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.