What is Kulmbacher?

I chat about Kulmbacher, one of my favourite extinct Lager styles. Strong and heavily hopped - why haven't modern brewers jumped all over this style?

 

Kulmbacher Export 1878 - 1929

A quick post in Kulmbacher, prompted by a Twitter discussion.

First, some hard facts:

Kulmbacher Export 1878 - 1929
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1878	Aktien-Brauerei	Export	1072.9	1022.0	6.61	69.82%
1878	Export-Brauhaus	Export	1059.0	1016.0	5.59	72.88%
1878	Puszta	Export Dunkel	1053.2	1018.2	4.53	65.79%
1879	Eberlein	Export	1070.5	1024.0	6.03	65.96%
1879	Export-Brauhaus	Export	1062.8	1019.3	5.64	69.24%
1879	Kulmbacher Aktien-Br.	Export	1054.5	1017.4	4.80	68.07%
1879	Pätz	Export	1067.5	1021.4	5.98	68.27%
1879	Rizzi	Export	1065.5	1013.2	6.84	79.85%
1879	Sandler	Export	1064.9	1018.2	6.08	71.96%
1884	Aktien-Export-Brauhaus	dunkeles Export	1067.6	1025.9	5.39	61.69%
1884	Export-Brauhaus	Export	1063.5	1023.0	5.24	63.78%
1884	Export-Brauhaus	Export	1063.5	1023.0	5.24	63.78%
1884	Kulmbacher Actien	Export	1068.1	1025.1	5.39	61.56%
1884	Unknown	Export	1052.6	1020.2	4.19	61.60%
1884	Unknown	dunkeles Export	1061.9	1024.0	4.90	61.23%
1885	Kulmbacher	Export	1072.3	1029.8	5.48	57.10%
1887	Kulmbacher	Export	1062.3	1017.5	5.81	70.59%
1890	Aktienexportbierbrauerei	Dunkles	1080.4	1029.2	6.63	63.67%
1890	Kulmbacher	Export	1062.6	1022.8	5.00	63.58%
1891	Aktien-Brauerei	Export	1062.7	1015.5	6.15	75.28%
1891	Aktien-Brauerei	Export	1068.6	1026.2	5.48	61.81%
1891	Unknown	dunkeles Exportbier	1067.6	1023.0	5.78	65.98%
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	dunkeles Exportbier	1076.9	1025.8	6.63	66.45%
1898	Erste Kulmbacher Export-Bierbrauerei	Exportbier	1077.1	1033.6	5.61	56.42%
1898	Unknown, Kulmbach	Dunkles Kulmbacher	1072.3	1029	5.58	59.86%
1929	Kulmbacher Sandlerbraeu	Dunkles	1062.6	1015.8	6.05	74.76%
Sources:
König, J (1903), Bier in Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pp 1101 - 1156, Julius Springer, Berlin.
Wahl & Henius, pages 823-830
Handbuch der chemischen technologie by Otto Dammer, Rudolf Kaiser, 1896, pages 696-697
Brockhaus' konversations-lexikon, Band 2 by F.A. Brockhaus, 1898
Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 166.

Now a recipe that was brewed for the Urban Chestnut historic Lager Festival:

1879 Kulmbacher Export
Munich malt 20L	15.25 lb	96.83%
Carafa III	0.50 lb	3.17%
Hallertau 60 mins	3.50 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	3.50 oz
OG	1065
FG	1018
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	72.31%
IBU	80
SRM	30
Mash Kulmbach method
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	48º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

The Kulmbach method of decoction
Another Bavarian method of decoction from Otto (("Handbuch der Chemischen Technologie: Die Bierbrauerei" by Dr. Fr. Jul. Otto, published in 1865, page 128).

As soon as the water in the kettle reaches 50º C, as much as is needed is put into the mash tun to dough in.

After an hour, when the rest of the water has come to the boil in the kettle, this is added to the mash. The temperature of the mash should be 53.75 - 56.25º C. A small amount of water should remain in the kettle so that the temperature of the mash is correct. Or a small amount of cold water is added to the mash. When, after resting, the wort in the mash tun has cleared, this is run off and boiled in the kettle. After just a few minutes boiling, this Lauter mash is added back to the tun and mashed for 45 minutes. The temperature of the mash should be 71.25 - 72.5º C.

Usually a small quantity of wort is left in the kettle and boiled with all the hops for 10 to 12 minutes (hopfenrösten).

The mash in the tun is left to rest for 90 minutes, then it is drawn off and added to the kettle where it interrupts the rösten.

The wort from the first lot of cold water poured over the grains is usually used for topping up the kettle.

Let's Brew - 1879 Kulmbacher Export

You may have noticed that I've been busy with a new book. And when I say new, I don't mean just a bunc of blog posts stapled together.

Yes, it does contain some blog material. But also a whole load of new stuff. In particular, lots of new Lager recipes, around forty in all. They're a mixture of reconstuctions from brewing text books and analyses and ones taken from real brewing records. This is one of the former

In the early days of Lager brewing outside its traditional central European home, several regional Bavarian styles were imitated abroad. One of these was Kulmbacher.

Even Heineken used to brew this style of strong, hoppy and very dark Lager. But for some reason it quickly fell out of fashion and is today virtually unknown as a style. Which is a shame as I’m sure its bold flavours would go down well with modern drinkers. You could think of it as a Münchener on steroids.

The Kulmbach method of decoction

This is the description of the Kulmbach method of decoction from Otto (("Handbuch der Chemischen Technologie: Die Bierbrauerei" by Dr. Fr. Jul. Otto, published in 1865, page 128).

As soon as the water in the kettle reaches 50º C, as much as is needed is put into the mash tun to dough in.

After an hour, when the rest of the water has come to the boil in the kettle, this is added to the mash. The temperature of the mash should be 53.75 - 56.25º C. A small amount of water should remain in the kettle so that the temperature of the mash is correct. Or a small amount of cold water is added to the mash. When, after resting, the wort in the mash tun has cleared, this is run off and boiled in the kettle. After just a few minutes boiling, this Lauter mash is added back to the tun and mashed for 45 minutes. The temperature of the mash should be 71.25 - 72.5º C.

Usually a small quantity of wort is left in the kettle and boiled with all the hops for 10 to 12 minutes (hopfenrösten).

The mash in the tun is left to rest for 90 minutes, then it is drawn off and added to the kettle where it interrupts the rösten.

The wort from the first lot of cold water poured over the grains is usually used for topping up the kettle.

 

1879 Kulmbacher Export
Munich malt 20L	15.25 lb
Carafa III	0.50 lb
Hallertau 60 mins	3.50 oz
Hallertau 30 mins	3.50 oz
OG	1065
FG	1018
ABV	6.22
Apparent attenuation	72.31%
IBU	80
SRM	30
Mash Kulmbach method
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	48º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

Kulmbacher Art

I can never find out too much about Kulmbacher, a style that’s always intrigued me.

This is a pretty late mention, coming from the 1920’s. Kulmbacher was pretty famous in the late 19th century, but seems to have quickly plummeted to obscurity in the 20th. Not sure why that happened. Perhaps it was all part of dark beers going out of fashion.

Time for me to summarise Olberg:

The foundations for the character of this beer are already laid during the malting process. The germination process is slow and cold. The shoots are well-developed, even if they aren’t that long. Drying is within the limits of the Munich drying method in general and the malt is more highly dried, with the flues either severely restricted or completely closed.

The mashing scheme consists of two thick mashes and one lauter mash. In addition to the highly-dried malt Farbmalz and caramel malt are also used. As highly-dried malts contain less diastase than pale malts, the saccharification temperature of 70º C is held for as long as necessary.

Mashing in is at 35º C, the first thick mash is allowed to saccharify at 70º C, before heating to boiling point and being left to simmer for an hour. When this is added to the remainder of the mash the combined temperature is raised to 52º C. After that there’s the second thick mash which raises the temperature of the combined mash to 70º C and then there’s a lauter mash at 75º C to mash out. Hops are added at a rate of 1.25 pounds per 50 kg of malt and boiled for 3 to 4 hours.

According to an old method from Habich, mashing in is at 50º C and boiling water added to raise the temperature to 54º C. From this a clear wort is run off and brought to the boil then added back to the remaining mash to raise the temperature to 70º C. This temperature is held until saccharification has occurred.

After about 1 to 1.5 hours the remainder of the lauter mash is brought to the boil with hops and boiled for 10 minutes and then interrupted by adding the back the run off wort. The wort boils for 5 hours. Original gravity 16º Balling.
Source: Olberg, Johannes (1927) Kulmbacher Art in Moderne Braumethoden, pp 78-79, A. Hartleben, Wien & Leipzig.

It’s no wonder Kulmbacher was dark if it had a grist of very dark Munich malt, farbmalz and caramel malt. Maybe I should throw together a recipe.

The level of hopping is much lighter than quoted in earlier sources. 1.5 lbs per 50 kg of malt is only around 4.5 lbs per quarter – about the same as a Mild Ale.

Real Kulmbacher

As promised, a look at a real Kulmbacher. Not just a concoction of pale beer and colouring. Or maybe it isn’t quite that simple.

“A sample of Kulmbacher beer delivered to an Institution was, because of its pale colour, which significantly differed from the beer as previously served, suspected of being watered. The analysis showed:

Specific gravity	1.0262
Alcohol	4.76%
Extract	7.35%
Minerals	0.27%
Nitrogen substance	0.62%
Lactic acid	0.27%
Maltose	2.19%
OG	16.36%
Degree of fermentation	55.07%

It was, therefore, a normally composed, content rich Kulmbacher beer whose pale colour was merely due to the fact that the Kulmbacher breweries no longer colour their beer with sugar colouring since the famous verdict of the  Criminal Court in Bayreuth.”
"Übersicht über die Jahresberichte der öffentlichen Anstalten zur technischen Untersuchung von Nahrung und Genussmitteln im Deutschen Reich für das Jahr 1902" by Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt, 1905, page 105. (My translation.)

Now isn’t that interesting? Kulmbacher, as we saw last time, was dark. Very dark. Now we know why: they were darkening it with caramel. I’m just trying to work out how that could ever have been OK in Bavaria, where I thought they were pretty strict about the Reinheitsgebot. Evidently not that strict.

I’m just guessing here, but that Bayreuth court decision looks like it was responsible for the rise of Sinamar, the beer-derived, Reinheitsgebot-compliant caramel substitute.

Looking at the specs, that beer would count as a Bock today, with an OG over 16º Balling and around 6% ABV. Though it was pretty typical for a Kulmbacher of the day. As this table demonstrates (our lad is the last one in the table):

Kulmbacher Export 1884 - 1902
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1884	Aktien-Export-Brauhaus	dunkeles Export	Export Dunkles	0.18	1067.6	1025.9	5.39	61.69%
1884	Export-Brauhaus	Export	Export	0.13	1063.5	1023.0	5.24	63.78%
1884	Unknown	dunkeles Export	Export Dunkles	0.153	1061.9	1024.0	4.90	61.23%
1891	Unknown	dunkeles Exportbier	Export Dunkles	0.137	1065.7	1027.9	4.88	57.53%
1891	Unknown	dunkeles Exportbier	Export Dunkles	0.142	1067.6	1023.0	5.78	65.98%
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	dunkeles Exportbier	Export Dunkles		1076.9	1025.8	6.63	66.45%
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	Monopol-Kulmbacher	Export	0.203	1059.2	1013.1	6.01	77.87%
1902	Unknown	Export	Export Dunkles	0.27	1066.8	1020.2	5.95	69.78%
	Average			0.174	1066.2	1022.9	5.60	65.54%
Sources:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156
"Übersicht über die Jahresberichte der öffentlichen Anstalten zur technischen Untersuchung von Nahrung und Genussmitteln im Deutschen Reich für das Jahr 1902" by Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt, 1905, page 105.

As you can see, the suspicious sample is very close to the average for Kulmbacher Export.

More Kulmbacher or Porter next? It’s so hard to decide.

American beer styles of the 1930’s – colour

As promised, I’m wringing the final drops of moisture out of the wet tea towel that is the Wahls’ "Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint". This time we’re looking at beer colour.

“Color, Clarity and Effervescence
The American public is disposed to judge beer according to visible properties like color, clarity and effervescence. Pale or extra pale beers may seem too dark to some. While dark beers are not generally flavored excepting probably in Bock beer season, that conforms with what we term the Lenten season, they are preferred by some connoisseurs who favor the Bavarian type of lager beer which differs from the light Pilsener generally served, in being of a less bitter type besides differences in color, clarity and effervescence. The color may not only be one of degrees of darkness but may suggest something faulty. It may appeal to the eye as reddish instead of purely dark. The latter characteristic comes naturally from the character of the malt in the process of kiln drying. Exceptionally high kiln dried malt is used in the manufacture of the celebrated Irish Stouts, like Guinness of Dublin. These beers are never reddish although they are very dark and sometimes almost black. This applies also to very dark lager beers, like the Kulmbacher.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, pages 182 - 183.

I think there’s a misprint in there. Pretty sure that should read “dark beers are not generally favored .  . . “.

It’s pretty naïve believing colour in dark beer comes from highly-kilned malt. That’s not even totally true for Germany, where caramel or sinamar were/are used for colour.

Working out the colour of beer in the past is a really tricky. That’s why I’m always glad to see some numbers. Descriptions like “dark” or “brown” really don’t tell you much. So I’m delighted to see some hard figures here.

“Color by Tintometer Scale
Scientifically the color is determined by reference to a color scale established somewhat on the method adopted for the degree of color introduced in laboratory examination tests by the Lovibond Tintometer Method.

To indicate the niceties required by scientific methods and at the same time giving an idea of the differences in color of beer we give the following scale of variation in color from Pilsener to Kulmbacher.

Pilsener......... 0.5— 0.7 cc n/10 iodine solution*
Dortmunder...... 0.7— 1.5 cc "
Wiener.......... 2.0— 3.5 cc   " '
Muenchener...... 3-5— 5.0 cc "
Bock and Salvator. 5.0— 8.0 cc "
Kulmbacher...... 8.0—14.0 cc "
Irish Stout......12.00—18.0 cc "
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 183.

I’m surprised at how relatively pale Muenchener is. Only barely dark, by the look of it. While the bottom of the Vienna range looks yellow rather than amber or pale brown which you would expect. Whereas Kulmbacher, as billed, is near black.

It’s a shame that no American top-fermenting styles are listed. I’d love to know how dark Ales were back then. I suspect paler than British-brewed Ales.

“The color of the wort should be as near as possible that of the beer to be produced. It is described more minutely as light or dark Vienna and light or dark Bavarian. For Vienna beer it is not desirable to use color malt for deepening the color, which cannot be avoided, however, for Bavarian beers. The paler the color of the wort, the shorter should be the time of complete saccharification and the more sugar may and should the wort contain. The Lovibond tintometer is preferred for measuring color but when not available it is customary to determine the color of the wort by comparison with dilution of a tenth normal iodine solution.

* Amount in 100 cc of water.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, pages 183 - 184.

So if you don’t use coloured malt in Vienna Lager how do you get the colour? Pretty sure the stuff about paler wort containing more sugar is total crap.

Pretty sure that’s it for this source. But not to worry. I’ll be starting on a Journal of the Institute of Brewing article next.

American bottom-fermenting styles in the 1930’s (part two)

We’re back again with the Wahls’ book from the 1930’s and its handy description of American styles of the day.

You may have heard of this style of Pale Lager from Central Europe:

“The Bohemian type of lager beer with a light yellow to greenish yellow color with pronounced hop flavor and bitter taste; the malt flavor in this beer is not pronounced; it is usually lively and sparkling; alcoholic content is 3.0 to 3.5 per cent by weight, from worts of about 12 per cent original extract; typical of Bohemian beer is the Pilsener from the city of Pilsen (Plzen) in Bohemia, and also the much favored mild American extra pale beers.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 151.

It’s clear that Pilsener didn’t have the dominant position it later acquired. Though I’ll warn again that the information looks a bit dated to me and doesn’t necessarily reflect the true situation in the late 1930’s.

 I don’t have any analyses of US Pilseners from the 1930’s, but I do have a few German and Czech ones:

German and Czech Pilsener in the 1930's
Year	Brewer	country	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation	OG Plato	ABW
1930	Pilsner Urquell	Czech		1015.1	1049.8	0.69	4.46	68.71%	12.37	3.57
1935	Pilsner Urquell	Czech	0.05	1013.8	1049.4		4.62	72.06%	12.28	3.69
1930	average of 12 samples	Germany		1013.2	1051.5	0.65	4.93	73.34%	12.79	3.94
1930	strongest sample	Germany		1017.6	1054.8	0.81	4.29	66.67%	13.56	3.43
1930	weakest sample	Germany		1009.7	1049.6	0.59	5.10	79.58%	12.34	4.08
1935	Schultheiss Patzenhofer	Germany	0.05	1009	1049.8		5.32	81.93%	12.38	4.26
Sources:
"Van Brouwerij tot Bierglas" by F. Kurris, Doetinchem, 1948, pages 26-27
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001.

An OG of around 12º Plato doesn’t seem far off the mark, but the ABW does. 3.5% to 4% would appear more accurate. The “much favoured” comment implies that very pale and mild Lagers were very popular in the USA. Which, despite the inroads of IPA, is still the case.

Now it’s the turn of one of the early favourites of the bottom-fermenting world, Vienna Lager:

“The Vienna type of lager beer has less pronounced character than either Muenchener or Pilsener types. In point of color, hop and malt aroma, smooth and bitter taste, it takes a place between these two types; alcoholic content of about 3.5 to 3.75 per cent by weight, from worts of about 13 per cent original extract, so named from Vienna (Wien); the most representative product coming from Klein-Schwechat — a suburb of Vienna where Anton Dreher introduced ice cooling of cellars in 1845.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, pages 151 - 152.

Not having any analyses, I can’t comment as to the accuracy of the gravity and ABW quoted. Though it would be hard to generalise in any case because a brewery like Schwechat produced a range of styles with differing strengths.

“The Dortmunder type of lager beer with a very light color like Pilsener from long grown low kiln dried malt; a strong, very pronounced hop flavor; highly and completely attenuated; alcoholic content about 4 to 4.5 per cent by weight, from worts usually of 14.5 per cent original extract; it originated in Dortmund, near the Rhine in Westphalia.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 152.

Let’s see how that stacks up with some real examples:

German Dortmunder Export in the 1930's
Year	Brewer	OG	FG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation	OG Plato	ABV	ABW
1930	average of 14 samples	1054	1012.2	0.73	5.39	76.44%	13.37	5.39	4.31
1930	strongest sample	1057.16	1014.3	0.84	5.58	73.85%	14.11	5.58	4.47
1930	weakest sample	1051.21	1009.4	0.66	5.08	80.88%	12.71	5.08	4.06
Source:
"Van Brouwerij tot Bierglas" by F. Kurris, Doetinchem, 1948, pages 26-27

Once again, the gravity quoted is a bit too high – 13.5º Plato would seem more accurate – though the ABW is about spot on. The attenuation is pretty high, as the book says. Even higher than for Pilseners, which is surprising. Note the colour is pretty much the same as the Pilseners.

Now some other dark Bavarian styles:

“Nurnberger and Wurzburger beers are somewhat darker than Muenchener and slightly heavier brewed. Kulmbacher beer is very dark, almost black, and brewed to 16 per cent original extract with over 4.5 per cent alcohol by weight. Maerzen beer is brewed in November but comes out in March in the Lenten season.   Salvator beers are lighter in color than Muenchener but brewed as strong and stored for months.   Bock beer is somewhat stronger than Muenchener and comes out around Christmas and like Maerzen is given long storage. Its name is not derived from the horned Billy goat usually depicted on advertisement posters but from the brewery of Einbeck near Hamburg. The American lager beers are generally patterned after these typical German beers. The season for Bock beer in America is the month of March.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 152.

Great to have some more details of Kulmbacher. It sounds like a very dark Bock, based on that gravity.

I’m sure he’s wrong about Salvator. It definitely wasn’t a similar strength to ordinary Münchener and I doubt it was paler in colour, seeing as it had a similar grist but higher gravity. Why it’s not mentioned as being a kind of stronger Bock, I just don’t understand. And surely it was Salvator for Lent, not Märzen?

Finally, the USA’s own indigenous Lager style:

“California Steam Beer. This type of beer became popular in San Francisco. It is not a lager beer inasmuch as the brew is run directly from the fermenter into the trade packages (barrels). Krausen is then added to the beer in the trade package and the barrels are bunged and delivered to the taverns and placed on racks where fermentation is completed. At the time of kräusening isinglass is also added which aided in clarification during the short storage upon the tavern's racks. This beer is produced by bottom fermentation yeast and when drawn into the stein is very wild because of the high pressure developed in the barrel, the stein being nearly full with foam. This beer has been evidently brewed for this effect, the customers desiring this particular foamy character.”
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, pages 152 - 153.

There are some handy details there. Racking directly from the fermenter into trade casks is definitely an unusual way to brew a bottom-fermenting beer. It sounds similar in some ways to the American “present use” Ales of the late 19th century which also had a lot of pressure in the trade cask. Kräusening and adding isinglass at the same time – it’s the sort of mix of British and German brewing practices you only really see in North America.

Next time it will be the turn of the top-fermenting styles.

Kulmbach area Export 1878 - 1893

I'm back with analyses from "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel" by Joseph König. Sorry about the delay. There's a good reason.

I've been out in the internet fields harvesting modern beer details. Lots of them. Because I want to make some comparisons between 19th-century and 21st-century Lagers. And because I enjoy collecting data. It's addictive.  I'm building up an impressive set. Which I'm sure we'll have loads of fun with in future.

There's a decent set of beers from Kulmbach and nearby Kitzingen in "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel". Enough to handle them separately.

I'll start with a note on colour. Some are specified as being Helles or Dunkles, but most aren't. However, it being Kulmbach, I'd assume most were dark. Kulmbacher was one of the early Lager styles which was imitated abroad (one of Heineken's early Lagers was a Kulmbacher). From what I can gather, it was darker and bitterer than Münchner.

Let's take a look at the 19th-century samples first.

Kulmbach area Export 1878 - 1893
Year	Brewer	Town	Beer	Style	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lactic acid %	CO2 %
1878	Puszta	Kulmbach	Export Hell	Helles Export	1049.9	1015.3	12.40	4.49	69.34%	0.170	0.227
1878	Gebr. Christ	Kulmbach	Export Hell	Helles Export	1050.4	1015.1	12.52	4.58	70.04%	0.180	0.232
1884	Unknown	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1052.6	1020.2	13.04	4.19	61.60%	0.120	0.130
1878	Puszta	Kulmbach	Export Dunkel	Dunkles Export	1053.2	1018.2	13.18	4.53	65.79%	0.130	0.201
1884	Aktien-Export-Brauhaus	Kulmbach	helles Export	Export Helles	1053.6	1013.3	13.27	5.24	75.19%	0.132	0.140
1879	Kulmbacher Aktien-Br.	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1054.5	1017.4	13.49	4.80	68.07%		0.198
1885	Ehemann	Kitzingen	Export	Export	1056.3	1017.0	13.91	5.10	69.80%	0.210
1878	Export-Brauhaus	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1059.0	1016.0	14.54	5.59	72.88%		0.302
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	Kulmbach	Monopol-Kulmbacher	Export	1059.2	1013.1	14.59	6.01	77.87%	0.203
1884	Unknown	Kulmbach	dunkeles Export	Export Dunkles	1061.9	1024.0	15.22	4.90	61.23%	0.153
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	Kulmbach	helles Exportbier	Export Helles	1062.5	1014.1	15.35	6.31	77.44%	0.150
1891	Aktien-Brauerei	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1062.7	1015.5	15.40	6.15	75.28%
1879	Export-Brauhaus	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1062.8	1019.3	15.41	5.64	69.24%	0.200
1891	Aktien-Brauerei Streitberg	Streitberg	"Löwenbier" (nach Art des Münchener Exportbieres)	Export Dunkles	1064.2	1013.5	15.75	6.63	78.97%
1879	Ehemann	Kitzingen	Export	Export	1064.4	1017.5	15.79	6.10	72.83%	0.230
1879	Sandler	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1064.9	1018.2	15.91	6.08	71.96%	0.230
1879	Rizzi	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1065.5	1013.2	16.05	6.84	79.85%	0.270
1891	Unknown	Kulmbach	dunkeles Exportbier	Export Dunkles	1065.7	1027.9	16.09	4.88	57.53%	0.137
1879	Pätz	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1067.5	1021.4	16.50	5.98	68.27%	0.260
1884	Aktien-Export-Brauhaus	Kulmbach	dunkeles Export	Export Dunkles	1067.6	1025.9	16.53	5.39	61.69%	0.180	0.189
1891	Unknown	Kulmbach	dunkeles Exportbier	Export Dunkles	1067.6	1023.0	16.53	5.78	65.98%	0.142
1891	Aktien-Brauerei	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1068.6	1026.2	16.76	5.48	61.81%
1879	Eberlein	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1070.5	1024.0	17.20	6.03	65.96%	0.280
1878	Aktien-Brauerei	Kulmbach	Export	Export	1072.9	1022.0	17.75	6.61	69.82%		0.300
1878	Unknown	Kitzingen	Export	Export	1074.4	1025.0	18.09	6.41	66.40%
1893	Aktien-Export-Brauerei	Kulmbach	dunkeles Exportbier	Export Dunkles	1076.9	1025.8	18.65	6.63	66.45%
	Average				1062.7	1019.3	15.38	5.63	69.28%	0.188	0.213
Source:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156

There'a a big spread of gravities. The weakest would only just about count as Export today. While the strongest are at Doppelbock level. Mmmm... not sure I can make any sense out of that.

Attenuation isn't as bad as it could have been. With a couple of examples even pushing 80%. The samples identified as Dunkles have a worse than average attenuation - 65.38%. Interesting, but I'm not sure how significant as I don't know how many of the others were also dark.

The lactic acid level is high again. I can't believe any modern Lager would be over 0.05% acidity. I've still not ween enough CO2 measurements to say anything sensible about them. Maybe I should start studying up on carbonation levels. What I can see is considerable variation, from 0.13% to 0.30%.

Now the modern Lagers. Again, they're from Kulmbach and environs.

Kulmbach area beers in 2014
Year	Brewer	Town	Beer	Style	OG	FG	OG Plato	ABV	App. Atten-uation	bitterness
2014	Brauerei Reblitz	Bad Staffelstein	Reblitz-Räucherl	Rauchbier	1049.1	1012.1	12.2	4.80	75.33%
2014	Arnsteiner Brauerei	Seinsheim	Landbier	Export	1049.5	1009.6	12.3	5.20	80.70%
2014	Distelhäuser	Tauberbischofsheim	Kellerbier	Kellerbier	1049.5	1010.3	12.3	5.10	79.18%	25
2014	Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Mönchshof Naturtrübes Kellerbier	Kellerbier	1049.9	1008.5	12.4	5.40	82.96%
2014	Privatbrauerei Kesselring	Marktsteft	Urfränkisches Landbier	Landbier	1049.9	1009.2	12.4	5.30	81.56%
2014	Göller	Zeil am Main	Dunkel	Dunkles	1050.3	1010.4	12.5	5.20	79.43%
2014	Privatbrauerei Gessner	Sonneberg	Alt-Sumbarcher Dunkel	Dunkles	1050.3	1010.4	12.5	5.20	79.33%
2014	Privatbrauerei Kesselring	Marktsteft	Urtyp Export	Export	1050.3	1009.7	12.5	5.30	80.82%
2014	Distelhäuser	Tauberbischofsheim	Landbier	Export	1050.3	1011.1	12.5	5.10	77.94%	22
2014	Distelhäuser	Tauberbischofsheim	Export	Export	1050.3	1010.4	12.5	5.20	79.33%	22-23
2014	Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Kulmbacher Export	Export	1050.3	1008.9	12.5	5.40	82.31%
2014	Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Mönchshof Landbier	Landbier	1050.3	1008.9	12.5	5.40	82.31%
2014	Brauhaus Leikeim	Altenkunstadt	Landbier	Landbier	1050.3	1008.9	12.5	5.40	82.31%
2014	Göller	Zeil am Main	Kaiser Heinrich Urstoff	Spezial	1050.3	1010.4	12.5	5.20	79.43%
2014	Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	EKU Export	Export	1050.7	1009.4	12.6	5.40	81.57%
2014	Püls-bräu	Stadtsteinach	Weismainer 1798er Kellertrunk	Kellerbier	1051.2	1011.2	12.7	5.20	78.11%
2014	Seinsheimer Kellerbräu	Seinsheim	Kellerbier	Kellerbier Dunkel	1051.2	1013.4	12.7	4.90	73.81%
2014	Seinsheimer Kellerbräu	Seinsheim	Rauchbier	Rauchbier	1051.2	1013.4	12.7	4.90	73.81%
2014	Kulmbacher Brauerei	Kulmbach	Tradition	Dunkles	1051.6	1011.6	12.8	5.20	77.51%	24
2014	Göller	Zeil am Main	Rauchbier	Rauchbier	1053.7	1010.8	13.3	5.60	79.98%
2014	Braugasthof Grosch	Rödental	Grosch Fuhrmannstrunk	Dunkles	1054.1	1011.9	13.4	5.50	78.02%
2014	Distelhäuser	Tauberbischofsheim	Spezial	Spezial	1054.6	1013.8	13.5	5.30	74.71%	26
	Average				1050.9	1010.6	12.6	5.2	79.11%	24.3
Source:
Relevant brewery websites

You can see not many are actually called Export. There's Dunkles, Landbier, Spezial, Rauchbier and Kellerbier in there. The ones called export cover a very narrow gravity range, from 12.5 to 12.6º Plato. Basicaly I've put together a set of beers stronger than Helles or Pils, but weaker than Märzen. That's not so unreasonable, is it?

As you'd expect, the attenuation is better than in the 19th-century samples, around 10 points higher at 79%. There's not one under 70%.

There's a fair mix of different-sized breweries represented. Kulmbacher being pretty big - 2,259,000 hl in 2013* - Braugasthof Grosch pretty small - 3,000 hl in 2013**.

People take the piss out of British cask beer all being in the range 3.6% to 4.2% ABV. But German Lager isn't any better. That's mostly between 4.8% and 5.4% ABV.

More Exports to come. Obviously.





* Brauerei-Addressbuch 2014/15, page 101.
** Brauerei-Addressbuch 2014/15, page 137.