More on Karamelbier

More quotes from Schönfeld's wonderful book on top-fermenting beer from the 1930s. translated by me (with some help from Google Translate).

 I've not quite finished with Karamelbier. This time looking at the specific type of sugar used to flavour it.

 "The character of the added sugar is also not insignificant for the flavour profile. As is well known, the sweetness of the same increases with an increasing content of mineral salts up to a certain limit, beyond which a more and more salty-bitter taste is added. It is the chlorides of alkalis and alkaline earths present in the beet that are concentrated in the syrup and are not removed during the first crystallisation, but are attached to the sugar crystals, especially during the last crystallisation of the byproducts. These not extensively refined sugars also contain other, organic, partly colored, partly uncolored co-formulants, so that instead of being pure white they have a yellow to yellow-brown or even brown color. They are ideal for sweetening malt beer and are also enthusiastically used by breweries, provided that they are allowed under the Beer Tax Act (Biersteuergesetz), according to which sugars are permitted whose mineral content does not exceed 0.75%. Sugars that come close to this limit, however, have a clearly stronger sweetness than the purest refined versions."
"Obergärige Biere und ihre Herstellung" by Dr. Franz Schönfeld, 2nd edition, Verlag von Paul Parey, Berlin, 1938, page 137. 

 We learn that beet sugar was employed. And not very pure beer sugar at that. It doesn't sound like the sugar is being inverted, simply crystallised. Is it true that certain impurities make sugar taste sweeter? Can't remember hearing about that before.

The description of the colour doesn't make it sound very attractive stuff. More dirty. But I suppose that in a dark beer you weren't really going to notice. Ot would be a different matter in a pale beer.

Karamelbier seems to have given a new impetus to top fermentation, getting it into what had previously been Lager-only breweries. So why not bottom ferment Karamelbier? Because it wasn't allowed under the Reinheitsgebot. Sugar was only permitted in top-fermenting beers.

"With Karamelbier, top fermentation, which had sunk more and more to insignificance and could almost only be kept in medium-sized and smaller companies, was able to emerge from this relapse and to conquer an equal place in its technical development alongside bottom fermentation. Because with the Karamelbier it could and had to find its way into the larger and larger companies, from which it had been closed until then, and which now, due to its highly developed technical equipment of top fermentation, allow the care and expedient treatment it requires to the same extent as with bottom fermentation.

This upward trend was not limited to Karamelbier. At almost the same time, top fermentation began to take off in another special area. It was top-fermented bitter lager, to which the customers were more inclined and which now also gave rise to a stronger stimulation of top fermentation."
"Obergärige Biere und ihre Herstellung" by Dr. Franz Schönfeld, 2nd edition, Verlag von Paul Parey, Berlin, 1938, page 137.

That last paragraph is fascinating, hinting, as it does, about another type of top-fermenting beer that was on the up: Bitter Lagerbier. Or, as it would be called today, Kölsch or Alt. Two beers I would dearly love to learn more about. Especially their origins. I'll be getting around to that fairly soon.

Beers sweetened with sugar (Karamelbier)

It's been far too long since I posted anything from Schönfeld's "Obergärige Biere und ihre Herstellung". Having been rather distracted by working on the forthcoming book on WW II.

Today we'll be looking at another type of sweetened beer, Karamelbier. One sweetened with sugar rather than artificial sweetener. It's a type of beer which is still produced, I believe, though in tiny quantities.

I'm surprised to discover that the original production method left yeast in the beer. Which seems awfully dangerous in a beer containing lots of highly-fermentable sugar.

"c) Beers sweetened with sugar (Karamelbier)
If sweetener-sweetened beer owes its origin to the war, sugar-sweetened Malzbier (Karamelbier) appeared around 16 years earlier. The original method of production, which is still used, consists, if it is bottled beer, of adding sugar to the beer after fermentation (vat fermentation), then it is filled into bottles and, after sufficient sediment has formed, further fermentation is prevented by pasteurisation.

The formation of sediment can be accelerated by the application of heat, which is often done, and can easily be carried out in such a way that the bottles are either brought into warm rooms or straight into the pasteurisers, which have been appropriately warmed up.
"Obergärige Biere und ihre Herstellung" by Dr. Franz Schönfeld, 2nd edition, Verlag von Paul Parey, Berlin, 1938, page 135 - 136.

I guess pasteurisation would effectively avoid any bottle bombs. Newer methods of making Karamelbier sought to remove yeast from the equation:

"Soon, however, the goal became apparent to fill the sugar-sweetened beer into bottles and containers without yeast. Some proceed in such a way that they transfer the beer into a storage barrel after the sugar has been added and stop the secondary fermentation early when the beer is sufficiently saturated with carbonic acid, and then filter it. Others first filter the lagered beer and transfer it onto tanks into which the sugar solution has previously been poured. Still others add the sugar solution to the shipping barrel before the beer is drawn off.

By means of cold storage and careful filtration, the beer can be made

to contain so little yeast that,

despite its high sugar content, it can still be kept for 8 to 10 days as a draught beer, so that for customers not too distant from the brewery can be supplied without it being pasteurised, without the risk of it becoming "wild" through a vigorous secondary fermentation. Of course, the landlord also has to ensure that it is kept cool. He must not have the barrel lie under the tap for too long. He must be careful to pour the beer quickly. In accordance with sales, he should order the appropriate sizes of barrel and order smaller barrels from the brewery rather than larger ones.

The unpasteurised beer is not suitable for shipping over long distances or for longer storage at the pub. The high sugar content, provides favorable conditions for the growth of yeast, and with increasing growth the attack on the easily-fermentabe sugar increases. It is therefore one of the most important measures to bring the beer to the shipping barrel as bright as possible and thus with as little yeast as possible. But not only this, but also to transfer it with the highest possible carbonic acid content, since the carbonic acid counteracts the yeast's growth; though it is unable to stop it completely."

"Obergärige Biere und ihre Herstellung" by Dr. Franz Schönfeld, 2nd edition, Verlag von Paul Parey, Berlin, 1938, page 136. 

I'm surprised that Karamelbier was sold on draught. Especially given what sounds like an inherent instability. I've never heard of it as anything other than a bottled beer.

Does CO2 really inhibit yeast growth? Never heard of that one before. Wouldn't that bugger bottle conditioning in a beer like Duvel?

"It is therefore necessary, especially with bottled beer, whether it contains yeast or not, to ensure shelf life by pasteurisation. A sufficient level of safety is achieved by a temperature of 70-72º C, which must be maintained for one hour. Rapid cooling is not required. Experience has shown that it is more expedient and more advantageous for the beer to cool slowly, which is why certain devices, e.g. the vapour pasteuriser dispense with water cooling, but rather pull the cart loaded with the bottles out of the chambers shortly after the pasteurization and let the air in the room do the cooling.

The slow cooling has a beneficial influence on Malzbier in that it enhances the roasted, malty, bready taste that is valued in Karamelbier."

"Obergärige Biere und ihre Herstellung" by Dr. Franz Schönfeld, 2nd edition, Verlag von Paul Parey, Berlin, 1938, pages 156- 137.

I wonder why slow cooling enhanced the malt flavours? Is that why UK pasteurised beer tasted so bad? Was it cooled too quickly.