"Broyhan is a dark, lightly hopped, poorly attenuated top-fermenting beer brewed mostly in the province Hannover. It is made from barley malt with the addition of up to 20% wheat malt. In some parts of North Germany, particarly the port cities, a dark, sweet beer of 9 to 11º Balling is brewed. After primary fermentation it's lagered in medium-sized lagering barrels, usually with wood chips, at 7 to 10º for 8 to 14 days and after being drawn off it usually has some Krausen added. Harvest beers often have a higher gravity (11 to 13º Balling), are fermented at 8 to 13º, lagered for a few months in large barrels, bunged and filled into transport barrels. "
"Encyklopädisches Handbuch der technischen Chemie, Volume 4, Part 1", 1915, page 30. My translation.
Mm. I'd love to have detailed enough instructions in order to recreate Broyhan. Still not there yet. Lots of, often contradictory, snippets are all I have.
Not quite the same problem with Bitterbier. See if you can guess what it probably evolved into from the description:"Bitterbier is mainly brewed in the Rhein province and in Westphalia. The heavily hopped, about 9º Balling wort is pitched with yeast at about 10º; after 6 or 7 days there is a break and the beer is transferred into lagering barrels. The lagering takes place at around 6º, clarification is helped through the use of wood chips, is is bunged and drawn off through a filter clear and gold-coloured. These beers acquire their extremely bitter taste not only through the large amounts of hops added in the kettle, but also through the addition of boiled hops, with the water they were boiled in, to the lagering barrels."
"Encyklopädisches Handbuch der technischen Chemie, Volume 4, Part 1", 1915, page 30. My translation.
Any guesses? Sounds an awful lot like Kölsch to me. Though probably more bitter. Love the hop addition to the lagering vat. As they've been boiled, you can't really call it dry-hopping. Wet-hopping, perhaps?
I'm still nothing like finished. I've been saving the sour and smoky ones. And Porter. There's some revealing stuff about German Porter. to come, too.
Ron, the lagering referred to seems rather akin to shorter-term English warm conditioning. While it is done at a cooler temperature than the fermentations, the temperature is rather above 32 degrees F. I wonder how they controlled all this at the time, with refrigeration I suppose. But what about in earlier centuries? Probably the warm-condition was done at ambient temperatures.
ReplyDeleteThe modern top-fermented Gilde beer also is dark-coloured (there is a picture on the website I mentioned) and of low gravity, the two descriptions sound broadly similar.
In fact, I see now on page 79 of Michael Jackson's World Guide To Beer, he describes the customary drink at the Schutzenfest in Hanover as Luttje Lage. He says, "Broyan Alt is produced by Lindener Gilde...". This would seem therefore the last example unless other breweries are still operating in Hanover (in 1978 there were four).
Gary
Gary, Gilde used Broyhan as a trademark rather than actually making a beer in the Broyhan style. Proper Broyhan was a sour beer.
ReplyDeleteIn that case the switch to (ever colder, in all likelihood) conditioning may explain the switch in character.
ReplyDeleteGary
Gary, they just use the name Broyhan. Broyhan Premium, part of their current range, is a pale lager.
ReplyDeleteLast I heard three breweries still made a Lüttje Lagen. I have tried it once. It tasted like a low-ABV Alt.
Ron, on March 23 and March 31, 2008 you gave some detailed historical looks at Broyhan. The original version seems to have been made with no or few hops and different spices. Later versions omit spices and one authority you cited states lactic acid culture was not used. Other authorities as you've pointed out in the last few days state that there was a lactic acid character to the beer.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is unusual, we have seen so often that descriptions of beer vary over time and even contemporaneously. There might have been numerous local versions of the style in fact, even in 1978 there were 4 breweries in Hanover... I just wanted to point out that a surviving local brewery there makes a beer which claims a connection to the local style, I saw of course that most of its output is normal lagers as is so common today.
Jackson in his 1990's handbooks describes the beer as somewhat like Dusseldorf alt but stronger - which seems different than the current description on Gilde's website if I read it right. The latter seems to me closer to the historical descriptions (dark, weak, top-fermented) but I don't say it is identical.
Gary
Gary, I'm pretty sure that Broyhan Alt had no connection with Broyhan other than the name and the fact it was top-fermented. I'll have to look up what Michael Jackson says about it.
ReplyDeleteLüttje Lagen is something else entirely, a purely local style whereas Broyhan was brewed all over North Germany.
"usually with wood chips"
ReplyDeleteNo dig at the SUPER INNOVATIVE! American brewers with their brand new oak chip aging process? Are you feeling alright?
Took a stab at a German Porter on Sunday. I look forward to see how my recipe compares with your information.
ReplyDeleteI have quite a good idea after seeing a bunch of 19th century Broyhan numbers of how they would play out.
ReplyDeleteFor instance:
OG 1.023 (6.31P)
FG ~1.016 (4.1P)
Abw 0.82% (Abv 1.025%)
Lactic acid% 0.16% (Berliner ~0.8%)
Protein 1.32% (~0.4% normal beer)
As you can see, it doesn't seem to be that sour.
Ron, the Bitterbier actually sounds like a cross between a Kölsch and a Düsseldorf Alt to me... maybe a Kölsch grain bill with the hopping schedule of an Alt? While brewers in both cities would probably commit ritual Seppuku before they'd take part in brewing such a creation, it's seems like a worthwhile experiment to me.
ReplyDeleteRuss, Kölsch was much more heavily hopped up until the Second World War than it is today. According to Heinrich Becker of Gaffel, his brewery played a leading part in developing the lighter, milder Kölsch popular since the 60s and 70s.
ReplyDeleteSorry to dig this up out of the past, but what do you make of this new "rheinländisches Bitterbier"?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.braufactum.de/Ouvertuere/Colonia::8.html
They're a Radeberger group endeavour, and say they have their various beers brewed at various Radeberger breweries. They say their Colonia gets a hop aroma from "Kalthopfung" with Saphire. I take that to mean dryhopping rather than using extracts...I hope! (Email to them to clarify this pending.)
I've got a bottle of each of their various beers --aside from the India Pale Hefeweizen abomination, of course-- in the cellar now waiting to be tried.
Nick, it's hard to say how this beer compares to the original. It at least sounds like they've hopped it properly. Though that could just be marketing speak.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to keep my eyes open for it.
I received a box of several of their beers this week, drank them last night (okay, with a little help), and have posted a bit about it all at the burgundian babble belt. Suffice to say the Bitterbier was the best of the lot...if the Kölsch brewers brewed that way, I'd emigrate thither.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe that's a bit exaggerated.
It is worth seeking out --at least once-- even at the excessive price.