Sunday 31 July 2022

1980 DDR lagering times

You may have noticed that the 1980 version of TGL 7764 includes more information than the one from 1960. One of those extra bits of information is lagering times. 

It's a topic close to my heart. On one tour of Franconia I asked about lagering times at every brewery I visited. I think the shortest time was 6 weeks and the longest 16 weeks.

Turning to the DDR, the shortest time was given to Aubi, non-alcoholic beer. Just 3 days minimum. Though I'm surprised they bothered lagering it at all. Next shortest were the low-alcohol beers Eifachbier Dunkel and  Doppel-KarameI. Which makes sense.

Lagering time is one of the distinguishing factors between Edel-Bräu Hell and standard Hell. The former spending twice as long lagering. We see exactly the same difference between the posh Pilsners and the standard Deutsches Pilsner.

Rather surprisingly, pale and dark Bock only got a maximum of 30 days. Which seems odd. Usually strong beers get the longest lagering.

1980 DDR lagering times
Type Standard time days min  time days
Aubi 6 3
Dunkel (Einfachbier) 8 5
Weißbier 30 25
Extra 40 25
Hell 20 12
Edel-Bräu Hell 40 25
Dunkel (Vollbier) 20 12
Doppel-KarameIbier 8 5
Schwarzbier 20 12
Deutsches Pilsner 25 15
Diabetiker-Pils 50 30
Deutsches Pilsator 50 30
Deutsches Pilsner Spezial 50 30
Märzen 50 30
Weizenbier 20 8
Weißer Bock or Bockbier Hell 30 18
Dunkler Bock or Bockbier Dunkel 30 18
Deutscher Porter 40 25
Source:
1980 TGL 7764, page 8.

I've just noticed that I almost all the examples of Edel-Bräu Hell labels I have are pretty much identical, save for the brewery name. The label for this type seems to have been standard everywhere.

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