Sunday 20 September 2020

A resurgence in top-fermenting beer

I'm so excited about my new favourite book. The one about brewing in Berlin from 1890 to 1945. Especially all the lovely, juicy, sexy numbers. I could just stare at them all day. Except my family is around most of the time. Have to wait until they've gone to bed. Then I can fully give myself fully to those filthy statistics.

A post almost exclusively consisting of numbers, then. What everyone is surely waiting for.

Top-fermenting beer might have appeared to be in terminal decline, but there was something which could turn that around. WW I.

Not quite such good news, seeing as beer production collapsed. And strengths collapsed even more in the latter war years, no stronger than 3.5º Plato. The low gravities were the reason for the upsurge in top fermentation. Bottom-fermenting yeast struggled with such weedy worts. As I posted about recently.

Blog post written, I can now relax and get stuck into some Abt.

Berlin beer production 1907 - 1918
Fiscal year bottom-fermenting top-fermenting total % bottom % top
1907 3,951,173 1,459,371 5,410,544 73.03% 26.97%
1908 3,888,680 1,232,758 5,121,438 75.93% 24.07%
1909 3,976,651 1,135,561 5,112,212 77.79% 22.21%
1910 4,034,880 1,084,602 5,119,482 78.81% 21.19%
1911 4,259,391 1,158,274 5,417,665 78.62% 21.38%
1912 4,350,958 910,976 5,261,934 82.69% 17.31%
1913 4,534,549 859,849 5,394,398 84.06% 15.94%
1914 3,840,409 719,395 4,559,804 84.22% 15.78%
1915 2,949,718 433,546 3,383,264 87.19% 12.81%
1916 1,922,751 493,940 2,416,691 79.56% 20.44%
1917 901,913 375,117 1,277,030 70.63% 29.37%
1918 Figures not published        
Source:
Beiträge zur Geschichte des Berliner Brauwesens und seiner Organisation by Karl Bullemer, Berlin, 1959, pages 80 and 114.


No comments: