1960 DDR shelf life of beers

As you've probably already guessed, we're back with good old TGL 7764. The 1960 version.

I am planning to do a compare and contrast with the 1980 version. Which will be fun, as the beer styles changed quite a bit.

Now, you might be rather shocked by just how short the shelf life was of most types of beer. For the weakest, not much more than a week. Even a beer as strong as Porter was good for less than a month.

This might seem far too short a time to be practical. But, most beer was sold quite close to the brewery. And stuff like beer didn't hang around in the shops very long. I can remember well the instability of Eisenach Hell. You wouldn't want to hang around too much on your way back from the shop in case it had gone off by the time you got home.

Why were they so unstable? Because they weren't pasteurised and only rough filtered. Leave a bottle a couple of weeks and it would start to throw a sediment.

Two exceptions were Doppel-Caramel and Malznährbier. Because of the large quantity of unfermented sugars in these types, leaving them unpasteurised would have been extremely dangerous, likely leading to bottle bombs.

Way out in front in terms of longevity was Berliner Weisse. For the simple reason that it was bottle-conditioned.

1960 DDR shelf life of beers in days at 20 °C
Beer type	Days	Features
Einfachbier Dunkel	9	Without sediment and turbidity of biological or chemical-physical origin. Likewise, taste impairments are not permitted.
Malzbier	9
Eiriachbier Hell	9
Vollbier Hell	12
Vollbier Dunkel	12
Köstritzer Schwarzbier	15
Deutsches Pilsner	15
Weisser Bock Oder Bockbier Hell	15
Dunkler Bock Oder Bockbier Dunkel	15
Deutsches Porter	24
Doppel-Caramelmalzbier	90	Pasteurized. A deposit of yeast cells inactivated by pasteurization may be present, turbidity and impairment of taste due to the action of active microorganisms is not permitted.
Malznährbier	90
Weissbier	270	Turbidity and sediment caused by microorganisms specific to the beer type may be present. Changes in viscosity and consistency caused by microorganisms are not permitted, as are impairments of taste.
Source:
1960 TGL7764 page 5.

Just one more post from 1960 and then we'll be onto 1980.