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.

Let's Brew - 1885 William Younger H 60/-

You’re probably starting to wonder about the logic of Younger’s naming conventions, as H 60/- is weaker than two 50/- variants. Confusing, or what?

While we’re on the topic of confusion, don’t confuse this 60/- with the modern style with the same name. They have nothing in common and there is no link between them. 1885 60/- is a type of Mild Ale, post-1945 60/- is a type of Pale Ale.

There’s the usual mix of base malts and bugger all else. Except for an enigmatic entry scribbled in above the malts “1 flg. Pat.” At least that’s what I think it says. Then in the copper columns "1 in C". Does that mean patent malt was added to the copper? If so, what unit is “flg.”?

Loads of different hops again. Two types of Kent, Californian, Spalt and American, all from the 1884 harvest. It’s unusual to see all hops from the most recent harvest in a beer. Other than some really posh ones. Younger wasn’t using any old hops at all.

Given the spread of barrels it was racked into, I’d say this was both a draught and a bottled beer.

1885 William Younger H 60/-
pale malt	9.25 lb	100.00%
Cluster 120 min	1.00 oz
Spalt 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.75 oz
OG	1040
FG	1012
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	70.00%
IBU	37
SRM	4
Mash at	154º F
Sparge at	163º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

 

 

1980 DDR other beer ingredients

You know the drill by now. Loads of details about DDR beer standards that you have no need to know. But I'm going to tell you them anyway.

It's the turn of adjuncts. Of which there are more types than in 1960, when the only options were rice and unmalted barley.

Brewing malt may be partially replaced by raw grain and sugar, the following application factors must be taken into account:

Rice grits 0.98 = 98% of the amount of malt to be replaced
Unpeeled barley 1.25 = 125% of the amount of malt to be replaced
Hulled barley 1.20 = 120% of the amount of malt to be replaced
Sugar 0.78 = 78% of the amount of malt to be replaced
Maize grits 0.98 = 98% of the amount of malt to be replaced

Sugar content, calculated as a proportion of the total amount based on malt, at most 20%.

A refinement factor of 1.01 should be used for the self-milling of malting barley.

At least 30% wheat brewing malt must be used for Weissbier.

For Weizenbier at least 20% wheat brewing malt must be used.

The total amount of bitter substances may partly consist of hop extract, amounts used according to Table 3.
1980 TGL 7764, page 5.

The 1960 version specified a maximum of 25% adjuncts. Here only a maximum is given for sugar, which wasn't allowed as an adjunct earlier. 

Note that less wheat malt was required in Weizenbier than in Weissbier. It's interesting that two of the three Berliner Weissbiers brewed in West Berlin wouldn't have met the DDR standards, as they were brewed from 100% malted barley.

Other ingredients next:

1980 DDR other beer ingredients
Type	Sugar kg/hl max	Caramel kg/hl max	Saccharin 9/hl max	Evaporated salt or rock salt g/hl max
Dunkel (Einfachabler)	—	0.3	8	—
Dunkel (Vollbier)	-	0.2	1	—
Doppel-Karamelbier	6	0.35	—	—
Deutscher Porter	—	0.45	—	100
Source:
1980 TGL 7764 page 7.

The amount of caramel allowed in Doppel-Karamel and Deutscher Porter has increased. And saccharin and caramel are now allowed in Vollbier Dunkel.

Finally some stuff about acids:

For all varieties are allowed:
Lactic acid or adipic acid not more than 25 g/hl
Calcium chloride not more than 20 g/hl or calcium sulphate not more than 50 g/hl.
The addition of acids and salts according to Section 4 as well as acidification with lactobacillus delbruckii is only permitted for mashes and worts.
1980 TGL 7764, page 7.

I take that last sentence to mean that both kettle souring and souring during primary fermentation were allowed.

1980 DDR hop extract and hop usage

More TGL 7764 fun. I told you that I'd drag out a stack load more posts from that wonderful document.

There is a very good reason for squeezing the dishcloth of this TGL 7764 totally dry. When this is published I'll be on a two-week trip to the USA with my kids.  As I can't post as easily when away, I always queue posts to cover the whole of the trip before I leave. Having a theme like this lets me bash out a whole load of posts quickly. I've been aiming for three every day.

I've also spotted a use for the material I'm accumulating. (I don't like writing a whole load of stuff on a topic without an ulterior motive.) It would fit very nicely into my book "DDR!". When I have time, I'll add it all in and publish a second edition. "When I have time" being quite a big caveat.

Right. Back to the actual topic. This table demonstrates a big change in DDR brewing practices since 1960. In the earlier edition of the standards, there's no mention of hop extract. In 1980, it could contribute up to 70% of the bitterness.

Remember me saying that the specs of Edel-Bräu Hell and ordinary Hell looked the same. Here's a difference: Edel-Bräu Hell had less hop extract and some top-class hops. Something similar is happening with the Pilsners, where the bottom-level Deutsches Pilsner has more hop extract and no posh hops.

Just realised that I have some labels for Vollbier Extra. Interesting. It cost 0.98 M for half a litre. While the stronger Vollbier Hell coast 0.72 M. Which might explain why Extra got better hops.

1980 DDR hop extract and hop usage
Type	max % bitter substances from hop extract	min % from A hops
Aubi	70	—
Dunkel (Einfachbier)
Weißbier
Extra	40	15
Hell	70	—
Edel-Bräu Hell	40	15
Dunkel (Vollbier)	70	—
Doppel-KarameIbier
Schwarzbier
Deutsches Pilsner		15
Diabetiker-Pils	40
Deutsches Pilsator
Deutsches Pilsner Spezial
Märzen	70	—
Weizenbier
Weißer Bock or Bockbier Hell
Dunkler Bock or Bockbier Dunkel
Deutscher Porter
Source:
1980 TGL 7764, page 6.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1885 William Younger B 50/-

Just a couple of degrees stronger is another subtype of 50/-. Often “B” stands for “bottling” in brewhouse names. Not sure that’s the case here, given that it was mostly racked into barrels and half barrels. Which suggests a draught beer.

Unlike most Scottish breweries, Younger wasn’t that into parti-gyling. And when they did opt for it, sometimes it was in a non-standard way. Such as here. This shared a mash with the S 50/- above, but the two beers were hopped and boiled separately.

Which explains how this beer is both much more heavily hopped and contains an extra ingredient: sugar. Not sure exactly which type of sugar, but let’s go with old lovely No. 1 invert. It could be something darker. Especially as there’s a note in the log saying “colour too high”.

A more usual three types of hops here: Kent, Spalt and American, all from the 1884 season.

1885 William Younger B 50/-
pale malt	9.25 lb	94.87%
No. 1 invert sugar	0.50 lb	5.13%
Cluster 90 min	0.50 oz
Spalt 60 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1044
FG	1016
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	63.64%
IBU	29
SRM	4.5
Mash at	156º F
Sparge at	163º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

1980 DDR beer strength

The 1980 version of TGL 7764 doesn't list the alcohol content  of the beers. But, as it does give the OG and rate of attenuatio0n, it's pretty easy to work it out. Especially if, like me, you already have all the necessary calculations plugged into spreadsheet.

It's all much what you would expect. With Berliner Weisse around 3% ABV, Hell a bit over 4%, Pilsner around 5%, and Bock 6-6.5%. Compared to the West, the Hell and Weizenbier are slightly weaker. The other styles, however, are roughly in line with what occurred on the other side of the Inner German Border.

The bottom limit for Vollbier was lower in the DDR - in the West it was 11º Plato. A beer at the lower DDR limit of 10.5º Plato wouldn't have been allowed in West Germany, nor would extra. Beers weren't permitted to be brewed to gravities between the top limit for Schankbier (8º Plato) anf the lower limit for Volbier (11º Plato).

1980 DDR beer strength
Type	min OG Plato	max OG Plato	app. Atten-uation	min ABV	max ABV
Dunkel (Einfachbier)	5.8	6.2	65	1.93	2.06
Weißbier	7	8	75	2.70	3.10
Extra	8.5	9.3	75	3.30	3.63
Hell	10.5	11	75	4.13	4.33
Edel-Bräu Hell	10.5	11	75	4.13	4.33
Dunkel (Vollbier)	10.5	11	75	4.13	4.33
Schwarzbier	11.7	12.3	70	4.32	4.56
Deutsches Pilsner	12	12.5	75	4.75	4.97
Deutsches Pilsator	12	12.5	78	4.94	5.16
Deutsches Pilsner Spezial	12	12.5	78	4.94	5.16
Märzen	13.7	14.3	70	5.11	5.36
Weizenbier	11.5	12	75	4.54	4.75
Weißer Bock or Bockbier Hell	15.7	16.3	75	6.35	6.61
Dunkler Bock or Bockbier Dunkel	15.7	16.3	72	6.10	6.35
Deutscher Porter	17.7	18.3	64	6.18	6.41
Source:
1980 TGL 7764, pages 9 - 10.

 

 

1980 DDR beer ingredients

We continue our trundle through the 1980 version of TGL 7764 with a look at the ingredients allowed.

The hopping specifications are very different owing to the introduction of hop extract.  Meaning that the hopping rate can't be given in gm/hl any more. Instead, active bitter substances are specified. Not really sure what that means. But at least the relative hopping rates are still obvious.

Several new ingredients have been added, notably amongst the adjuncts, where rice grits and maize grits have appeared. 

On the sour side, there much of interest. Dekkera bruxellensis - Brattanomyces to you and me - is specifically mentioned. Also, that it was only for Porter. Interestingly, no restriction was placed on the use of Lactobacillus. You would have thought that was only appropriate for Berliner Weisse.

What was lactic acid being used for? Was it as a souring shortcut for Berliner Weisse? Or did it have some other use?

Berliner Weisse had to have a minimum of 30% wheat malt. While Weizenbier had to include at least 20%.

1980 DDR beer ingredients
Category	Type	kg malt per hl	Hops, hop extract expressed in active bitter substances g/hl
Alkoholfreies Bier	Aubi	11	9
Einfachbier	Dunkel	9	1.9
Schankbier	Weißbier	11.5	4.2
Vollbier	Extra	14.5	9.7
	Hell	16.2	8.5
	Edel-Bräu Hell	17.2	8.5
	Dunkel	17.2	8.5
	Doppe1-KarameIbier	10.5	1.8
	Schwarzbier	19	10
	Deutsches Pilsner	19.2	11.5
	Diabetiker-Pils	18	15
	Deutsches Pilsator	19.2	16
	Deutsches Pilsner Spezial	20.2	16
	Märzen	24	10
	Weizenbier	18	4.5
Starkbier	Weißer Bock or Bockbier Hell	26	8
	Dunkler Bock or Bockbier Dunkel	26	8
	Deutscher Porter	34	22
Source:
1980 TGL 7764, page 2.

Here's the full list of permitted ingredients.

4. RAW MATERIALS AND ADDITIVES
All raw materials and additives must comply with food law regulations,
Brewing malt according to TGL 17756
Hops for brewing according to TGL 26778/01
Hop extract according to TGL 34097
Unmalted barley according to TGL 25709/01
Rice grits for brewing according to TGL 23219
Sugar (sucrose) according to TGL 3070/01
Caramel according to TGL 36604
caramel
maize grits
Saccharin according to the 2nd pharmacopoeia of the GDR (2nd AB - GDR)
brewing water

Fermentation organisms:
Saccharomyces uvarum (carlsbergensis)
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Dekkera bruxellensis
Lactobacterium delbrückii 

Enzyme preparations:
Brewery enzyme according to TGL 29166/01
amylases
proteases
ß-glucanases

Organic acids:
Lactic acid according to TGL 24132
Adipic acid according to TGL 6964

Salts
Calcium chloride according to 2. AB - DDR
Calcium sulphate according to 2. AB - DDR
Cooking salt B according to TGL 21020/03
or rock salt according to TGL 21020/02

Stabilizing agent
tannin
silica gel preparations
tannin adsorbents
pepsin concentrate
papain
1-ascorbic acid according to TGL 20130
bentonites
1980 TGL 7764, pages 2 - 3.

 

1980 DDR Beer specifications

TGL 7764. What a wonderful document. It's certainly been a life saver for me. How many posts will I be able to wring out of it? Quite a few more. Starting here.

We've moved on to the 1980 version. There have been quite a few changes  Including the addition of several new styles. And the removal of several others.

The styles which have disappeared were all weaker, and mostly poorly-attenuated types: Jungbier, Braunbier, Malzbier. Einfachbier Hell and Malznährbier. Not such a surprise as these types of beer rapidly lost popularity after the war in both Germanies.

The new arrivals are more surprising. At the bottom end, there's Extra, which seems to be a lower-gravity Hell. Though it was a bit hoppier. Next is Edel-Bräu Hell. Which apart from having a lower minimum level of hopping, looks exactly the same as Hell. It also includes a word - "Edel" - specifically forbidden in 1960.

Two nre Pilsner variations have appeared: Deutsches Pilsator and Deutsches Pilsner Spezial. (There's another word forbidden in 1960.) Not sure what the difference between the two was, as the specs are identical. They were hoppier and a bit more attenuated than standard Pilsner. Pilsator was a cracking style. And included some of my favourite DDR beers.

Aubi - alcohol-free beer - seems very modern. I'm trying to remember if I ever saw it in the wild. Probably not, as Dolores didn't. Her comment was: "People would have said: what's the point in that? Why not just drink lemonade".

Really taking me by surprise were Märzen and Weizenbier. The former looks very similar to amber Bavarian versions. As for the Weizenbier, it's weaker than Bavarian versions, which are usually over 12º Plato. I've never come across any trace of these two types.

Finally, there's Diabetiker-Pils. Now this one was reasonably common. I know for sure that I drank at least one: Gothaer Diabetiker-Pils. It wasn't great. Then again, none of the the Gothaer beers were. My least favourite of the Thuringian breweries.

1980 DDR Beer specifications
					colour
Type	OG Plato	apparent attenuation %	CO2-content % min	Isohumulone mg/l	NFR	Brand
Aubi	6.9 to 7.4	30 to 40	0.38	22 to 34	max 330	max 0.8
Dunke1 (Einfachbier)	5.8 to 6.2	55 to 65	0.35	3 to 11	min 2375	min 12
Weißbier	7.0 to 8.0	min 75	0.6		240 to 410	max 1.0
Extra	8.5 to 9.3	min 75	0.45	25 to 37	max 330	max 0.8
Hell	10.5 to 11.0	min 75	0.4	18 to 30	max 370	max 0.9
Edel-Bräu Hell	10.5 to 11.0	min 75	0.4	13 to 30	max 370	max 0.9
Dunkel (Vollbier)	10.5 to 11.0	min 75	0.4	18 to 30	min 2375	min 12
Doppe1-KarameIbier	11.7 to 12.3	—	0.42	3 to 10	min 3275	min 20
Schwarzbier	11.7 to 12.3	60 to 70	0.42	20 to 34	min 4025	min 30
Diabetiker-Pils	11.0 to 11.5	—	0.42	25 to 38	max 350	max 0.8
Deutsches Pilsner	12.0 to 12.5	min 75	0.4	25 to 33	max 330	max 0.8
Deutsches Pilsator	12.0 to 12.5	min 78	0.42	30 to 44	max 330	max 0.8
Deutsches Pilsner Spezial	12.0 to 12.5	min 78	0.42	30 to 44	max 330	max 0.8
Märzen	13.7 to 14.3	min 70	0.42	20 to 34	1075 to 1325	3.5 to 5.0
Weizenbier	11.5 to 12.0	min 75	0.5	10 to 25	max 370	max 0.9
Weißer Bock or Bockbier Dell	15.7 to 16.3	68 to 75	0.4	14 to 26	550 to 1075	1.5 to 3.5
Dunkler Bock or Bockbier Dunkel	15.7 to 16.3	65 to 72	0.4	12 to 24	min 2125	min 10
Deutscher Porter	17.7 to 18.3	min 64	0.42	35 to 50	min 4025	min 30
Source:
1980 TGL 7764, pages 9 - 10.

Let's Brew - 1885 William Younger S 50/-

There’s quite a big jump up to the next beer. A variation on 50/-. Younger loved having subversions of beers, with a prefix or a suffix added.

What does the S stand for? Scotch, possibly. Which could account for the low level of hopping. Because that is much lower than in straight 50/-. Not quite 4 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt compared to 6 lbs.

It definitely looks like this was an exclusively bottled beer. Every last drop was packaged into hogsheads. A sure sign that it was destined for bottling.

Three types of base malt made up the grist: Smyrna, Scots and French. That’s where the barley was grown, all of it would have been malted in the UK.

Here’s the really odd bit: there’s just a single type of hops. Kent from the 1884 crop. Most of Younger’s beers contained at least three, if not more, types of hops. Note that this was one of their few beers which wasn’t dry hopped. 

1885 William Younger S 50/-
pale malt	9.75 lb	100.00%
Fuggles 90 min	0.50 oz
Fuggles 30 min	0.50 oz
OG	1042
FG	1018
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	57.14%
IBU	12
SRM	4
Mash at	157º F
Sparge at	163º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

1966 DDR malt specifications

Here we are with some more malt specifications. With lots od different number, most of which, to be honest, I don't understand.

The specs aren't identical to those of 1953. For example, the extract of wheat malt has increased from 79% to over 80%. Kara-Pils has also increased while Kara-Münch has declined.

Saccharification times have also changed. Munich malt has been reduced from 20 to 30 minutes.

Diastatic power is only required for Pilsner, Munich and Melanoidin malt. Most of the darker darker malts have no requirement to have any diastatic power.

1966 DDR malt specifications
Type	Water content %		Saccharification time	Extract content % in dry matter		Resolution		Degree of protein dissolution according to Kolbach	Diastatic power according to Windisch-Kolbach
	max	base value	min	minimum	base value	Yield difference	Hartong number (HZ) minimum		min
Pilsner malt	5	4.5	10 to 15	79.5	80	2.5 to 3.8	5	36 to 42	200
Münchner-Malz			15 to 25	77.5	78			no requirements	80
Melanoidin malt	5.5	5	max 25				no requirements
Kara-Pils-Malz			max 30			no requirements			no requirements
Kara-Hell-Malz			no requirements	74.5	75
Kara-Münch-Malz				69.5	70
Farb-Malz				59.5	60
Wheat malt	5.3	4.8	max 15	83.5	84	2.5 to 3.8	5
Source:
1966 TGL 17756 page 3.