Lager Beers in 1909

You probably realise by now how fascinated I am by Lager. Especially oldie-timey Lager.

The following passage from the Journal of the Institute of Brewing explains the different types of Lager at the start of the 20th century. It breaks them down by region and strength. Rather surprisingly, along with Bohemia, Bavaria and Vienna, the USA is also included. Which is probably fair enough, now I think about it.

The strength types are a bit odd, as it doesn't seem to include Bock. Or, at least, to lump it in with Export.

Our attention must now be directed to the principal subject of this evening's paper: Lager Beers ("Lager Biere"). Of these there are four recognised types :—Bohemian, Vienna, Bavarian, and American. As a general rule, three varieties of each are brewed: Light, Ordinary or Summer Lager, and Export. The exports are all brewed considerably stronger and contain more alcohol. All the types vary a good deal in colour, flavour, palate-fulness, amount of hops, acidity and alcohol. For example :—

1. Bavarian and Munich beers possess a light to dark-brown shade of colour, are lightly hopped, and are characterised by their palate fulness, sweet taste and malt flavour. Their gravities vary from 12.5° to 15.0° B. in the Light, and from 15.0° to 18.0° B. in the Export beers.

2. The Bohemian are light-yellow, as in the case of the Pilsener, to a peculiar greenish-yellow colour. They taste somewhat sharp, dry and wine-like, but with a prevailing bitter of hops as opposed to the lightly-hopped Bavarians. Their gravities vary from 10.5° to 11.5° B. for the Light, and from 11.0° to 12.8° B. for the Heavy.

3. The Vienna Lagers come somewhere midway between the Bavarian and Bohemian, especially as regards colour, hops, and taste. The gravities vary from 10.5° to 13.5° B. in the Light, and from 13.5° to 15.5° B. for the Heavy and Export beers. The larger amount of the common beer of Vienna is brewed at a gravity of 13.5° B.

4. The American Lagers generally follow the German rather than the Austrian types, yet differ considerably in the many American cities.
"Lager Beers" by James Grant in Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 15, Issue 3, May 1909, page 379.

It's odd that they state American beers were mostly of the German type. Surely most were of the Bohemian type, generally being very pale. There aren't any details with regard to strength, unfortunately. 

Böhmisches Doppelbier

Right. So we’ve already seen Světlý Ležák and Výčepní Pivo. Now we’re onto what is nowadays called Speciální Pivo in the modern Czech Republic.

Braník, my favourite of the Prague breweries, used to brew a cracking 14º Světlé. Which sometime in the later 1980’s was downgraded to 13º. A shame. Of course, nothing like as bad as when they totally shut the brewery. If you wanted to pigeonhole this in an “official” style, I suppose Helles Märzen would do at a pinch. Though Czech Speciální Pivo tends to hoppier than German Märzen.

Let’s crack on with the paraphrasing

Böhmisches Doppelbier is also pale, 14 to 14.5º Balling, highly carbonated beer with good head retention.

It’s brewed from well modified, highly dried pilsener malt. The colour of the beer is pale golden. The malt is prepared in the pilsener way, which is similar to the Dortmund method but is dried at a temperature 5º C higher.

The mashing scheme is a double thick mash where the temperature rises quickly from  50 to 65º C. Mashing in is at 35º C and the temperature rises, either through adding boiling water or fire, depending on whether you prefer to mash in thick or thin, to 50, 65 and 70º C at which last temperature saccharification takes place. Then the first thick mash is boiled for 10 minutes and raises the temperature of the total mash to 56º C when mixed back in. With the second thick mash, which boils for 15 minutes, mash out at 75º is achieved. The whole mash is then left to rest for 35 to 40 minutes and then the wort is run off. In order to create a fine flavour only mellow malt is used which means it lies loose in the tun with only being stirred twice.

The sparge water need to be hot enough so that when the wort is run off it is between 70 and 75º C, so must be not less than 75º C, but not more than 80º C, as this could lead to problems with clarity. Boiling only starts when the first sparge has already been run off. The wort is boiled for 2 hours and the hopping rate is 1.33 pounds of hops per 50 kg of malt. Preferably Saaz hops are used on account of their mild flavour and good aroma. The hop additions are performed like this: the first third are added as the copper is being filled, the other two thirds are blanched with hot water at 80º C and are added to the copper, along with the water, 45 minutes before the end of the boil. When the steam has died down, so 5 minutes before the wort is run off, 8% of the hops are added to the hot wort for the benefit of the aroma.

The yeast is pitched at 5º C and the fermentation temperature shouldn’t rise above 7.5º C. The apparent attenuation (14.5 to 6.5º Balling at time of transfer to lagering vessels) is 55%. The lagering vessels are left unbunged for two weeks then the bunging apparatus is put on. Lagering time is two months.
Source: Olberg, Johannes (1927) Bömisches Doppelbier in Moderne Braumethoden, pp 59-61, A. Hartleben, Wien & Leipzig.

From the description, it sounds as if the malt used for these beers is a bit darker than standard lager malt. Which is interesting.

The mashing description is a bit confusing. The first three temperatures of 50, 65 and 70º C  are just for the first thick mash. Not sure why this only has a double decoction when the weaker versions get a triple decoction.

I’m not totally sure what the hop tea technique of adding hops achieves. I’m sure that there must be some point to it. Is it to isomerise the hops without boiling them? The very late addition of 8% of the hops for aroma does make sense. It also sounds very modern.

55% attenuation is pretty poor, but that’s before lagering. I assume during that process it would rise to over 60%.

Böhmisches Bier

Isn’t this exciting? A look in detail at Czechoslovakian beer in the first few years of the country’s existence.

The chapter begin with a couple of paragraphs on malting. The gist being that you need good pale malt. The way you made it was to start with thin-husked, low protein barley. The malt was dried with hot air, starting at 35-38º C, rising slowly to 60º C. The drying process was slow and lasted at least 24 hours.

Fascinating stuff, but probably not what you’re most interested in. So I’ll quickly move onto the brewing method. Which I paraphrase here:

Per 100 kg of malt 260-270 litres of water are used for mashing and 200 for sparging. Meaning it was a thin mash.

Mashing in is at 35º C. Part of the mash is transferred to the kettle and raised to 65º C for saccharification then brought to the boil in the kettle and boiled for 15 minutes. When this is added back to the main mash the temperature is raised to 52º C.

A second thick mash is boiled in the kettle for 10 minutes and when returned to the main mash the combined temperature should be 65º C.

Now the lauter mash is boiled in the kettle for 15 minutes which when added back to the main mash raises the temperature to mash out at 75º C. The wort is run off after a rest of 35 to 40 minutes.

Sparge water should be at 75º C or a temperature such that when the wort is drawn off it’s at most 70-75º C. If the water is hotter it can dissolve starch from the grains and this can a haze, albeit slight.

The hopping rate is 2 pounds per 50 kg of malt. A quarter of the hops are added as soon as the copper is filling, another quarter after 30 minutes boiling and the last half 45 minutes before the end of the boil. Boiling lasts 2 hours.

To obtain the right aroma and mild hop flavour, only the best Bohemian hops are used and just before the boil ends 1 or 2 pounds of hops are added.

The yeast is pitched at 5º C and fermentation is conducted in a way that ensures it lasts at least 10 days. The pitching rate is 5 litres per 1,000 litres of wort. The OG is 12º Balling and the beer is transferred to lagering vessels at a gravity of 5º Balling.

Schankbiers are brewed to a gravity of 10-10.5º Balling, are equally heavily hopped and are handled like Lagerbier except only lagered for two months. The beers are only left with the bungs open for 2 weeks but then are left under the bunging apparatus for a long time.
Source: Olberg, Johannes (1927) Bömisches Bier in Moderne Braumethoden, pp 59-61, A. Hartleben, Wien & Leipzig.

That’s a very usefully detailed description of how to brew a pale Bohemian Lager. Or rather pale Bohemian Lagerbier and pale Bohemian Schankbier. The Czechs have long been fond of relative weak Lagers, with 10º Plato beers (around 4% ABV) being the most popular.

Olberg forgets to mention how long the Lagerbier was , er, lagered. Probably 3 months.

The hopping rate isn’t crazy at around 6 lbs per quarter of malt. But it’s a lot compared to most 20th-century Lagers. Even Pilsners, a supposedly hop-accented style, were mostly very lightly hopped in comparison to British beers.

As there are three wort boils, I guess the mashing scheme is a triple decoction. Though it isn’t made that clear in the text, the first two decoctions are thick mash, i.e. containing lots of grains and the final one thin mash, i.e. mostly liquid. It’s a pretty classic triple decoction method.

Price of Milk in Hungary

More results of my supermarket dash through the newspaper archives.

There were food shortages in Britain in WW I, but nothing like those in Germany and Austria.

"Price of Milk in Hungary.
The introduction of maximum prices for milk by the authorities Buda Pest have excited much apprehension in Vienna. The official price for a litre bottle of milk in Buda Pest is 56 hellers (5.6 pence), which is eight hellers more than the present prices in Vienna.

The maximum price in the Hungarian capital represents an advance of ten hellers (a penny), and is avowedly made to stimulate production and increase consignments of milk to the city. Of the 600,000 litres of milk daily consumed in Vienna, at least one-sixth comes from Hungary, consequently the Viennese fear that the higher prices there will tend to divert this milk to Buda Pest.

The situation is the more critical just now as the milk contracts with the farmers and peasants are made for a year from April 1, and agents from both capitals will be competing to secure new contracts.

According to Bohemian papers, Austria is about prohibit the expert of beer in the interests of the home consumers. Such breweries, however, as during the years 1911-12 and 1912-13 sent beer abroad to neutral European countries and to Austria's Allies, may still export, but those who supplied only enemy countries and America will be excluded.

This new prohibition will affect chiefly, and indeed almost exclusively, the Pilsener breweries, which export a large proportion of their output, while the other Austrian breweries have only 6 per cent. of the total exports.

The Pilsener breweries will be permitted to export 30 per cent. of their production, which is now only 40 per cent. of the original quantity, so that the new exports will amount to 12 per cent. of the output of normal years.

At Lemberg the High Court has forbidden the circulation of two Hebrew’ prayer-books, the "Sider Beis Jacob,” published in 1904, and another published in 1907, on the ground that they contain high treason. The Socialist press is asking why it took all these years for the authorities to find out the treasonable character the books.

Wood of all kinds is becoming very scarce and very dear in Austria. Ordinary soft woods have doubled in price, and fire wood has gone up nearly as much. Enormous quantities of wood have been used for military purposes, such as buildings, barracks, and hospitals, and even more in the reconstruction of the towns and villages destroyed in the war zone."
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough - Thursday 30 March 1916, page 6.

It's odd how they didn't allow breweries who had exported to the Allies to export beer. Though I'm more surprised that they were exporting beer at all. The most impressive statistic is that Pilsner breweries were responsible for 94% of Austrian beer exports.

I'm really happy to find that figure for beer production. Down to just 40% of its pre-war level. Let's see how that compares with the situation in the UK:

Summary of changes in WW I
	Duty		Standard barrels	Bulk barrels	Average OG	Average price
	s.	d.			England & Wales	per pint
1914	7	9	36,057,913	37,558,767	1051.69	3d.
1915	23	0	33,099,000	34,736,000	1051.16	3d.
1916	23	0	30,292,000	32,110,000	1050.49	3d.
1917	24	0	26,626,000	30,163,000	1047.01	4d
1918	25	0	13,816,000	19,085,000	1038.25	4.5d
1919	50	0	12,925,000	23,264,000	1029.35	5d.
1920	79	0	25,115,000	35,047,000	1038.57	6d.
Sources:
The Brewers' Almanack 1928 pages 100 and 110.

Beer output fell between 1914 and 1916, but not by a ridiculous amount. Especially in terms of bulk barrels, i.e. the actual amount of beer. Though the standard barrel number indicates the reduction in materials used.

Drop in beer output
period	standard barrels	bulk barrels
1914 to 1916	15.99%	14.51%
1914 to 1917	26.16%	19.69%

But things quickly got much worse in Bohemia:

"ENEMY'S FOOD CRISIS.
HOW ROUMANIAN INTERVENTION HAS REDUCED SUPPLIES.
The stoppage of Roumanian supplies has already caused an aggravation of the food shortage troubles both in Germany and Austria.

In Germany the allowance of butter per person has been reduced to eighty grammes (less than three ounces) per week. From the end of September there will be three meatless days per week instead of two.

Austria has already introduced three meatless days instead of two. The brewing beer will stopped in Austria. This will strike a destructive blow to the remaining prosperity of Pilsen. Bread rations will have to be reduced Germany and Austria."
Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser - Wednesday 20 September 1916, page 1.

Brewing ground to a complete halt:

"All breweries in the beer producing town of Pilsen, Bohemia, have been closed owing to lack of supplies."
Newcastle Journal - Saturday 23 September 1916, page 4.

Beer might have ended up pretty thin and watery in Britain, but at least there was beer.

Bohemian Lagers of the 1880's and 1890's (part two)

Here's the rest of those Bohemian beers I didn't have time and space for last time. Honestly, there's so much material, I'll be busy for months, if not years.


Maybe I'd have made my life simpler had I included the Pale Lagerbiers with the Pilsensers. Then again, maybe not, because, although some of the averages are very close a couple aren't. Meaning I can draw some conclusions about the differences between the two. I was going to say attenaution, then I noticed that outliers - the Prälat Flaschenbier and Touristenbier, that I'm not even sure were Lagerbiers - was dragging the average down. Take them out and attenuation is 74%.

Oh. I notice I've also included a couple that are Pilseners. What the hell, I can't be bothered to fiddle with the tables any more today.

Bohemian Pale Lagerbiers 1886 - 1894
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lactic acid %
1895	Bürgerliches Brauhausin den Kgl. Weinbergen, Prague	Helles Lagerbier	Helles	draught	1044.4	1011.2	11.09	4.31	74.77%	0.103
1886	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Lagerbier	Lagerbier	draught	1047.3	1012.7	11.78	4.49	73.15%
1898	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Lagerbier	Lagerbier	draught	1047.3	1012.6	11.78	4.50	73.36%	0.103
1891	Wittingauer (Třeboň)	Weisses Lagerbier	Helles	bottled	1048.5	1012.7	12.07	4.65	73.81%	0.099
1895	Aktien-Brauerei Eger	Lagerbier	Lagerbier	draught	1048.5	1012.0	12.07	4.74	75.26%	0.078
1890	Wittingauer (Třeboň)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Lagerbier	bottled	1048.5	1012.4	12.07	4.69	74.43%	0.160
1894	Kalthausen	Pasteurisirtes Touristenbier	Lagerbier	draught	1051.8	1025.4	12.85	3.39	50.97%	0.146
1890	Kreuzherrn (Krizovnicka)	Prälat Flaschenbier served in Prague	Lagerbier	bottled	1057.0	1020.1	14.07	4.78	64.74%	0.290
	Average				1049.2	1014.9	12.22	4.44	70.06%	0.140
Sources:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

The level of acidity is much lower than for Pilsenser and again taking out those two beers, averages to just over 0.1%. I'd have expected the Pilseners to have been cleaner.

The next group are Dark Lagers:

Bohemian Dark Lagers 1890 - 1895
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lactic acid %
1890	Br. "U Stajgru"	schwarz Flaschenbier served in Prague	Dunkles	bottled	1036.0	1011.3	9.06	3.20	68.61%	0.150
1890	Br. Zum blauen Hecht	schwarz Flaschenbier served in Prague	Dunkles	bottled	1043.3	1012.5	10.83	3.99	71.13%	0.260
1890	Brauerei "U Flecu"	schwarz Flaschenbier served in Prague	Dunkles	bottled	1046.3	1016.2	11.54	3.89	65.01%	0.180
1895	Bürgerliches Brauhaus in den Kgl. Weinbergen, Prague	Schwarzes Königsbier	Dunkles	draught	1052.1	1016.8	12.92	4.58	67.75%	0.097
	Average				1044.4	1014.2	11.09	3.91	68.13%	0.172
Sources:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

Being honest, the only thing they really have in common is their colour. They look like two Schenkbiers one Lagerbier and one stronger beer.

I was delighted to spot U Fleků's beer in there. It's obviously not the same as the current beer, as that's 13º Plato. Now it doesn't say right out in the source that it's a bottom-fermented beer. But, it is in a table devoted to bottom-fermenters and top-fermenting beers have tables of their own.

Pretty crap attenuation and a high level of acidity are other features. The other averages are pretty meaningless as the beers are all of different gravities.

And finally what I'm calling stronger Lagers. Uninspired, I know. Speciální Pivo would be the modern Czech term.

Bohemian stronger Lagers 1888 - 1892
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lactic acid %
1890	Wisotschauer	Bockbier served in Prague	Bock	bottled	1047.4	1016.7	11.81	3.96	64.77%	0.270
1891	Smichower	Granatbier	Export	bottled	1053.5	1021.0	13.24	4.19	60.71%	0.121
1891	Pracer	Granatbier	Export	bottled	1053.6	1019.0	13.27	4.48	64.55%	0.092
1892	Gödinger (Hodonín)	Märzenbier	Märzen	draught	1053.6	1026.3	13.27	3.50	50.93%	0.272
1888	Actien Brauhaus, Pilsen	Bockbier	Bock	bottled	1054.8	1015.4	13.56	5.11	71.90%
1888	Actien Brauhaus, Pilsen	Exportbier	Export	draught	1059.7	1014.6	14.70	5.88	75.54%
	Average				1053.8	1018.8	13.31	4.52	64.73%	0.189
Sources:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

I've rather arbitrarily attributed styles to some of these. Märzen and the one Export I'm fairly happy with. Granatbier is a guess. There are still quite a few beers called Granát in the Cezh Republic. Usually amber or dark and sometimes 13º or 14º Plato, others 11º or 12º Plato. I seem to remember seeing old adverts or labels for Granát as a stronger Exportni beer. Here you go. I knew I had it somewhere. It's an old enamel advert I spotted on the wall of a Prague pub.:

So, amber (or dark) stronger beer. Sometimes even called Export. They'd be called Speciální Pivo in the modern Czech Republic.

They look very much like the Märzenbier, except for the latter's shitty degree of attenuation. Don't assume the Märzen was amber. It could just as well have been pale. Or even dark.

Clearly Bock meant something different in Bohemia. Neither of those is anything like strong enough to count as a Bock in Austria or Germany. The weaker one looks like a low-end Lagerbier. The stronger one you could maybe call a Märzen.

Finally the Export. Decent gravity, decent attenuation, a fair bit of oomph in the finished product. The strongest beer of the set and doubtless my first choice.

Not sure what I'll do next. There's so much of this stuff. Maybe some of the North German stuff.

Bohemian Lagers of the 1880's and 1890's (part one)

I can't express my love for "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel" in words. Perhaps I should write a song.

I've caught 350 new analyses in the last week or so. There are hundreds more. I've really improved my data set on Czech Lagers, much to my delight. I never dreamed that I'd be able to find so many details. I suppose I should really do something constructive with them. Which I guess this sort of is.

The 58 beers in this set I've somewhat arbitrarily lumped together in 5 groups: Schenkbier, Helles Lagerbier, Dunkles, Pilsener and stronger Lagers. It's arbitrary because the Pilseners are also Pale Lagerbiers and some of the Schenkbiers are Pilseners. But I had to draw the lines somewhere. Feel free to rearrange everything in your head if you disagree with my categorisations.

All the place names were given in German and, where I've been able to work out the Czech name, I've put that in brackets

I'll begin with Schenkbier, because I've the most of them. Which is another confirmation that this was the most common type of beer in Bohemia. As it still is today. I suppose I could have used the modern Czech name of Výčepní Pivo, which is what these beers really are.

Bohemian Pale Schenkbiers 1888 - 1894
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lactic acid %
1895	Aktien-Brauerei Eger (Cheb)	Abzugsbier	Schenkbier	draught	1031.2	1003.0	7.89	3.68	90.38%	0.089
1890	Petromitzer	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1037.7	1012.4	9.48	3.28	67.11%	0.270
1890	Nusler	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1037.9	1015.6	9.53	2.88	58.84%	0.170
1890	Popowitzer (Popovice)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1038.4	1010.9	9.65	3.56	71.61%	0.170
1890	Wisotschauer	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1039.0	1013.0	9.79	3.36	66.67%	0.150
1890	Raudnitz (Roudnice nad Labem)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1039.2	1010.6	9.84	3.71	72.96%	0.150
1890	Miliner(Milín)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1039.4	1010.5	9.89	3.75	73.35%	0.230
1890	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1039.6	1007.0	9.94	4.24	82.32%	0.170
1888	Alt-Pilsener	Schenkbier?	Schenkbier	draught	1039.7	1012.1	9.96	3.58	69.52%
1890	Konopischter (Konopiště)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1040.0	1017.8	10.03	2.86	55.50%	0.140
1890	Jinonitzer	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1040.3	1014.7	10.11	3.31	63.52%	0.120
1894	Unknown	Abzugsbier	Schenkbier	draught	1040.9	1012.0	10.25	3.75	70.66%	0.115
1890	Wrschowitzer (Vršovice)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1042.0	1018.2	10.51	3.06	56.67%	0.180
1895	Bürgerliches Brauhaus in den Kgl. Weinbergen, Prague	Helles gewönhl. Bier	Schenkbier	draught	1042.3	1011.6	10.59	3.98	72.58%	0.098
1890	Actien Brauhaus, Smichov	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1042.4	1016.4	10.61	3.35	61.32%	0.170
1891	Unknown, Pilsen	Pilsener Schenkbier	Schenkbier	bottled	1042.6	1014.8	10.66	3.59	65.26%	0.092
1891	Pracer	Schenkbier	Schenkbier	bottled	1042.9	1012.4	10.73	3.95	71.10%	0.131
1898	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Schankbier	Schenkbier	draught	1043.0	1011.5	10.76	4.09	73.26%	0.112
1890	Pracer	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1043.0	1012.7	10.76	3.93	70.47%	0.170
1894	Unknown	Abzugsbier	Schenkbier	draught	1043.2	1014.5	10.80	3.71	66.44%	0.108
1894	Unknown	Abzugsbier	Schenkbier	draught	1044.7	1016.6	11.16	3.63	62.86%	0.092
1890	Kreuzherrn (Krizovnicka)	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Schenkbier	bottled	1045.5	1020.3	11.35	3.25	55.38%	0.150
1892	Gödinger (Hodonín)	Schenkbier	Schenkbier	draught	1047.6	1018.0	11.85	3.83	62.18%	0.218
1892	Budweiser	Schenkbier	Schenkbier	draught	1047.7	1010.8	11.88	4.80	77.36%	0.258
	Average				1041.3	1013.2	10.33	3.63	68.22%	0.154
Sources:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

I was surprised by how low the gravities were for some of this class. Quite a few are below 1040º and one barely over 1030º. On the other hand, a couple at the top end have gravities more in line with a Lagerbier. Thought the majority are between 10º and 11º Plato. The average gravity is just a touch over 10º Plato, which is about what I'd expect.

You'll note that a lot of the weaker examples are bottled beers. I find it a little that the weakest beers should be bottled.

In common with most 19th-century Lagers, the average rate of attenuation isn't great at 68%. In some examples it's a good bit worse than that, leaving the odd beer under 3% ABV. This really isn't how you usually imagine Lager of the 1800's.

Once again, the average acidity looks high. I'd expect a maximum of 0.1%. Compare this values with these ones from the 20th century:

20th-century Czech Lagers
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Attenuation	Acidity	colour
1935	Pilsner Urquell	Pilsner Urquell	Pils	bottled	1049.4	1013.8	12.28	4.62	72.06%	0.05
1961	Pilsner Urquell	Pilsner Urquell	Pils	bottled	1032.5	1010.9	8.21	2.70	66.46%	0.02	10
1950	Pilsner Urquell	Lager	Pils	bottled	1049	1013.5	12.19	4.61	72.45%	0.08	10.5 B
1950	Pilsner Urquell	Lager	Pils	bottled	1038.9	1010.3	9.77	3.71	73.52%	0.05	11 B
1957	Pilsner Urquell	Pilsner Urquell	Pils	bottled	1036.4	1010.1	9.16	3.41	72.25%	0.04	12
1957	Pilsner Urquell	Pilsener	Pils	bottled	1036.3	1010	9.14	3.41	72.45%	0.04	9
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

What next? How about Pilseners? Using modern Czech terminology, these would be called Světlý Ležák. Or Pale Lagerbier in German. I know. It's very inconsistent as I've also got a group Pale Lagerbiers.

Bohemian Pilseners 1888 - 1894
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	package	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lactic acid %
1894	Mährisch-Neustädter (Uničov)	Lagerbier a la Pilsen	Pilsener	draught	1047.1	1011.1	11.74	4.68	76.43%	0.194
1890	Actien Brauhaus, Pilsen	Flaschenbier served in Prague	Pilsener	bottled	1047.2	1015.8	11.76	4.06	66.53%	0.210
1886	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Pilsener	Pilsener	draught	1047.8	1015.4	11.89	4.19	67.75%
1897	Unknown Pilsen	Original-Pilsener	Pilsener	draught	1048.0	1014.3	11.95	4.36	70.21%	0.242
1890	Unknown Pilsen	Pilsener	Pilsener	draught	1048.1	1013.1	11.97	4.54	72.77%	0.186
1888	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Pilsener	Pilsener	draught	1048.5	1015.0	12.07	4.34	69.07%
1898	Unknown Pilsen	Pilsener (sold in Berlin)	Pilsener	draught	1048.5	1014.3	12.07	4.44	70.52%
1891	Actien Brauhaus, Pilsen	Pilsener (sold in Zürich)	Pilsener	draught	1048.9	1012.0	12.16	4.80	75.46%
1891	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Pilsener (sold in Zürich)	Pilsener	draught	1049.3	1014.6	12.26	4.50	70.39%
1892	Pilsener Export-Brauerei	Pilsener (sold in Bern)	Pilsener	draught	1052.2	1011.1	12.94	5.35	78.74%	0.120
1893	Bürgerliches Brauhaus, Pilsen	Pilsener	Pilsener	draught	1053.2	1013.2	13.18	5.20	75.19%	0.320
	Average				1049.0	1013.6	12.18	4.59	72.09%	0.212
Sources:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

You'll see I've got a few from Pilsen itself. Bürgerliches Brauhaus, I'm sure you realise, is Pilsner Urquell. In terms of gravity and ABV the average is scarily close to modern Pilsner Urquell. Interestingly, four of the 5 strongest examples had been exported abroad.

Attenuation is better than for the Schenkbiers, but still well below the level of modern Lagers. Once again the level of acidity is high, even higher than in Schenkbier.

There are going to be just too many tables if I do all of this in one go. You'll have to wait until next time for the Dark Lagers, strong Lagers and, er, Pale Lagers,