cut should come into effect.

"Mr. de Groen is not against a reduction in content, but thinks it would be better not to start this until January 1, 1941, among other things to gain time and to wait and see whether the situation changes in the meantime.

Mr. Berkemeier does not agree with this and advises that the reduction be made at a time when the beer sales are harmed as little as possible, which is the case in the summer season, when beer of a lower gravity tastes better than in winter.

Mr. Zylker says that Mr. de Groen is right when he believes that the situation can change quickly. The speaker noted that this could in fact lead to an order to suddenly very sharply reduce gravities.

Mr. A. Smits says that he originally had the same thought as Mr. de Groen, but that this has been changed by the explanation of Mr. Stikker. Nevertheless, for technical reasons, the Speaker proposes to set the date as September 1 instead of August 1.

Mr. Swinkels agrees with Mr. de Groen, and points out that the proposed reductions in the gravity of Lagerbier have a different character to that of the heavy beer. After all, the new Lagerbier will not be drunk by the public, so that consumption will pass to the beer of the higher grade, to the detriment of the breweries which mainly sell Lagerbier. The speaker therefore proposes to set the new gravity for Lagerbier at 8%. The Speaker also believes that it should also be taken into account that the smaller breweries will not comply with the regulations."
Minutes of the management of the CBK on 21st June 1940, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, document number 31121-1, page 355 - 356.

Some interesting arguments there. I suppose it is true that a lighter beer does down better in the winter than the summer. 

Were they right to fear drinkers switching up to Pils if Lagerbier was made too weak? I think so. It's what I would have done. If you remember the sales figures I published for Amstel, Lagerbier outsold Pils almost three to one in Amsterdam. While outside the capital, dark and pale Lagerbier combined just about matched that of Pils. Clearly Lagerbier was a very important segment for brewers.

When were gravities cut? We'll get to that next time.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Heineken Licht Lagerbier

The most obvious difference with the 1940 version is a reduction of the gravity by 8º. Leaving it barely 2% ABV.

The other big change is the introduction sugar into the grist. Something which happened to all Heineken’s beers. It’s odd that there was enough sugar knocking around at this point in the war for it to be used in brewing. Especially as Heineken hadn’t used it before the war. In the UK the opposite was true, with the quantity being reduced during the war and diverted for use in food.

The hopping rate has been maintained at the same level, but, as the gravity has been reduced the bitterness level has increased. The calculated IBUs going from 12.5 to 15.5. Still not exactly tongue-scorching. The hops themselves were of a single type from the 1940 harvest, described as “SuK” in the brewing record. No idea what might be, other than that the “S” might indicate “Saaz”.

1941 Heineken Licht Lagerbier
pilsner malt	3.50 lb	82.35%
sugar	0.75 lb	17.65%
Hallertau 90 mins	0.25 oz
Hallertau 60 mins	0.33 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1021
FG	1005.5
ABV	2.05
Apparent attenuation	73.81%
IBU	15.5
SRM	2
Mash double decoction
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	48º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

Mash in at 35º C (95º F)	5 minutes
Warm whole mash to 52º C (126º F)	20 minutes
Rest whole mash at 52º C (126º F) (protein rest)	15 minutes
Draw off first mash and without a rest bring to the boil	30 minutes
Boil first mash	10 minutes
The rest of the mash remains at 52º C (126º F)	40 minutes
Mash at 70º C (158º F)	25 minutes
Rest whole mash at 70º C (158º F) (saccharification rest)	30 minutes
Draw off second mash and without a rest bring to the boil	15 minutes
Boil second mash	10 minutes
Mash at 76º C (169º F) and mash out	20 minutes

 

 

 

 

Other Dutch Lagers in 1943

I'll be honest with, you won't be getting that many words from me today. It's a lovely sunny day and Have an appointment with my mates Will and Lucas in Butcher's Tears in an hour. No time for any fancy word-spinning.  Looking forward to a few pints, though.

I feel very comfortable at Butcher's Tears as they have lots of space outside. No rubbing shoulders with the next table. The beer's not bad, either. They quite often have a Mild, too. Only a 15-minute walk away. Perfect, really.

On with the post. Lots of tables stuck together by the occasional sentence. Relating to lagers brewed towards the end of the war.

If you thought the Pils set looked as watery as hell, wait until you see this lot. None manage to crawl much over 1% ABV. Yeah, party time! The slightly below average degree of attenuation doesn’t help the alcoholic qualities, but I suppose helped to leave them with at least a little body.

Dutch Licht Lagerbier in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
25th Jan	Drie Hoefijzers	Breda	2.87	0.77	1.05	73.40%	0.58
26th Jan	Bavaria	Lieshout	3.02	1.05	0.98	65.51%	0.48
26th Jan	Amstel	Amsterdam	2.62	0.66	1.01	75.01%	2.8
26th Jan	Heineken	Rotterdam	2.85	0.71	1.08	75.30%	0.26
26th Jan	Kruis van Bourgondie		2.94	0.86	1.05	71.00%	0.62
27th Jul	Heineken	Amsterdam	2.85	0.79	1.01	72.51%	0.32
27th Jul	Heineken	Rotterdam	2.88	0.93	0.98	67.96%	0.38
	Average		2.86	0.82	1.02	71.53%	0.78
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

It’s much the same story with the dark type of Lagerbier – low gravity, weedy ABV. And an even worse degree of attenuation. And a couple of examples which are barely even dark. Why would you bother drinking stuff as dilute as this? I guess because there was no alternative.

Dutch Donker Lagerbier in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
25th Jan	Grolsch	Groenlo	8.22	1.74	3.33	79.38%	12.5
25th Jan	Van Vollenhoven	Amsterdam	3.06	1.07	1.01	65.31%	10.8
26th Jan	Bavaria	Lieshout	3.44	1.24	1.11	64.27%	5.8
26th Jan	Kruis van Bourgondie		3.21	1.10	1.08	66.03%	14.5
26th Jan	Heineken	Rotterdam	2.96	1.01	0.98	66.15%	6.2
27th Jul	Heineken	Amsterdam	2.87	0.91	0.98	68.54%	4.8
27th Jul	Heineken	Rotterdam	3.04	1.39	0.78	54.58%	8.5
	Average		3.83	1.21	1.32	66.32%	9.01
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Another weird outlier in the set, this time from Grolsch. Some lucky devils got to drink a beer that was actually intoxicating. Heady stuff.

Weirdly Holland’s wateriest beer style, Oud Bruin, averaged out stronger than Licht Lagerbier.

Dutch Oud Bruin in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
25th Jan	Van Vollenhoven	Amsterdam	3.70	1.20	1.30	67.90%	25
26th Jan	St. Servatius	Maastricht	2.84	0.62	1.15	78.37%	7
26th Jan	Gulpener	Gulpen	3.19	0.87	1.19	72.98%	12.2
26th Jan	Het Hert	Corurau?	3.00	1.07	0.89	64.61%	11.5
	Average		3.18	0.94	1.13	70.96%	13.93
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Surprised to see Gerste still being brewed at such a late date. Heineken had dropped theirs a couple of decades earlier.

Dutch Gerste in 1943
Date	Brewer	Town	OG Plato	FG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Colour
26th Jan	Phoenix	Amersfoort	2.91	1.19	0.87	59.39%	0.8
26th Jan	ZHB	Den Haag	3.13	1.65	0.78	47.60%	1.8
26th Jan	Oranjeboom	Rotterdam	3.06	0.93	1.07	69.87%	5
	Average		3.03	1.26	0.90	58.95%	2.53
Source:
Rapporten van laboratoriumonderzoeken naar producten van Heinekenbrouwerijen in binnen- en buitenland en naar producten van andere brouwerijen held at the Amsterdamse Stadsarchief, document number 834 - 1794.

Overall, the effect of shortages was to concertina all the different styles together, leaving very little difference between them in terms of strength.

Wasn't that both fun and informative? Not really. Well, not both.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1940 Heineken Licht Lagerbier

No surprise that Heineken’s session Pale Lager has also had its strength cut in November 1940. And, like all the other beers, this was achieved by adding water before fermentation.

Not sure what the point was in that. I could understand if they had diluted it post fermentation. That’s what some UK brewers did around the end of WW I for reasons of yeast health. Too low a gravity wort not giving yeast enough food to develop properly.

Like the Pils, the grist is extremely simple, consisting solely of pilsner malt. Though there were three different types of it.

Two types of hops were employed, Sa and Bacha, both from the 1939 harvest. I’m pretty sure the former were Saaz and the latter I think were from Yugoslavia.

1940 Heineken Licht Lagerbier
pilsner malt	6.50 lb	100.00%
Hallertau 90 mins	0.25 oz
Hallertau 60 mins	0.33 oz
Saaz 30 mins	0.50 oz
OG	1029
FG	1007
ABV	2.91
Apparent attenuation	75.86%
IBU	13.5
SRM	2.5
Mash double decoction
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	48º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

 

Mash in at 35º C (95º F)	5 minutes
Warm whole mash to 52º C (126º F)	20 minutes
Rest whole mash at 52º C (126º F) (protein rest)	15 minutes
Draw off first mash and without a rest bring to the boil	30 minutes
Boil first mash	10 minutes
The rest of the mash remains at 52º C (126º F)	40 minutes
Mash at 70º C (158º F)	25 minutes
Rest whole mash at 70º C (158º F) (saccharification rest)	30 minutes
Draw off second mash and without a rest bring to the boil	15 minutes
Boil second mash	10 minutes
Mash at 76º C (169º F) and mash out	20 minutes

Czech beer sales by type

As I've often said, I love numbers. All types of lovely crunchy numbers. Like granola, but more useful and better tasting.

That Polish trade journal is serving me really well. It's thrown up some dead handy stuff. In fact, some of it answers a question I asked myself recently. Did Czechs drink mostly 10º Plato beer between the wars? I guessed that they did but had no hard data. Well now I do.

A preference for lower-gravity Lagers in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic goes back a long way. I'm not quite sure why, as that isn't the case in any of the countries around them. Even when Bohemia and Moravia were in the same country as Austria, the beer drunk in the former was weaker than that drunk in the latter. The liking for weaker beer than on average isn't the result of wartime restrictions, as it does in the UK.

The Polish article divides  Czech beer into three types: piwo wyszynkowe, piwo składowe and piwo specjalne. Assuming that these are based on Czech classification, I'm pretty sure that they're výcepní pivo, ležák and specialní pivo. (Also after asking for help on Twitter.) Výcepní being 10º Plato and below, ležák 11º-12º Plato and specialní 10º Plato and above.

Czech beer sales by type in June 1935 & 1936
type	1935		1936		decline in %
	hl	%	hl	%
výčepní pivo	740,181	78.88%	628,570	79.29%	15.1
ležák	192,349	20.50%	159,974	20.18%	16.8
special beer	5,800	0.62%	4,244	0.54%	26.8
total	938,330		792,788		15.5
Source:
Przegląd Piwowarsko-Słodowniczy: organ Związku Piwowarów w Polsce 1936 wrzesień R.2 Nr3, page 65.

And, obviously, I've got some modern (fairly modern) numbers to compare them to.

Czech Beer production by beer type
beer type	2004	2005
výcepní	61.30%	59.80%
ležák	34.40%	35.80%
specialní		1.05%
non-alcoholic beer	1.10%	1.25%
Source:
Český svaz pivovarů a sladoven.

Back between the wars and even greater percentage of the beer consumed was 10º Plato. It's a shame to see its popularity has fallen so much. I'm guessing that 12º has closed in even more in the last 16 years.

Let's Brew - 1939 Heineken Licht Lagerbier

Yet another Heineken recipe from the eve of WW II. This time a nice, watery Pale Lager.

The other regular Pale Lager at Heineken was Licht Lagerbier. A 3.5% ABV beer which was a sort of session Pils. If you want to go all style Nazi.

Its grist was identical to the full-strength Pils: 80% pilsner malt and 20% rice. The form of the latter not being specified in the records. Not really much more to discuss there. It’s a very simple grist which much have produced a pretty light and easy-drinking beer. Something like a Lager AK, I suppose.

Not really having much of an idea what the hops were, I’ve plumped for Hallertau. The description in the brewing record, “Kra. R” doesn’t say much to me. What I do know for certain is that they were from the 1938 harvest.

1939 Heineken Licht Lagerbier
pilsner malt	6.50 lb	78.79%
flaked rice	1.75 lb	21.21%
Hallertau 90 mins	0.25 oz
Hallertau 60 mins	0.33 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	0.67 oz
OG	1036
FG	1009
ABV	3.57
Apparent attenuation	75.00%
IBU	16
SRM	2.5
Mash double decoction
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	48º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

Mash in at 35º C (95º F)	5 minutes
Warm whole mash to 52º C (126º F)	20 minutes
Rest whole mash at 52º C (126º F) (protein rest)	15 minutes
Draw off first mash and without a rest bring to the boil	30 minutes
Boil first mash	10 minutes
The rest of the mash remains at 52º C (126º F)	40 minutes
Mash at 70º C (158º F)	25 minutes
Rest whole mash at 70º C (158º F) (saccharification rest)	30 minutes
Draw off second mash and without a rest bring to the boil	15 minutes
Boil second mash	10 minutes
Mash at 76º C (169º F) and mash out	20 minutes