A Porter and Stout argument (part three)

More from my highly amusing discussion with an overconfident home brewer.

This time he's replying after having gone away and read Obadiah Poundage's letter. Unsurprisingly, he didn't understand it.

"Interesting read.  He refers to "Porter or Entire Butt," rather than "Entire gyle," which sounds more like mixing the containers of fermented beer, rather than mixing the worts.  Also, are you certain "entire gyle" didn't simply mean the default process of adding the sparge back to the first runnings, rather than making a second, weaker beer from it?  There is literally no advantage to combining different worts.  Making a wort with dark grains, and combining it with a wort made from light grains, would taste no different than a wort made with a mixture of light and dark grains.  Something's getting lost in your translation/explanation. 

Note he's also clueless about 18th-century brewing methods and doesn't realise no brewer in London sparged until about a century after Porter first appeared. Nor can he grasp the concept of entire gyle. No idea where he got the idea that it meant blending worts from mashes of different-coloured grains.

He then expands on his theory that Porter was an English derivative of German Dunkles:

"Regardless, this in no way disproves porter was based on Dunkel and Schwartzbier.  In fact, Dunkel just means "dark" in German.  We know it was the beer most widely drank my commoners because it was cheap, and there is historical record of Dunkels being hundreds of years older than Porter.  Not to mention, the oldest known document mentioning porter being from 1760 tells me the beer is even older, because we have no idea how many countless other documents have been lost, and how long people uttered the term out loud without penning it down.  Dunkel is likely the origin of porter, and English-speakers just referred to it as "porter" because, just like in Germany, that's who drank it.  The origin of porter is just as muttled as IPA.  I know you want to believe otherwise, but the fact is that many versions of all this information are out there, in many languages, from multiple countries, and they conflict.  Being positive one is right and the other is wrong is no more asinine than being religious. None of this proves Germans weren't drinking porter-like beers hundreds of years earlier.  Nor does it prove that Americans didn't go through their own history of dark beers.  Countless other beers that would have tasted the same as a porter could have come and gone, or been renamed "porter" after the name was popularized.  I find every story I hear fascinating, but I put faith in absolutely none of them.  Sorry."

It's very much from the it-could-have-happened-so-it-must-have-happened school of history. Not sure where he got the idea that porters drank Dunkles in Bavaria. Back then most Bavarian men would have been agricultural labourers or craftsmen. I'm trying to imagine happy peasants drinking steins of Porter. Nope, doesn't feel right.

I just love this line of argument: "None of this proves Germans weren't drinking porter-like beers hundreds of years earlier." You can't prove it didn't happen, so it probably did. I could just as easily say, Germans had potatoes centuries before chips were invented, so chips must be derived from Bratkartoffeln. Or, aliens could have built the pyramids. You can't prove they didn't.

Towards the end he even hints that Porter might have first been brewed in the American colonies. It's amazing what brilliant theories you can develop if you completely ignore annoying little details like facts.

I suggested he read Martyn Cornell's demolition of the theory that Porter came from the Flemish beer Poorter and he came back with this:

"Let me get this straight, I inform you that the history of porter is muddled because there are multiple historians that disagree with one another, and your proof that I'm wrong is posting yet another article written by a beer historian who disagrees with everyone else?  Got it.  JFC.  This whole conversation is hilarious.   Besides, that article simply argued against where porter got it's name, and I've never uttered the word "poorter" once, so I have literally no idea how you think it relates to this conversation." 

How was this relative to our conversation? Because it fucking showed, giving sources, what the true history of Porter was. And that it was a style first brewed in London. It seems pretty obvious to me the article was extremely relevant. Because other people have written unsourced nonsense about Porter, Martyn's article was just "one of many equally valid theories"?

Immediately he's back to Porter being originally German:

"I'm saying Schwartzbier was invented 300 years before porter, and at some point, a London brewer probably tasted one.  If you disagree with that notion, you've likely lost touch with reality yourself.   I don't even care about any of this.  I've said MULTIPLE times now, that beer history is muddled, and that I don't take stock in anything I'm saying, but hey, if you're enjoying this interaction, I'm here for you.  Keep arguing.  Put whose ever face you're mad at on the punching bag.  Let it out."

I'll be honest with you here: I've no idea how old Schwarzbier (he can't even spell it correctly) is as a style. I doubt that it goes back as far as the 15th century. A London brewer would "probably" have tried? What the fuck? Until the 1990s, Schwarzbier was a very obscure style, brewed in tiny quantities in just one region, Saxony. Few German brewers would have tried let alone one from London. 

In the 18th century London had the largest and most advanced brewing industry in the world. By a very long way. Germany was a backwater when it came to beer at the time and didn't have any reputation internationally. What did they do in the 19th century when they wanted to modernise their industry? They went to the UK. One German brewer who visited the UK - Gabriel Sedlmayr from Spaten -  used what he had learnt in the UK to brew the first modern Dunkles back in Munich. If anything, Porter influenced Dunkles.

Because he's stated MULTIPLE times that beer history is muddled, then it has to be true. That's the logic of a lunatic.

Let's end with him banging on about Germany again:

"Not being able to understand that Germans made dark beer hundreds of years before the UK, and being convinced that the people of London were never influenced by these"

I would have let it go, if the arrogant bastard hadn't kept putting in little personal digs. Instead I invited Martyn to join in. That was fun. It was like watching a cat play with an annoying mouse. Sadly, the posts have now been deleted.

Deutscher Porter

Here’s a style you should have heard of: German Porter.

Over the last 150-175 years Porter, of one description or another, has been brewed continuously in Germany. Oddly enough, it was in East Germany, even in the communist period, where the tradition of brewing Porter remained strongest. Only to disappear after reunification. In recent years a few East German brewers have started making the style again, but these new Porters, weak and very sweet, bear to resemblance to their predecessors.

I’m not sure why Porter should be considered Gesundheitsbier (Health Beer), unless they’re thinking along the lines of Invalid Stout or Nourishing Stout.

"Gesundheitsbier (German Porter).
The decoction method and high-dried malt are employed with up to 1/3 caramel malt. Original gravity: 14-18.5% balling.

Hops; 700-750 gr. Per Zentner [50 kg.] of malt; These are added, as well as soon as the wort has covered the bottom of the kettle (3 additions are better!)

Boil time: 2-3 hours. Or until there is a good break.

Fermentation: as for Einfachbier, but slightly longer (for high extract); After the main fermentation, lagering takes place in cool cellars. After 10-14 days lagering or longer it is bottled. The secondary fermentation also takes longer as a result of the high gravity.

Before sending out one may add up to 1 kilo of Farbmalz, to obtain the desired colour.

This bottled beer is usually pasteurised to prevent further fermentation in it and make the beer keep better.

If the brewer has two kettles, then usually two kinds are made: standard Porter and from the second wort Einfachbier or Braunbier, as is also the case in England."
"Die Fabrikation obergäriger Biere in Praxis und Theorie" by Braumeister Grenell, 1907, pages 75 - 76. (My translation.)

That’s an OG of 1056º to 1074º, which covers the gravity range of a London Porter and Single Stout of the period pretty much exactly.

A hopping rate of 750 gr. per 50 kg. is the equivalent of about 5lbs per quarter of malt. In 1905, Whitbread’s Porter contained 5.47 lbs of hops per quarter*. So pretty much exactly the same.

Whitbread’s Porter wasn’t as boiled as long as Grenell suggests, just 1.5 and 1.75 hours for the first and second worts, respectively.

The lagering period is pretty short at two weeks. Though a London Porter by this point probably didn’t get more than a week in cask before being consigned to pubs.

Adding Farbmalz just before consignment to customers seems odd. How would that even work? I wonder if he means Farbebier? I.e. Sinamar. That would work.

And here’s someone else getting parti-gyling wrong. London brewers did parti-gyle their Porter and Stouts, but they weren’t using the spargings alone to make a beer, rather blending all the worts post-boil to get several different strength beers. They certainly weren’t making anything even vaguely as weak as Einfachbier or Braunbier at this point.




* Whitbread brewing record held at the london Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/099.

New book

I haven't been spending enough time reading German technical books. No, really. I haven't. I watched 10 minutes of Arsenal - Liverpool yesterday. Too much free time. That's why I bought another book.

Books I lust for, but don't think I can justify before the family court, I put into my Abebooks "Save for later" basket. When no-one's looking, I occasionally slip one out. Into my real buying basket. (What else did you think I meant? Go wash your brain out with soap.)

"Jahrbuch der Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin, Zehnter Band 1907". What snappy titles they used to have. 700-odd pages of easy-to-read gothic German. Perfect for the beach.

Here's a tip from an experienced reader: indexes. They're dead useful. How else, 15 minutes after ripping open the package, could I have found the one mention of Porter. German Porter. My books no longer lie in piles on the floor. Now it's my obsessions that are piled as high as my waist. German Porter. It's there in the pile. Under Grodziskie, but above Geithayner (another wacky, wacky style).

Usually, I pull out the numbers and make a nice little table for you. But I'm knacked. You'll have to make do with a scan of the original. It's more fun this way, though, isn't it? The feeling of doing the research yourself. Hang on. Isn't my USP supposed to be doing this very interpretation. I'm talking myself out of a job here.


I won't leave all the work to you. Here's the necessary vocabulary:

Saccharometeranzeige Balling: FG Balling
Saccharometeranzeige nach endvergärung: not sure about this one
Extract: real FG Balling
Alkohol: ABW
Stickstoff: nitrogen
Protein: protein
Asche: ash
Säure (als Milchsäure berechnet): lactic acid content
Kohlhydrate: carbohydrate
Stammwurze: OG Balling
Scheinbare Vergärung: apparent attenuation
Wirkliche Vergärung: real attenuation
Farbe: colour
schwarz-braun: black-brown

The first table is for four German Porters. The second table is for a South American Porter and the third for Barkley's Porter (I think they mean Barclay Perkins - whahay). I'm happy to see that BP's Porter (judging by the OG of about 1084, it's must really be Brown Stout) has the highest OG and the most alcohol.

The German Porters look a funny bunch. Poorly-attenuated and quite low in alcohol. What do you think?

That's enough work. Now for some fun. When our teachers said that, it meant some sort of weird beating was about to occur. I'm sure my kids don't believe me when I tell them of our music teacher who "flogged" several boys with a slipper every lesson. I'm glad I didn't understand his behaviour fully as a child. It could have scarred me for life.

One of the attractions of second-hand books is, like Red Dwarf DVD's, the extras they contain. Stuff that was added after the book left the printer. This book has a couple of great ones:


Can you see what I mean? See?

OK, I'll tell you. The Schulthess-Patzenhofer brewery Dessau ex-libris sticker on the left-hand page. And the stamp "Institut für Gärings- und Getränkeindustrie, 1017 Berlin, Alt-Stralau 54-55, - Bibliothek - " There's a story behind that. But I can't give everything away, can I?

Deutscher Porter

The brewing of Porter in Germany has a long and pretty much uninterrupted history. The first references I’ve found are from the 19th century.

German Porter developed its strongest roots in the DDR. Porter was a fairly common style brewed by dozens of breweries. I can be certain of that because I’ve seen the labels. In character, they resembled very closely the type of Porter described by Olberg: strong and quite heavily hopped. Beers which would have been called Stout in the UK.

Sadly, all the examples of that style of Porter seem to have disappeared. Several breweries in the East do currently brew a beer called Porter, but it’s completely different in nature: much weaker and very sweet. Pretty awful beers, to be honest.

Time for some Olberg paraphrasing:

German Porter is brewed in the following way: using, for example, 300 kg. pale malt, 50 kg. dark malt and 45 kg. Farbmalz (pale coloured!) and 80 kg. of sugar. 8 to 10 kg. of hops are used.

Because of the use of large quantities of Farbmalz and dark malt, which have little diastase, a kettle mashing scheme or a thick mash and lautermash are recommended.

Mashing in is at 35º C, after which the mash is left to rest for 30 minutes, then the temperature is raised to 65º C, left for at least 45 minutes for saccharification to take place and then raised to the mash out temperature of 75º C. The lauter tun should be well heated up with warm water first.

Another method is to mash in in the tun and raise the temperature to 55º C with hot water, move two-thirds of the mash to the kettle where it is raised to the  saccharification temperature (65º C) and held for as long as necessary. It’s then boiled for 10 minutes and returned to the mash tun where it raises the temperature to 65º C. There’s now a second lautermash which only boils for 5 minutes. When return to the rest of the mash this raises the temperature to the mash out temperature of 75º C.

After a rest of 35 to 40 minutes, the wort is run off. The sparge should preferably run off at 72 to 74º C because the Farbmalz and dark malt are often made very fine through milling and can clump together and make the run off very slow. If the sparge water isn’t 75 to 78º C (75º C in the mash tun) the sparge will run off very slowly and lengthen the mashing process.

The wort is boiled for three hours. The OG is 16 to 18º Balling. There are two hop additions, a third of the hops when the copper is falling and two thirds an hour before the end of the boil.

Top-fermenting yeast is used. Barrel fermentation is usually preferred with a pitching temperature of 21 to 22º C.
Source: Olberg, Johannes (1927) Porter, deutsch in Moderne Braumethoden, pp 89 - 90, A. Hartleben, Wien & Leipzig.

Lots of useful information, plus some confusing stuff. How can Farbmalz be coloured? Or perhaps he just means you should use the pales type of Farbmalz?

Note that they loved fiddly mashing schemes, recommending either a three-step mash or a double decoction. No-one in the UK would have employed such a complicated mashing scheme at this point.

The hopping rate works out to about 7lbs per quarter of malt. Which is roughly the same amount as Barclay Perkins and Whitbread used in their Stouts in the 1920’s.

6 discounted gift ideas

Lulu are running a January sale. Very nice of them. Or it would be if the discount applied to me. But it doesn't. Just to you lot. You jammy bastards.

Until January 31st 2012 you can get 25% off (maximum saving £50) by entering this coupon code when you order:

LULUBOOKUK305


Here are 6 great ways to use that discount:

Gift Idea #1: Mild!

It's two in one today. Not only have I nicked the idea from this post of Stephen Beaumont, I'm also pushing one of my own books.

Christmas is a time for giving. And as I'd like to give my own kids food this Christmas, why not help me out? Buy a copy (or several) of "Mild!" for a loved one or even yourself. How else will you ever be able to drop something like "Did you know all early 19th-century Milds were pale in colour?" or "The role invert sugar in 1930's Dark Mild cannot be underestimated." into your yuletide conversation?

"Mild!" is the definitive history of Mild Ale (at least until I finish "Mild!+"), told through numbers, numbers, tables, more numbers, loads of quotes and the occasional joke of dubious quality.

Buy Mild! today. (Or yesterday, if you're a time-traveller.)

Gift Idea #2: Porter!

This is perfect. Not only do I get to boost my post count for the year, I might even squeeze out a few extra book sales.

"Porter!" is the definitive history of . . .hang on, Itried that one last time . . . "Porter!"tells the story of Porter in a unique and charming way, from its murky begins in 18th century London, through its decline and near extinction all the way to its glorious revival st the end of the 20th. A two-century romp that will take you to Dublin, India, Australia and even Philadelphia.

Listen to what the critics have to say about "Porter!":

"Please don't hit me with the book again. It weighs a ton. What did you want me to say? . . . . OK. Porter is the bestest book ever written in history of the universe about Porter. Will you get off my chest now?" 
D. Hornbusch.

"Much better than those crappy books in the Classic Beer Styles series. Can I have my tenner now?"
Charlie Australian.

""Porter!" will be a treasure for future generations of your family, an heirloom to be stored carefully and occasionally taken out and caressed."
A. Madeupname.

Don't be a fool to yourself. Buy "Porter!" today! And again tomorrow. And maybe even the day after.

Gift Idea #3: Decoction!

What can I say about "Decoction!" that hasn't already been said? Pretty much anything as no-one has ever said bugger all about it.

Mini Book Series volume IV, "Decoction!" is a celebration of central European beer. It covers tricky and poorly documented topics such as Lager styles, methods of decoction mashing, extinct German top-fermenting styles and more detail on Berliner Weisse in English than anywhere else.

It's a handy companion to the Oxford Companion to Beer, for those worried about little details such as accuracy and completeness. A full set of my books is certainly a more reliable reference than the OCB, if a tad more expensive. But at least the money goes to poor starving children (Andrew and Lexie) rather than the rapacious OUP.

Buy "Decoction!" now. 

Gift Idea #4: War!

War uh, what is it good for? Keeping bloody teenagers off the streets and finding a socially acceptable outlet for the murderous proclivities.

Wonder what that grey thing is on the cover? It's one of those crappy German WW I tanks. I thought it was a minimalist tombstone first time I saw it. "It's one of those crappy German WW I tanks." Andrew said.

Like a low-quality music hall performer, I'll leave you with  a song:

Lloyd George's beer, Lloyd George's beer,
At the brewery, there's nothing doing,
All the water-works are brewing,
Lloyd George's beer, it isn't dear
Oh they say it is a terrible war, Oh Lor'
And there never was a war like this before
But the worst thing that ever happened in this war
Is Lloyd George's beer.

Rhyming Oh Lor' with war. Pure genius

Buy "War!" now. Before paper is rationed.

Gift idea #5: London!

Taking an idea and running it into the ground. That's one one of my specialities. Along with crappy jokes and numbers.

Talking of which - crappy jokes and numbers - "London!" is jam-pack full of both. Oh yes, indeedy. They're packed in there like herring in a barrel (a little Dutch idiom for you there).

"London!" is a celebration of brewing in London . . . hang on, I've already used that one. It's a compendium of capital delights. Want to learn about Whitbread's beers in excruciating detail? It's the book for you. Or that very special loved one. I'd be giving Dolores a copy, except she said "Don't try fobbing me off with one of your rubbishy books as a present." What better endorsement could you get than that?

Buy "London!"now!

Gift idea #6:Numbers!

The title says it all - a book untroubled by words. A book you can't read because - there aren't any words! The perfect gift for the illiterate and lazy.

Hex Decimal says: 0FCE D3D4 26B2 84AC

Thanks for the testimonial, Hex.

Yes, buy "Numbers!" So much better than letters.

And 15% off.

Porter in the DDR

See, I promised you the tale of DDR Porter and here it is. A coupling of two of my favourite obsessions.

How was it brewed
Let's start with "Leitfaden Für den Brauer und Mälzer" by Rudolf Dickscheit (Leipzig, 1953, pages 163-164).

"Porter
What in Germany is designated Porter, would be called Stout in England. For export, Stout is brewed with a graity of up to 21% [21º Plato]. Porter is a beer of similar character, but has amn original gravity of just 12%. To avoid confusion, in the following I will stick with the term Porter which is normally used in Germany.

The basis for a good Porter is a very well-modified malt. To obtain this, the usual method is a 14 day cold process.

The malt is heated in piles on the upper level and dried in the same way as Munich malt.

Porter is made by the infusion mash method which is standard in England. It can, for example, be brewed as follows:

Mash 69º C for 3 hours
Pump the whole mash into the heated Läufer tun
Rest 69º C for 30 minute
First sparge let stand for 30 minutes
Draw off first sparge
Second sparge let stand for 30 minutes
Draw off second sparge, add the hops and boli for 3 hours

Add caramel [Kulör] to obtain the desired colour, and add sugar in the kettle to obtain a gravity of 18 to 20% [Plato].

The grist generally contains caramel malt and Farbmalz. Farbmalz makes up 7 to 10% of the grist. The hopping rate is 600 to 700 grams per hectolitre. After the wort has been boiled for three hours it's transferred to the cool ship and with cooling apparutus brought down to 18º to 24º C. To the cooled wort a top-fermenting yeast is added. Since the fermentation temperature lies between 18º and 24º C, a violent fermentation soon begins. During the primary fermentation, the wort is only carefully cooled so that a temperature of 18º to 24º C is maintained.

The room temperature should be about the same as the wort temperature.

The aim is an unbroken fermentation of all the fermentable extract.

When the primary fermentation is over, the young beer is transferred to small lagering barrels. There it is infected with Brettanomyces and a sugar solution added. After a relatively short time a lively secondary fermentation starts. The lagering barrels are not bunged but allowed to froth over.

Brettanomyces produces substances which lend the beer particular vinous flavour. As soon as this appears to a sufficient extent, the Porter is filtered: afterwards, more sugar is added at a rate of 50 grams per hectolitre. It's inoculated with Brettanomyces a second time and filled into bottles.

Bottle-conditioning takes place at 15º C in a warm cellar, so that the Brattanomyces can produce a strong fermentation and the bottles gain a sediment. As soon as there is sufficient conditioning, the cellar is cooled to 0º C.

The Porter is now ready for consumption. However it can be matured for longer to develop and round off its flavour.

In general, pasteurisation is not necessary; if it does occur, the pasteurised taste is not so unpleasantly discernible as in pale beers.

A Porter brewed by the aforementioned method would not be identical to the beer produced in the DDR with the name 'Porter', but would be more similar to the English beer than is currently the case."

I like the bit about pasteurisation. Reading between the lines in brewing manuals, it's clear many professional brewers thought pasteurisation was detrimental to a beer's flavour. Dickscheit's differentiation between Porter and Stout is pretty spot on. As is his description of how Stout was brewed in England circa 1914 (by the time he wrote the book, probably only Barclay Perkins Russian Stout was made that way). I wonder how the hell he knew all of this?

But most important is the last paragraph. The method laid out wasn't how DDR breweries actually brewed, but something to which they should aspire in order to make an authentic English-style Porter. You can find this in a Michael Jackson article about Porter:

"Even after or War II, at least one German brewer continued to make a "British-style" Porter with a Brettanomyces yeast culture."

It's my fault. I sent him a translation of part of Dickscheit's instructions which omitted the final paragraph.

Where was it brewed
These are the breweries in the East that I know for certain (I've seen a label) brewed Porter:

Brauerei Eibau, Eibau
Schultheiss, Berlin
Brauerei Th. Krepper, Burg bei Magdeburg
Brauerei Sternburg, Leipzig
Brauerei Schmiedefeld, Schmiedefeld
Brauerei Meiningen, Meiningen
Brauerei Krampf, Eibau
Brauerei Braugold, Erfurt
Riebeck Brauerei, Erfurt
Rose-Brauerei, Grabow
Brauhaus Halle, Halle
Freyberg's Brauerei, Halle
Brauerei Lübz, Lübz
Brauerei Erich Weltz, Sülze (Extra Stout XXX)

Some of these probably date to before WW II, but I'm sure there are many others missing.

What it was like
I'm in a generous mood again. Here are the technical details of beers brewed in the DDR during the 1970's:


"Technologie Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze (Leipzig, 1975) is a wonderful book. It tells you everything you need to know about running a brewery in the DDR. Right down to the how the labels should look:

- name and location of the producer
- bottling date
- size: 90 mm X 60 mm for 33 cl bottles, 100 mm X 70 mm for 50 cl bottles
- retail price in at least 12 point letters
- colour: for Porter, carmine red

When I open my brewery, I intend sticking to the rules. Except for the retail price, of course.

Is Kölsch an Ale?

I try to stay out of arguments with certain American homebrewers. The ones who lurk on beer forums. That's where you find all the self-appointed experts. People who've read a few homebrewing texts and think they know everything. I'm not calling every homebrewer a smug idiot. The majority aren't, I'm sure. Just the Homebrew Twats*.

So I really should know better than to get involved in a discussion about whether Kölsch is an Ale with these people. They've read that top-fermented = Ale. Try telling them any different and see what shit you get thrown back at you.

As I've said before, lots of things annoy me. Calling German top-fermented beers "Ales" is one. Why does it irritate me so much? It's an example of nailing Anglo-American terminology onto a foreign beer culture. Like reducing Czech beer styles to Bohemian Pilsner. It's lazy, sloppy and rather condescending.

German top-fermented beers have their own, very long history. One that is pretty well totally independent of British top-fermenting beers. By calling them "Ales" a false connection is made. It's not only inaccurate, but highly misleading.

Naively, I tried explaining that Kölsch is an Obergäriges Lagerbier. Top-fermenting Lagerbier in English. What an idiot I am. Evidently that demonstrates just how little I've read about brewing and my total lack of practical experience. Silly me. All those German brewing manuals must have just been a dream.

I do my best to respect different beer cultures and not to impose my own systems of classification and terminology on them. Lagerbier has a couple of meanings in German. Just how much the Homebrew Twats know about German beer is evident by the fact that they are clearly unaware of one of them. Here they are:

1. - beer which has undergone lagering, i.e. a long period of cold storage where the temperature is gradually reduced to around 0º C.
2. - a bottom-fermenting beer of around 12º Plato

Kölsch obviously falls into the first category. The primary fermentation is with a top-fermenting yeast, but it's then lagered at low temperature, pretty much exactly like bottom-fermenting beer should be. (I say should be, because much "lager" is just rolled through the lagering cellar nowadays.)

There's a reason why they produced top-fermenting Lagerbier in Cologne: their Reinheitsgebot. No, it's not the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot. Cologne had a quite different law. There it was forbidden to brew bottom-fermenting beer. If you wanted to produce a Lagerbier - which as the 19th century progressed more and more breweries wanted to - then you had to top-ferment it. But, if you'll excuse my French, that doesn't make your beer a f*cking Ale.

If you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that, in addition to Obergäriges Lagerbier and Untergäriges Lagerbier, I've mentioned a third type. You don't remember? It was in one of my many translations of "Die Herstellung Obergähriger Biere". Where it describes the practice of, during years when there was little natural ice, mixing top-fermenting and bottom-fermenting beer. Of course the Homebrew Twats will never had heard of it. For a couple of reasons. They've read no German texts nor anything earlier than Charlie Papazian.

Let's see how Dr. Franz Schönfeld categorised top-fermenting beers in his definitive "Die Herstellung Obergähriger Biere":

German beer:

I Lagerbier ähnliches Bitterbier
II Grätzer Bier
III Süßbier - Einfachbier
IV Berliner Weißbier

English Beer:

A. Stout
B Ale

It seems pretty clear that the German types are not classified as Ales. Who am I to argue with Dr. Franz Schönfeld?

I try to use the word "Ale" carefully. Basically for those beers that are called Ales by natives of the country in which they originated. British, American, Irish and Belgian top-fermenting beers. That seems reasonable enough to me.

Now if I were to be a real pedant, I'd start getting funny about calling Porter, Stout and even Pale Ale "Ales". They're Beers, not Ales. But I've given up on that one. I'd spend the whole of my life arguing about it. And I have better things to do.

That's why I shouldn't have got involved in arguing the toss about Kölsch with Homebrew Twats. It's a waste of my time. They know all the answers. No amount references, history or logic will convince them otherwise.

How do I know this? I've argued with some of them before. Porter and Stout is a good example. I supplied 150 years worth of evidence showing no difference between the malts used in Porter and Stout for any given brewery. Did that convince them? Don't be stupid. Their homebrewing books said something different. They didn't have a scrap of evidence to support their point of view, but that didn't matter. They had something far more important: belief.

Why does this stuff upset me? Because the Homebrew Twats aren't just keeping this misinformation to themselves, they're actively propagating it. Building a giant edifice of beer "knowledge" without the slightest factual foundation.

OK. Rant over. Normal programming will now resume.

And before you ask, yes; Altbier is an Obergäriges Lagerbier, too.

*Homebrew Twat - a homebrewer who writes with self-proclaimed authority on a beer forum, whose opinions cannot be swayed by anything as boring as facts and whose faith in American homebrewing texts is absolute.

American top-fermenting styles of the 1930's

It’s now time to move on to the exciting world of American top-fermenting beers from before WW II.

Unsurprisingly, while the bottom-fermenting styles found their inspiration in Central Europe, the top-fermenters have their origins in the British Isles. At least most of them. There are two exceptions to this, which we’ll see in a moment.

Though the Wahls do differentiate between the American and British versions. Because, while the prototypes might have been British, in confirmation of my theory of beer style evolution, they began to mutate when transplanted to a new environment. Partly due to the raw materials available and advances in technology, but also to the regulatory regime in their new home. And WW I, with the huge changes it wrought on British brewing, only made the divergence between the beers on the two sides of the Atlantic greater.

We’ll be looking at this in more detail in a later post. But I will remark that the Wahls don’t seem to have noticed just how much British had transformed itself between 1914 and 1930.

I’ll begin with an overview. See if you can spot which type of American beer from the pre-Prohibition period has disappeared.

2. Top Fermentation
English Beer	Mild ales
English Beer	Stock ales
English Beer	Porter
English Beer	Stout
English Beer	Cream ales
American Ale	Cream ales
American Ale	Sparkling ales
American Ale	Stock ales
American Porter and Stout	Porter and Stout
German Weiss Beer	Weiss beer
American Weiss Beer	Weiss beer type
Kentucky Common Beer	Louisville

"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 150.

Did you spot it? Present Use Ale, the American equivalent of Mild Ale. It seems to have disappeared without trace during Prohibition.

Here’s some more detail:

“American Top Fermentation Beers
American Ales, Porter, Stout. Cream or sparkling ales are quite lively, clear and sparkling, and quite pale. The American ales, like the English, are not produced for body, yet they should conform in a measure to the light lager beers of the Pilsener or Dortmunder type in general characteristics. Being fermented with top yeast this alone gives them variation from the lager beer type. These ales as are also the American stock ales are carbonated and filtered. The cream ale is finished in about two to three weeks, the stock ale in about four to six weeks without regard to secondary fermentation. Cream ale is brewed with an original extract of wort of about 14, stock ale with 16 to 18. The cream ale has an alcoholic content of about 5 per cent by weight, the stock ale about 6 per cent by weight. The Balling of the finished products is about 3 to 4 degrees on the Balling saccharometer. Usually the finished ales are dry-hopped, that is, fresh hops of a good quality are added to the storage tank. In the Wahl method the finished beers are run through a chamber charged with hops for cold extraction of the highly soluble hop oils.

American Porter and Stout. The porter is brewed in at about 15 per cent original extract, the stout from 18 to 21. They are quite dark. They are brewed like the ales but are not dry hopped.

American Weiss Beer. This beer is brewed from wheat and barley malt according to methods described for Berliner Weiss Beer.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, pages 156 - 157.

It looks like Cream Ale has replaced Present Use Ale. A beer produced quickly for immediate consumption.  While Stock Ale, lacking a secondary fermentation, isn’t really Stock Ale. Four to six weeks is pretty quick. It really just looks like a slightly stronger version of Cream Ale.

What interests me most is that both Cream and Stock Ales were dry-hopped in the conditioning tank. I wonder how long this continued? British brewers didn’t generally dry-hop Porter, but did their Stouts. I assume that American brewers must have once dry-hopped them, too. When and why did they stop?

How accurate are the gravities? I’m lucky enough to have a reasonable number of analyses of US Ales from the 1930’s:

American top-fermenting beers of the 1930's
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Acidity	OG	FG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation	OG Plato
1938	Ballantine	XXX Ale	Ale	0.04	1056.8	1016.1	11	5.28	71.65%	14.03
1938	Burke	Ale	Ale	0.05	1055.2	1013.7	11	5.40	75.18%	13.65
1938	Foxhead	Old Waukesha Ale	Ale	0.05	1061	1016	19	5.85	73.77%	15.01
1938	Hoffman	Ale	Ale	0.04	1060.7	1016.6	33	5.73	72.65%	14.94
1939	Ballantine	XXX Ale	Ale	0.07	1056	1014.9	9	5.34	73.39%	13.84
1939	Ballantine	XXX Ale	Ale	0.07	1056.2	1014.5	11	5.42	74.20%	13.89
1939	Burke	Ale	Ale	0.07	1054.8	1011.4	11	5.66	79.20%	13.56
1939	Feigenspan	Ale	Ale	0.08	1057.9	1012.8	11	5.88	77.89%	14.28
1938	Feigenspan	Amber Ale	Amber Ale	0.04	1059.1	1013.3	14	5.97	77.50%	14.56
1939	Feigenspan	Amber Ale	Amber Ale	0.07	1058.1	1012.9	10	5.89	77.80%	14.33
1938	Ballantine	India Pale Ale	IPA	0.05	1077.6	1019.2	16	7.63	75.26%	18.81
1939	Ballantine	India Pale Ale	IPA	0.07	1075.2	1018.6	16	7.39	75.27%	18.27
1939	Ballantine	XXX Porter	Porter	0.08	1059.6	1018.8	1 + 13	5.29	68.46%	14.68
1938	McSorley	Cream Stock Ale	Stock Ale	0.05	1060	1011.6	14	6.32	80.67%	14.77
1939	Ballantine	Brown Stout	Stout	0.10	1074.6	1021.9	1 + 8	6.86	70.64%	18.13
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

The OG and ABW of the Ales are both lower than claimed: they average 14.19º Plato and 4.49% ABW. I can’t say much about the Stock Ales, as I’ve only one example, but that, too, has an OG lower than claimed by the Wahls. They are right about the FG’s, which are mostly between 3º and 4º Plato.

The lone Porter is about spot on the 15º Plato specified in the book, while the Stout is at the bottom end of the range given.

I’ve just noticed something odd. There’s no mention of IPA in the book, despite Ballantine’s being a major brand at the time. Perhaps the Wahls just considered them examples of Stock Ales. Not so crazy, as the original British IPAs were Stock Ales. And Ballantine IPA was matured in wooden vats.

I’m very surprised that the Weissbier brewed in the USA wasn’t the Bavarian type but Berliner. I’d love to know if it was as sour as the German variety. And when it was last brewed in the USA.

Here’s the other top-fermenter not of British origin: the indigenous Kentucky Common:

“Kentucky Common Beer. This type of beer is brewed with a top fermenting yeast and is handled thereafter similar to California Steam Beer. The beer is run directly from the fermenter into the trade package (barrels) and krausened, finings added and the barrels bunged and then delivered in this condition to the dispensing place where it is permitted to clarify before serving. The difference between the California Steam Beer and Kentucky Common Beer is in the type of yeast used: in the first, a bottom yeast, in the second, a top yeast. The Kentucky Common Beer yeast is developed from lager beer yeast by high fermenting temperatures. This yeast then develops a percentage of lactic acid organisms which cause the final brew to be somewhat tart to the taste, the whole having a particularly peculiar flavor which became quite popular in the Southern States. This beer is supplied mainly from Louisville, Kentucky.  Common beer is brewed today using the common beer yeast but krausened in finishing tanks and then filtered. It is supplied in barrels and in bottles.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 153.

I’m intrigued by the comparison with California Steam Beer, another indigenous American style. But the stuff about lactic acid formation goes against the latest research into the style, which refutes claims it was sour.

Not sure what I’ll bore you with next from the book. Perhaps the comparison of German and British beer.

German IPA update

Remember my post about 19th-century German IPA? It was abased on an analysis that didn't name the brewery.

Barm had me doubting as to whether the IPA was really a German-brewed beer. He pointed out, reasonably enough, that it could have been a British beer that had been imported. He's now found evidence that there was IPA brewed in Bremen.

While it was never quite on the same scale, or of the same duration, as Porter brewing, I did know that Pale Ale was made on the Continent. Even Heineken once brewed a Pale Ale.

Funny, isn't it, how European Porter brewing is reasonably well known, but the export of Porter to India isn't. While with Pale Ale it's the exact opposite.

Erste Norddeutsche Actien Ale und Porter Brauerei, Hemlingen, Bremen. That's who the brewery was.

A Bar in Germany

Nothing odd about that, I hear you say. But this is July 1945, when fighting in Europe had only stopped a few weeks before.

I love the way the writer stresses the Hull connection - local journalism at its irritating best. But there's more to enjoy in this short piece.

"A BAR IN GERMANY
Hull Guardsman Says "Time Please"
(By a Military Observer)
It is three minutes to nine in the bar of the "Deutsches Haus Hotel" in Verden, German town on the banks of the River Weser. And though it seems a disgustingly early hour at which to close a bar, the old familiar call of "Time, gentlemen, please" awakens the customers to the necessity of getting in another "quick one " before they are hustled out.

The bar may be German one — as also is the beer - but the customers are British soldiers of the Guards Armoured Division, who are occupying the surrounding area, and the man with the stentorian voice who warns them it "Time"" is Gdsmn. Griffin, whose wife lives at 13, Grant-ter., Scarborough-st., Hull.

The bar is just one department of a divisional canteen, and is under the care of former Berwick-on-Tweed farmer, Sgt. Allastair Forsyth, who is assisted by Gdsn. Griffin and a member of a well-known Normanton family of butchers, Gdsn. Fred Hampson (whose father's trade name is Hammond).

In the case of more adamant customers, loth to leave, Gdsn. Griffin throws etiquette to the winds, says a little more sternly "Drink up and get out." Sgt. Forsyth assists in the ceremony by giving a nearby oxygen cylinder a couple of resounding thwacks with a large spanner, and the stragglers take the hint.

ENGLISH BEER SHORTLY

The beer is generally acclaimed as being "not bad." On the other hand it is never referred to as "good." It is light lager, supplied from Bremen, with a four per cent, alcoholic content. "Our only regret," the staff assured me, "is that it isn't English beer. We hear that English beer is to be brewed in Hamburg, and we hope to get our hands on some of that shortly."

At the moment this German beer is served through German pumps in German half-pint glasses, and is paid for in German money (half a mark or threepence per half-pint). Not quite like the days we knew in the old Fox and Hounds or the Rose and Crown perhaps, but, even though no one has yet to be carried home, the lads feel they have had a drink of beer, out of a glass, in a pub — and that's a step in the right direction.

Altogether, the bar is run smoothly and capably. Gdsmn. Griffin adds nostalgic touch by addressing all his customers as "Sir." "Half a pint, sir. That'll be half a mark. sir. Thank you. sir." His speed of service in the crowded bar is becoming quite professional.

Throughout the campaign he has fought with an armoured battalion of Welsh Guards."
Hull Daily Mail - Wednesday 04 July 1945, page 4.

It's clear from this quote "the lads feel they have had a drink of beer, out of a glass, in a pub" that the ability to drop by a pub was very important for British soldiers. I guess it brought a sense of normalcy to a pretty odd situation. After six years of fighting against Germany, there they were suddenly occupying it.

They were pretty lucky to get German beer in 1945. In many parts of the country they weren't brewing at all. Though, now I think about it, the occupying forces probably had first dibs on whatever was being brewed.

4% ABV is also a pretty decent strength. You'd have been lucky to find Bitter as strong as that.

London draught Bitters in 1945
Brewer	Price	size	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Barclay Perkins	14d	pint	0.04	1009.3	1038	32.5	3.72	75.53%
Charrington	1/2d	pint	0.07	1009.4	1037	18.5	3.58	74.59%
Courage	1/4d	pint	0.08	1010.4	1043.7	22	4.33	76.20%
Mann Crossman	1/4d	pint	0.11	1010.1	1042.5	27	4.21	76.24%
Meux	1/2d	pint	0.11	1007.4	1032.1	21	3.20	76.95%
Taylor Walker	14d	pint	0.11	1011.2	1037	29	3.34	69.73%
Truman	15d	pint	0.08	1005.9	1041.6	24	4.65	85.82%
Watney	1/2d	pint	0.08	1006.6	1038.3	27	4.12	82.77%
Whitbread	1/2d	pint	0.07	1009.2	1032.8	27.5	3.06	71.95%
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002

Er, maybe I'll take that back. One thing's certain - you wouldn't have got a pint for 6d in Britain. The cheapest beer in the table is more than double the price.

Back to those German breweries. I wonder which of the Bremen breweries was making their beer? Haake-Beck perhaps? The irony is, of course, that a century earlier they'd brewed IPA and Porter in Bremen.

What type of beer was the English beer they brewed in Hamburg? Bitter? Mild? Most likely one of those two.

More differences between British and German styles in the 1930’s

I’m really proud of that title. One of my least succinct yet. But at least it’s self-explanatory.

We’re still slowly trudging through the marshier sections of the Wahls’ "Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint". Our current station is a comparison of the qualities and production methods of British top-fermenters and continental Lagers.

This is a point that was often made during the 19th century, highlighting the difference in preservation methods between British and continental beer.

“Preservative Principles. The characteristic differences between the English and German brewers' products (ales, stouts and lager beers) consist mainly in the high percentage of alcohol in the former, together with a larger amount of hops employed, the alcoholic content of ales and stouts running from about 5 to 7 per cent by weight, that of lager beer from about 3 to 5 per cent. The alcoholic content of weiss beer is about 2.5 per cent.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 158.

British brewers used hops and alcohol to keep their beer sound, while Germans relied on refrigeration. One of the unexpected effects of artificial refrigeration was the gradual erosion of British export markets. Once Lager could be kept cool during transport it opened up huge new markets in the tropics. Light, cold Lager began to push aside the heavier British types. Though never quite completely, as the number of Stouts still brewed in Asia testifies.

Now something about hopping:

“Hop considerations. The amount of hops employed for American ales and stouts averages over 1 lb. per barrel and for American lager beers the amount is from 0.5 to 0.75 lbs. When brewing weiss beer less than 0.5 lb. of hops are employed per barrel. The larger amount of alcohol for the English breweries' product, as well as the larger amount of hops employed, are required as preservative principles, the alcohol and hop resins having well-known antiseptic properties. The German breweries employ refrigeration or low temperatures to preserve the beers from spoiling in storage, thus checking the growth of foreign microorganisms. Weiss beer, which has a relatively low alcoholic content and is produced with a relatively small amount of hops and without the application of refrigeration, shows the influences of these preservative principles, inasmuch as this product is made to contain a large amount of lactic acid, produced by the lactic acid ferment, which is left unchecked, during Its production.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 158.

He’s definitely out of date here in reference to British beers. By the late 1930’s average ABV was around 4%, lower than in the USA and in Germany. I suspect that this may be based on British beers exported to the USA. Export versions remained at their pre-WW I strength and had become quite different from beers sold domestically.

Clearly the Weissbier brewed in the US was pretty sour, much like the Berliner Weisse it was inspired by.

I’d love to be able to check those hopping rates with real-life examples. Sadly, I don’t have any such details from this period. We’ll have to make do with some from pre-Prohibition (Amsdell was a brewery in Albany New York):

Amsdell beers 1900 - 1905
Year	Beer	Style	OG	OG Plato	FG	ABV	App. Attenuation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/US brl
1900	Winter XX	Ale	1055.7	13.78	1021.6	4.52	61.34%	6.65	0.78
1900	Special Still	Ale	1064.4	15.80	1020.8	5.77	67.78%	8.98	1.43
1901	Polar	Ale	1054.0	13.37	1019.15	4.61	64.55%	6.01	0.83
1901	XX	Ale	1052.6	13.05	1016.35	4.80	68.93%	6.33	1.29
1901	Pale XX	Ale	1054.2	13.40	1017.15	4.89	68.33%	5.51	0.73
1904	XX Winter	Ale	1058.0	14.30	1019.15	5.13	66.95%	5.75	0.80
1905	India Pale Ale	IPA	1077.6	18.80	1029.2	6.40	62.35%	7.93	1.61
1900	Porter	Porter	1072.0	17.55	1024.8	6.25	65.63%	10.60	1.56
1901	Sth Porter	Porter	1074.0	18.00	1025.2	6.46	66.01%	9.22	1.46
1900	Ex. Scotch	Scotch Ale	1066.5	16.27	1034.5	4.23	48.10%	5.48	0.98
1901	Scotch	Scotch Ale	1066.6	16.30	1023.55	5.70	64.64%	5.55	1.40
1901	Scotch XXX	Scotch Ale	1067.0	16.40	1024.0	5.70	64.27%	5.85	1.02
1900	Winter Stock	Stock Ale	1062.3	15.31	1026.4	4.76	57.72%	8.85	1.38
1900	Light XXX Stock Ale	Stock Ale	1064.4	15.80	1020.8	5.77	67.78%	7.35	1.27
1901	Diamond	Stock Ale	1081.7	19.74	1028.0	7.11	65.76%	8.08	1.74
Source:
Amsdell brewing records.

The average is, indeed, over 1 lb per US barrel. Though I think it’s fair to assume that hopping rates would have fallen by the 1930’s. Unsurprisingly, IPA and Stock Ales are some of the most heavily hopped. What’s unexpected is the heavy hopping rate of Porter. It’s higher than in British Porters of around 1900.Barclay Perkins Porter was hopped at 0.79 lbs per US barrel* and Whitbread Porter at 1.8 lbs per US barrel**. Though the British Porters did have lower gravities.

Here’s some fairly obvious stuff about the different methods of production of British top-fermenting beers and Lager:

“Difference in Process of Production
The difference in the process of production of English beers and lager beers consists chiefly in the lesser quantity of materials, both malt and hops, employed in the latter, in the low initial mashing temperatures employed when brewing lager beer, in lower fermentation temperatures, and very low storage temperatures (about 32 to 34 degrees F.) at which lager beer is stored and in the treatment of the beer after fermentation.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 159.

I’d have thought that it was difficult to directly compare decoction with infusion mashing. Yes, a decoction will start off at a lower temperature, but it will also hit a higher temperature than an infusion

The lower fermentation and storage temperature I think we all understand. Here’s more about storage:

“Differences in Storage
Ales and stouts undergo a brisk secondary fermentation on storage. Lager beer reaches the storage or stock cellar either thoroughly fermented and then undergoes no secondary fermentation, or it undergoes a slow secondary fermentation, in which case the beers are not chilled on storage to the same extent.

Ales and stouts that are stored for a long period are called "stock beers." Those which are stored for only a short period, undergoing no secondary fermentation, are called "mild beers." These are usually brewed with less extract (about 14 per cent) and less hops than stock beers, and consequently will not keep in storage for a prolonged period like stock ales.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 159.

I thought Lager was still slowly fermenting during the lagering process. At least using the classic method, as that’s how it carbonates. I guess if you’re force carbonating that doesn’t really matter. Bound to affect the flavour of the finished beer, mind.

Finally, proof that not all top-fermenting beers were considered Ales, even in the USA, in the past:

“Differences in Ale and Stout Brewing
The difference in the production of ale and stout consists mainly in the characteristics of the malt and in the treatment of the product after fermentation, ale being produced from pale, or low kiln-dried malt, stout from a mixture of pale malt, caramel malt, and black malt.

Stock ale receives, as stated, after fermentation, an addition of hops in the storage cask and it is also primed by adding sugar solution, whereas stout receives no such addition, with the result that ale undergoes a more brisk secondary fermentation and consequently generally has a higher percentage of alcohol than stout of the same original gravity of wort, and is therefore sweeter to the taste than ale.
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, pages 159 – 160.

Is he talking about American Stock Ale here? It’s not very clear. Not sure I’ve heard mention of American Stock Ales being primed with sugar. I don’t get the reasoning that Stock Ale is sweeter than Ale because of its secondary fermentation. Or am I reading that sentence wrong? I’m not sure what the subject is of the final clause. Is it Stock Ale, Ale or Stout?

Next we’ll be looking at American styles in more detail, starting with Mild Pilsener Type Beer.






* Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/605.
** Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/09/094.