Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Barclay Perkins KK

Do you know the era I’d most like to travel back to? For beer sampling purposes. Just before WW I. Variety and lots of strong beers.

By the Edwardian age, London-brewed Burton was turning to the dark side. Not the foggiest idea why. Before 1880, they were 100% pale malt. After the Free Mash Tun Act they start to change. More choice of ingredients. And though sugar had been legal since 1847, brewers hadn’t used it much. When they did start using it, they acquired far more control over the colour of their beer.

This is the little brother of the unacceptably-named KKK. Which was much the same, but 15 gravity points stronger. By this time Barclay Perkins had dropped KKKK and brewed only two Burton Ales.

The grist is typical of the period 1880 – 1914. Pale and crystal malt, maize and sugar. A Pale Ale grist would have been much the same, just without crystal malt. 10% and 10-15% sugar was pretty standard.

For once the hop additions aren’t a guess. Barclay Perkin occasionally listed them. One of the odd features of brewing logs is that foreign hop varieties are usually named, while only the region or grower is given for UK hops. In this case, EK or East Kent and MK Mid Kent. I’ve interpreted that as Goldings for EK, Fuggles for MK.

It looks a cracking beer. Plenty of hops, but plenty of body, too. Hang on. Wasn’t this, or something similar, the recipe for Pretty Things KK? I believe it was.

1909 Barclay Perkins KK
pale malt	10.75 lb	72.27%
crystal malt	0.50 lb	3.36%
flaked maize	1.50 lb	10.08%
caramel	0.125 lb	0.84%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.00 lb	13.45%
Fuggles 90 mins	3.00 oz
Hallertau 60 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings 60 mins	3.00 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.25 oz
OG	1073
FG	1021.1
ABV	6.87
Apparent attenuation	71.10%
IBU	112
SRM	38
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	90 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

An opportunity

It's sad Pretty Things are no more. I liked both Dann and Martha and their beers.

I particularly liked this recipe of mine they brewed:

I've also lost my long-term US commercial partner. Which is an opportunity for someone out there.

What I'm looking for is a brewery prepared to make four to six historic recipes a year.

Get in touch if you're interested.

A lazy day in DC

Not exactly Washington, really, as Paul and Jamie live in Maryland. But it’s in the DC metropolitan area.

They’ve already left for work when I drag my lazy arse out of bed. Thankfully without the vomiting and diarrhoea I had last time I stayed here. Not a pleasant experience, especially as I had to give a talk that day. Paul and Jamie didn’t poison me, I must point out. Golden Coral was to blame.

Jamie has left coffee and the keys. And explained yesterday how the code for the door works. Meaning I’m not trapped in the house all day. Jamie mentioned a breakfast place in the small strip mall down the road. I trundle down to the quaintly-named Donut King for the usual fry up. I do like a fried breakfast when on my hols.

I notice a couple of people walk by outside with bottles of whisky in their hands. Then I realise they’re also wearing green. It’s St. Patrick’s day. And that there’s a liquor store close by. I’ve been wondering how I’ll spend the afternoon.

Montgomery County Liquor Store is pretty big. A reasonable enough beer selection. I get a four-pack of some barrel-aged rye thing. Which will go nicely with the bottle of Michter's Rye Whiskey.

The afternoon drifts past in a medley of documentary channels and a slow whiskey warming. I haven’t relaxed as much in months. I realise I’m less stressed than before the trip. Then I was worrying about schedules and getting my Williamsburg talk finished. Now all that’s done, I’ve nothing to worry about. I’m not concerned about giving the talk. That’s the fun bit.

It’s quite a long drive down to Williamsburg. It’s after eleven when I check in to my hotel. Paul and Jamie are in another hotel this evening.

Bags dumped I try my luck at the bar. People are still sitting there with drinks, but they’ve stopped serving. Oh well. Guess I’ll have to make do with a final Michter’s.

I expect a busy day tomorrow. Be meeting lots of people, I’m sure.





Donut King
3727 University Blvd W,
Kensington, MD 20895.


Montgomery County Liquor Store
3733 University Blvd W,
Kensington, MD 20895.

Offilers of Derby

You know what time it is? Time for more from Anthony Avis.

His book really is a diamond mine of gems about brewery owners. They seem to have been a very odd bunch. I wonder if that was something peculiar to the brewing trade or if other long-established industries were similar? Hard to tell, as I don’t know of a similar book about other trades.

The topic is another takeover by CUB, this time Offilers of Derby. Another old brewery inherited by feckless heirs:

“OFFILERS BREWERS AMBROSE STREET, DERBY
The brewery had been established as Vine Brewery in 1876 by George Offiler and the company, set up in 1892, was still controlled by members of the Offiler family when I first knew it in the early 1960s. The board consisted of two Offilers and a couple of others. It was run by two cousins, H C Offiler, who was chairman and managing director; and F H Offiler, who looked after production and the tied estate, with a particular interest in setting up small hotels with residential and catering facilities in and around Derby. It was one of the sleepiest brewery companies I had so far experienced, even in an era of comatose management. The two of them did not seem to bother what happened, so long as they could draw a reasonable income and pursue their own private interests.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, pages 79 - 80.

You’ll learn later what prompted F H Offiler’s interest in hotels and what his private interests were. Treating a brewery as a handy source of income while not really guiding or developing the business is a common theme.

They didn’t even seem very interested in brewing beer:

“They were sufficiently indifferent to their prosperity as to contemplate giving up brewing and buying their beer in from a neighbour. Both Bass and Ind Coope & Allsopp had protective shareholdings, and were content to leave it alone. Offilers had about 250 public houses in and around Derby and spread out to the south; their beer was pleasant. They did not like Ind Coope, which had had the temerity to buy Pountain's brewery in Derby ten years earlier, when H C Offiler had thought it was his fish to catch. So he made an approach to Bass, which thought the purchase tag was too high; and as they say, one thing led to another beyond their initial intentions; and soon they were talking to Derek Palmar, when he was a director of Philip Hill, Higginson, Erlanger, City merchant bankers. They found they were receiving advice to sell out to CUB; by coincidence, he, er, happened to be its financial adviser too. Within a very short space of time an offer had been made, and Offilers were swept into CUB. Within two years they had been closed down - which was not quite what the Offilers had in mind; but this was 1965.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 80.

250 pubs was a decent tied estate. There used to be dozens of breweries that size in England, but many disappeared during the takeover fever of the 1950’s and 1960’s. What happened shows the danger of arousing the interest of a big brewery. Though that Derek Palmar was working for both Offiler’s and CUB does rather seem a conflict of interest. I’m sure he did very nicely out of it.
As you can see below, Offilers was a profitable business:

“OFFILERS' REPORT
Brewery profit of £82,474
A NET  profit of £82,474 for the year ended September 30 will be reported by the directors of Offiler's Brewery Ltd. Derby, at the 61st annual meeting of the company to be held the Midland Hotel, Derby, on January 8.

To the net profit there has to be added the unappropriated balance brought forward from 1949 amounting to £137,290, making a total of £219,764.

DIVIDENDS
Out of this the directors have declared dividends on the "A", ' B" and "C" Preference stocks amounting, after deduction of income tax, to £4,620, and an interim dividend of ten per cent. actual, amounting, after deduction of income tax, to £13,200, on Ordinary stock.

From the available balance of £201,944 the directors recommend the transfer of £35,000 to general reserve, and the payment of a final dividend of 15 per cent, actual, free income tax, on the Ordinary stock, amounting to £19,800, the unappropriated balance to be carried forward is £147,144.

Mr. F. R. Offiler, one of the directors, retires by rotation and offers himself for re-election.”
Derby Daily Telegraph - Saturday 16 December 1950, page 6.

The brewery seems to have been drifting rudderless:

“As usual, I had been sent over to their brewery to organise their integration into CYB and found the set up there fascinating. It was feudal, dormant, and without energy, sense of purpose, or direction. It was difficult to get figures or lists, or worthwhile information; not because there was obstruction, but the data, in modern jargon, was not assembled. I did the necessary tour of the properties in order to write a terrier, and it was interesting to gather up the information.”
"The Brewing Industry 1950 - 1990", by Anthony Avis, 1997, page 80.

Not the most go-ahead sort of place, then.

Random Dutch (beers part twenty-four)

It's Sunday now. Been quite a productive weekend. Done lots of writing. Plus less glamourous stuff like filling in expense reports.

The Sunday joint is in the oven. Leaving a little time to try more random Dutch beers. Starting with another from Brand. Another of their modern style beers.

Brand Saison 6.5% ABV
Pale yellow in colour. Pretty much the exact shade of healthy wee. Bit of hop and fruit in the aroma. Then cloves again in the mouth with a vague hoppiness somewhere. It tastes like a more watery version of their Lentbock. Which is odd, given they're the same strength. Not a fan of this one.

Have to rush to finish it. As I need some Abt for the gravy. Need to crack open a bottle of that sharpish.

Almost forgot. Here's the technical spec, courtesy of the Brand website:

OG Plato	12.5º
ABV	6.50%
Bitterness EBU	19
Fermentation	top
Colour EBC	8

You'll have to excuse me if I dance around in my chair for the next one. Got Propellerheads pumping through the headphones. Hard to sit still.

It's another Saison. Craft Beer, as it reasuringly says under the nudey lady's left leg.

The Sisters Worker Saison 9.4% ABV (€3.05 for 33 cl.)
WTF? A Saison over 9%? When I were a lad, they were half that. Not that I'm complaining. I'm in a bit of a post-prandial dip and the extra whoomph should help. Short term. Then it'll help knock me out. Double win! It tastes like - forgive me my style Nazi sins - like a Triple. But what does a Saison taste like? Always seemed very vague to me. More a loose concept than anything more concrete.

Concrete reminds me of something. Setting concrete. The feeling you get in your stomach when you know puking is inevitable. Just a question of when.

Seems a good place to stop.

Bottled beer in the 1950’s – Bright Bottled Beers (part thirteen)

How exciting. The beer is finally about to be filled into bottles. But not quite yet.

Though it usually didn’t go directly to the filler. There was one final tank for it to sit in.

“After filtration the beer passes to the filling machines, either direct or via a bright beer tank. In some cases a small ballast tank is used between filter and filler; this serves to give a margin of safety for interruptions in either process and compensates for any lack of synchronization. Some filters have an arrangement for recirculation of the beer should there be a stoppage in the filler.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 344.

Makes sense. If the filter and filler weren’t running at the same pace, you’d have problems without some sort of intermediate storage.

As with everything else in the brewery, the filler required thorough cleaning:

“If sterile filtering is relied upon to give beer which will have an adequate shelf life, then the filter and all plant subsequent to it will need very careful sterilization. The mains between filter and filler and the filler itself need very thorough sterilization with a flow of hot liquor (180º or higher) for 15-20 minutes. This can be passed through filter and mains to the filler. If the filler is suitable for steam sterilization it should be steamed thoroughly for 15-20 minutes, but not all fillers can be steamed and in such cases hot liquor has to suffice. In between bottling the mains should be thoroughly cleaned from sludge and deposit, and whenever there is a long interval, such as over the week end, it is an extra safeguard to fill mains and filler with a solution of an antiseptic such as one of the quaternary ammonium compounds, which are very effective.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, pages 344 - 345.

Sterile filtering saved you the trouble of pasteurisation. The downside was that everything after the filter needed to be sterile. Not just clean, but sterile. Any trace of bacteria could cause havoc with the beer in the bottle.

But at least you could run scalding water through the filler. Bright beer tanks were trickier:

“The bright beer tank presents a rather more difficult problem for sterilization. Some tanks are so constructed and positioned that they can be steamed out to a sterilizing temperature, but in the majority of cases tins is not possible either by reason of their construction or because an excessive amount of steam would be necessary to raise the temperature of a vessel in a cold room, and if the tank is not separately heat-insulated the temperature of the cold room might be affected. ”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 345.

Sadly, it wasn’t usually that simple, seeing as bright beer tanks were mostly in cooled rooms. In which case only the chemical option was left:

“Therefore most bright beer tanks have to be chemically sterilized either by filling them or spraying them with a solution made of hypochlorite or quaternary antiseptic. Special attention should be paid to the cleanliness of all tanks to be used as bright beer tanks (unless the beer is to be subsequently pasteurized), particularly with respect to deposits around internal fittings, paying particular attention to the rubber washers on the fittings and to the manhole rubber. The latter should be replaced if it becomes cracked or porous and should be removed each time after use and given an antiseptic soak. Where internal fittings have not been dismantled for a long time it is a wise plan to strip them completely, clean up any sludge or deposit, and renew the rubber washers. Special vessels should be kept for bright beer, never being used for unfiltered beer. Finally, the rinse water used after cold sterilization should be free from infection; sometimes this may need to be chlorinated at not exceeding 0.5 p.p.m., although many bottlers would object to the use of chlorinated water for this purpose, on the grounds that it might flavour the beer.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 345.

Blimey that sounds fiddly. And all you need would be for one employee to sneeze on one of the bits and you could be buggered. With some many different bits to worry about, and the need for sterile rinsing water, there are loads of places it could go wrong. And you’d only need one to infect every bottle.

I had been thinking sterile filtering was a good idea. Don’t think I’d try it in a brewery of mine. Not that I’ll ever have one. I’m far too lazy and broke for that.

As I said above, loads more to come. Next, special instructions for filtering Stout.

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Time to complete the whole Mega Book Series  -   Porter!, Mild! plus, Bitter! and Strong! Be the first in your town with the full set.


Barclay Perkins Bookstore

Brand beers in 2016

Hi there. Another cheap post, courtesy of some other crap I was doing today.

It's still Saturday. But a bit further through the afternoon. And after the Lentebok tasting earlier, I'm three Boks in. Though they were only 30cl bottles. While the Abt I followed them with was a full 33cl. At the same time staring at a bottle of New Glarus Milk Stout that really should get drunk. It's a present from an American friend.

The day is going well. I loaded up at Ton Overmars earlier. Found the blogposts I needed. Started the article. Soaked off some labels. Scanned labels. And went outside to look at the garden with Dolores. In particular, the woodruff she's growing. Which she'll use to make Meibowle*.

This is going great. More irrelevant personal trivia filling the screen. I was going to say that it beats tracking and trapping numbers. But I did a bit of that today, too. Scraping data from Brand's website. Which handily lists some useful technical information. For number fetishists like me.

There. I've said it out loud. Me and numbers have a complicated relationship. But a loving one. From my side. Not sure about those bastard numbers. Never totally trusted them. Always likely to make you look like a fool.

Interesting days for Dutch beer. I hear the non-Pils part of the market has hugely increased its market share.  I wish I had figures, but I'm in lazy-arse bash out the posts mode. There's plenty of circumstantial evidence. Like the number of breweries. The beers you see on supermarket shelves. And what some of the older breweries are making:

Brand beers in 2016
Beer	Style	OG Plato	ABV	Bitterness EBU	Fermentation	Colour EBC
Oud Bruin	Oud Bruin	8.2º	3.50%	16	bottom	105
Pilsener	Pils	11-12º	5.00%	25	bottom	7
Weizen	Hefeweizen	12º	5.10%	12	top	12
UP	Pils	12-13º	5.50%	36	bottom	7
Lentebock	Heller Bock	16º	6.50%	24	top	15
Imperator	Heller Bock	16º	6.50%	27	bottom	30
IPA	IPA	16.3º	7.00%	45	top	19
Dubbelbock	Dubbelbock	18º	7.50%	27	bottom	65
Sylvester		17.5º	7.50%	26	top	50
Zwaar Blond		18.4º	8.50%	36	top	12
Saison	Saison	12.5º	6.50%	19	top	8
Source:
Brand website http://www.brand.nl

An idiosyncratic bunch. There can't be many breweries with a Dutch-style Oud Bruin, Dubbelbock, IPA and Saison in their range.

One thing that really struck me is the vagueness of the Pils OG's. Most are quite precise. Odd that. Really shocked that more are top- than bottom-fermented.

I would expand more on Brand's beers. But we need to saw the top off the neighbours' conifers. Be quite a surprise for them when they come back from their long weekend.

First bin liners.




* A punch made of woodruff-infused white wine and sparkling wine.

Definition of a public bar

This is one for Boak & Bailey. The simple definition of a public bar in 1950.

"But the laugh of the day came when Mr. Eric Hallas, outside manager for Offiler's Brewery, Ltd., was asked to define a public bar. His technical explanation obviously still left the justices slightly puzzled, so the Clerk (Mr. H. Wilfrid Skinner) helped out.

"Is it not the difference between spittoons and no spittoons?" he asked.

"Exactly," agreed Mr. Hallas."
Derby Daily Telegraph - Friday 23 June 1950, page 4.

I wonder when that changed? I can't ever remember seeing a spittoon in a pub. And I always used to hang around in the public bar.

Albany to DC

The day starts with the traditional plate full of fried things. Washed down with coffee.

I check out and Craig picks me up. He drives me to the train station and we say our goodbyes. Albany has been fun.

I’ve a little time before my train and take the opportunity to stock up on supplies for the journey. I had been planning just getting water. Until I notice that they’re selling beer. I buy a couple of bottles which are placed in classy brown paper bag. Adds to the atmosphere, I find.

Noticing that the train is crowded, I walk right to the front, past the buffet car. Where there’s a little more room. I whip out my flip flop and start tucking into Fresh Meat. That’ll make the journey go quicker. And the Laphroaig. Nothing shortens a journey like whisky.

The train service isn’t that bad. We rollock along at a reasonable pace, about the same as a Dutch Intercity. The seats are wide, the legroom generous and there’s free wifi. Could be a lot worse.

I’ve an hour or so between trains at Penn Station. I can’t be arsed to drag my bags outside so plop down at the bar closest to the platform, TGI Friday. I’ve been here before. Last time I was waiting for a train here. It’s not great, but does have a couple of decent beers. And whisky. But it isn’t cheap.

The train to Washington is even more crowded than the last. But I find some space and settle in for some more TV. The scenery isn’t quite as distracting as the Hudson Valley. Rust Belt is the phrase that comes to mind. Quite literally. The side of the railway is dotted with crumbling factories.

Paul and Jamie were supposed to be picking me up from the station in DC. But the metro has been closed down today for emergency repairs. Instead we’re meeting in Right Proper, a new production brewery. I grab a cab and head over that way.

Right Proper is run by Nathan Zeender, who greets me on arrival. We’ve met before. Paul and Jamie rock up a little later and Nathan gives us a spin around the Brewhouse. It has all the usual shiny things. But also a rather attractive row of wooden foeders.

We have a couple of beers then head off for some food. Italian-style food, just down the road. It’s quite nice, but I’m starting to tire.

Back at Paul and Jamie’s we have a whisky slumber chaser before climbing the stairs to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be a rare quiet day. Hanging around Paul and Jamie’s while they go to work. I’m quite looking forward to it.





TGI Friday

Right Proper Brewing Company
920 Girard St NE,
Washington, DC 20017.
Tel: +1 202-526-5904
http://www.rightproperbrewing.com/

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1868 William Younger DBS

Time for another Scottish recipe. Especially as I forgot to post a recipe last week. Apologies for that. A pure oversight on my part. Though the extra Saturday recipes I threw in mean I’ve still averaged more than one a week so far.

Though Scottish brewers all made Porter and Stout, it was never as important a product as for many of their English colleagues. Especially those in London. William Younger had three: Porter, Bottling Porter and DBS. The first two were both pretty weak, 1041º and 1046º, respectively. All three were brewed in small quantities,  far less than most of their Scottish Ales, Strong Ales and Pale Ales.

I assume this was for a combination of factors. A limited market in Scotland for Stout. But also what they could sell in export markets. Scottish brewers were famous for Strong Ales and Pale Ales and these were what they sold to England and beyond. While in these markets London and Irish brewers controlled the Stout trade.

The grist is very different to a London Stout. There’s no brown malt, something that appeared in every London Porter and Stout from the 18th century to the 1970’s. But there is amber malt, something you mostly only saw in the better quality London Stouts. Whereas Irish Stouts were usually just pale and black malt.

Younger DBS is also weaker than London Stouts of the period. Truman’s weakest Stout, Running Stout, had an OG of 1070º. Whitbread’s, SS, an OG of 1082º. Barclay Perkins BSt 1089º.

But there’s one thing that makes this brew very special. It also appears in the personal brewing book of Carl Jacobsen, son of Carlsberg’s founder. A couple of years later he was brewing his own beer called DBS back in Copenhagen. With an OG of 1077º, his was a bit stronger than Younger’s. And the grist was a little different:

2 pale
9 amber
1 patent
3 brown

Quaint that Jacobsen still listed the grain quantity in Imperial quarters. I was more shocked to see that even in 1932 Carlsberg Porter, the successor to DBS, still contained 21% brown malt. Who would have expected that?

Nothing left but the recipe itself . . .

1868 William Younger DBS
pale malt	12.25 lb	81.67%
amber malt	1.75 lb	11.67%
black malt	1.00 lb	6.67%
Poperinge 90 min	2.75 oz
Goldings 60 min	2.50 oz
Saaz 20 min	2.50 oz
OG	1062
FG	1014
ABV	6.35
Apparent attenuation	77.42%
IBU	85
SRM	31
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	185º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	62º F
Yeast	WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

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Random Dutch (beers part twenty-three)

The calendar is telling me it's Spring. As are the shops: I spotted thres Lente (Sprong) Boks this morning in Dirk's Trousers*. Seems like a good idea to give them the old taste test. Or whatever these posts are.

But first a word about blogging. Boak & Bailey mentioned what an absolute no-no blogging about blogging was. Which immediately prompted me to have a go at it. Yes, I really am like a nine year old in many ways.

It's early Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting at my computer trying not to get distracted by all the flowering bulbs in the patch of mud and moss we call our lawn. Saturday is a good time for me to blog. Plenty of time. And I'm not knacked, as I usually am in the evening.  Of course, in insisting on posting every day, I've created not so much a rod as nailed myself to the floor.

This won't be the only post I write today. My Saturday goal is three or four. Enough to keep the pressure off at the start of next week. Once I've a couple of beers in me, I'll start on the next instalment of my trip report. The words flow more freely when oiled a little.

Erm. Reading that back, I can see Boak & Bailey's point. Deathly dull, isn't it? Much like most of my life. It's not half as exciting as you might imagine. Mostly it's boredom and stress. I've got a couple of trips that still need organising and booking. An article I haven't started due in a week. Recipes for a few collaboration beers that I need to write. Expense forms to fill in. Invoices to write. Non-stop glamour, really.

Enough of that bollocks. Time to get on with the beer reviews sketches. Oh, one last thing. For an article I'm writing, I needed a couple of quotes that I knew I'd blogged. Another reason posting every day is a pain: I've notched up more than 4,000 posts since I started in 2007. Finding one specific post is quite a problem. Tracking down two is even harder. It took me most of the morning.

Right, I really am starting the beer description rubbish now.

Grolsch Lente Bok 6.5% ABV
Crystal clear and an attractive shade of pale gold. Slightly perfumed smell, but little aroma, really. Sweet and fruity in the mouth. With a little bitterness and hop flavour on the back end. At least it asm't ridiculously sweet like their Autumn Bok. A little too sweet for my taste, but reasonably balanced. I'd drink it again.

Lente Bok is a relatively recent tradition, only really kicking off in the 1990's. Though I know from labels the at there were occasional Meiboks in the past. It's still nothing as big as Herfst (Autumn) Bok. All the older breweries and many of the recent crop brew a Bok in the Autumn. There's a much smaller field in the Spring.

Brand Lentebock 6.5% ABV
I'm not sure if this is correct, but I seem to remember Brand's being the first Lente Bok. Though then it was called Mei Bock. I wonder what was behind the name change? Extending it's selling season, perhaps. It looks very much like the Grolsch version. But it has more aroma: grass, cloves and a bit of fruit. Like a classy aftershave. The taste is similar to the aroma. I wonder where the clove flavour comes from? Not as sweet and much more characterful than the Grolsch.

Just checked their website. It has some handy details:

OG:	16º Plato
ABV:	6.5 Vol.%
Bitterness:	24 EBE
fermentation:	top fermenting
colour:	15 EBC

Guess the top-fermenting yeast is where the clove comes from. I'm slightly surprised by that. Brand is a Lager brewery and this style is usually bottom fermented.

Hertog Jan Lentebock 7.2% ABV
Looks the same as the others. Interesting - this one smells of clove, too. Seems thinner than the others. Maybe it's attenuated more. The flavours jar a bit. Saccharine sweetness followed by a harsh bitterness. My least favourite of the three. Their website tells me it's top-fermented.

"Mmm. Quite nice." is Dolores's opinion "But I couldn't drink much of it."

There's another post bashed out. And it's not even three o'clock. Plus I've had an idea for another post. A nice, easy, quick one.





* Supermarket Dirk van den Broek.

Albany New York State Museum

I awake feeling slightly less knacked. Slightly. Let’s see if a fry up in the hotel will boost my energy. Failing that, coffee might jerk me into action.

It’s not much of a drive today. Just around the corner, really. To the New York State Museum where Craig works.

He drops me off in the library, where I’m planning on doing a little research. I decide to take a look at a pamphlet published in New York City in 1860 entitled “Sunday Theatres Sacred Concerts and Beer-Gardens”. It’s a clumsily racist work attacking German immigrants for having fun on a Sunday. A reminder that there have always been miserable killjoys, mostly of a religious persuasion.

I spend the morning reading and photographing it. I feel right at home in an archive. It’s become my natural habitat.

Craig picks me up at lunchtime and we walk to Hill Street Café for a beer and a bite. It’s yet another place with an impressive beer selection. Especially considering how small it is. Twenty draughts in total. I eat Quesadillas. Don’t want anything too heavy.

When we’re done eating, Craig takes me around the museum. The oldest state museum in the US, apparently. I’m dead into history, as you might have noticed. And maps, which is lucky as they’ve some good ones of New York City. I can stare at maps for hours.

Craig takes me to his office to meet a few people. And the geology department to look at the bendy rock, which is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. Heavy and hard like you’d expect, but bendy. The bloke in charge shows us some more unusual rocks, which is fun.

Before heading over to Craig’s for dinner, we stop by Lionheart again for a few beers. I can see why it’s Craig’s local. Good atmosphere, good beer, $3 pints during happy hour.

It’s nice to finally meet Craig’s family. But there is one slight problem:

“You’re not allergic to cats, are you?”

“Er, yes. Very. I basically stop breathing. But I’m OK for an hour or two”

The evening ends quite early. I’m in my hotel before 9 PM. Still breathing, which is a big plus.

I take Mr Laphroaig for a final spin before slumping onto my bed.

Tomorrow is another travel day. Train to New York Penn Station, then a connection on to Washington DC. Nothing too strenuous.




New York State Museum
222 Madison Ave,
Albany, NY 12230.
Tel: +1 518-474-5877
http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/


Hill Street Cafe
180 Madison Ave,
Albany, NY 12202.
Tel: +1 518-462-3544
http://www.hill-street-cafe.com/


Lionheart Pub
448 Madison Ave,
Albany, NY 12208.
Tel: +1 518-436-9530
http://thelionheartpub.com/

Bottled beer in the 1950’s – Bright Bottled Beers (part twelve)

It’s hard to remember where I’ve got to in all these endless series. About time for another instalment.

I’m sure you’re all just dying to learn more about kieselguhr filters and their use in the 1950’s. No? What is wrong with you people?

Let’s start with the construction of a kieselguhr filter:

“The kieselguhr filter is of a different construction. In one form it consists of a series of metal discs with central holes, stacked together to form a sort of candle. Small projections upon the sides of the discs result in the formation of very narrow channels between the outer edges of the discs and the edges at the hole. A number of these candles are housed in a totally enclosed cylinder. A definite amount of kieselguhr is mixed to a slurry with beer automatically in a mixing chamber and the mixture is forced edgewise through the discs from their periphery to the centre hole. The kieselguhr builds up in the small interstices between the discs, thus forming an efficient filter. The beer is circulated through the discs until it issues bright and then passes forward in the usual way. Different grades of kieselguhr are available to give either rough or polishing filtration as required.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 343.

That slurry of kieselguhr and beer sounds just lovely.

Searching the internet for kieselguhr, I discovered something even less appetising: that it may be adding arsenic to beer. A researcher at Weihenstephan examined beer for heavy metals and discovered it almost always contained arsenic. He reckons that the source is the kieselguhr used for filtration.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/04/filter-kieselguhr-arsenic-beer

Seems like a good reason to stick to unfiltered beer.

Here’s what happened when the filter was filled with sludge:

“When the build up of deposit from the beer has clogged the filter, the beer is cut off and the filter mass can be readily removed by back-washing with hot water. A fresh filter mass can soon be deposited and filtration commenced again with very little interruption or the process. Different commercial plants have various ways of building up the filter mass, but the principle is the same. Usually the used kieselguhr is thrown away, but suggestions have been made for washing it in hot water or dilute caustic soda to dissolve the beer deposit so that it can be re-used. The most effective use of the earth filter is probably as a roughing filter followed by a plate filter as polisher. Thereby the advantages of the earth filter in dealing with a considerable amount of coarse deposit are combined with the probably greater effectiveness of the plate filter for sterile filtration. A very recent development in filter mediums is the production of a porous sheet made by a special process from polyvinyl chloride (P.V.C.). The sheet is very thin (like paper) but extremely tough, and filtration occurs mainly on the surface and not in the interior channels as in the more usual filter sheets. Consequently the deposit can be washed off and the life of the sheet is claimed to be very long. By the use of special gaskets it can be used in some filter presses originally designed for normal thick sheet filters. There has been little opportunity yet to try it out extensively, but preliminary trials have been very encouraging.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, pages 343 - 344.

Sounds very simple. Wash out the sludge with hot water and add another batch of the beer and kieselguhr slurry. Is it worthwhile washing kieselguhr? If there isn’t a huge amount used every time, unless it was very expensive stuff, I can’t see that it would be worth the trouble of washing it.

Using two different types of filters for rough filtering a polishing seems to make sense in practical terms. I wonder if people still do that? A quick look in Briggs reveals that the use of two filters is not recommended:

"Views vary considerably on the relative advantages of different types of filter. It is difficult to draw firm conclusions but some principles emerge. To avoid losses and to avoid oxygen pick-up, single pass filtration should be used wherever possible. On this basis powder filtration is usually regarded as being superior to sheet filtration."
"Brewing Science and Practice" by Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens, 2000, page 581.

Though both plate filters and kieselguhr filters are still in use:

"Different mechanisms of filtration can be used:

· Sieving or surface filtration in which the particles are trapped in pores in the filter medium and retained in a layer. Filtration quality improves with time but the volume flow decreases continuously.

· Depth filtration in which a separation medium, e.g., kieselguhr is used on a support and which causes the particles in the beer to take a very elongated route through a large surface area. The particles are retained by mechanical sieving because of size and will gradually block the pores in the medium and so reduce flow rate and the particles can also be retained by adsorption as a result of electrical charge effects."

"Brewing Science and Practice" by Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens, 2000, page 575.

Kieselguhr sounds like pretty nasty stuff. Not sure I’d want it in my brewery:

"However this substance is classified as highly dangerous when inhaled and can give rise to the disease of silicosis. Equipment is needed for automatic slitting of bags and transfer to slurry tanks to avoid manual handling. Uncalcined kieselguhr, prepared by drying at 400ºC (750ºF) represents only a moderate risk and is now usually preferred. However, some uncalcined kieselguhr can contain traces of iron and other metals."
"Brewing Science and Practice" by Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens, 2000, page 577.

Finally a mention of centrifuging:

“Centrifuging is also used, mainly on the Continent, instead of filtration, but does not seem to have found much favour in this country.”
"Brewing Theory and Practice" by E. J. Jeffery, 1956, page 344.

Pretty sure that’s no longer true and that centrifuges are now common in the UK.

Still not quite finished with filtration.

Utica (part two)

For lunch we decant to the brewery’s pub, which is on the first floor.

A very attractive, old-fashioned sort of place it is, with dark wooden panelling and an impressive carved bar. The brewery has laid on a buffet of local Italian-ishy food like Utica greens. Craig is well impressed.

“This is real local Utica food. Something else I can annoy Alan with.” Craig says somewhat spitefully.

Fred Matt, the family member currently in charge, joins us for lunch. He’s a friendly, enthusiastic man who is clearly in love with the brewery. You can’t blame him. I’m becoming smitten myself.

Naturally, there’s beer to go with the food. There’s a good selection of Matt’s beer on tap, mostly under the Saranac brand, but there’s also the old favourite Utica Club Pilsener. I go for something IPA-ey. As often is the case when I’m in the US. Unless there’s Mild on offer, obviously. Not that that’s often the case.

After we’ve stuffed our holes, they bring out the old documents that they’ve found. It’s not a huge amount and there are no brewing records. But an inventory record does give away a little about what they were brewing during Prohibition. It lists the stock of various labels during 1931. These are the beers: Pilsener, Wuerzburger, Bock, Brown Stout, India Pale and Export Brew. Wuerzburger, in case you’re wondering, was a sort of Dark Lager. Several breweries seem to have made one.

We venture up into the attic to look at the piles of stuff heaped up there. Furniture, old advertising material, wrecked barrels. All sorts of stuff.

The barrels are particularly interesting. The ones that are falling apart reveal their innards and the function of two enigmatic holes in the head. These lead to a metal coil inside the barrel. Blow me. It’s a sort of in-barrel attemperator. Who would have guessed that?

When we’ve had our fill of the attic, it’s back to look at the remainder of the brewery. We see yet more tanks and more weird old bits of equipment. And the fermenters.

No conicals here, but horizontal oblong fermenters. They used to be open but are now enclosed with stainless steel tops. The danger of CO2 was the main reason for enclosing them. Which is fair enough. CO2 is the biggest killer in a brewery. The historical records are full of sad cases of brewery workers succumbing to suffocation by CO2.

We climb up onto the roof, giving us a wonderful view of the brewery and the town around it. A few years back there was a disastrous fire that destroyed two floors of one of the buildings. They’ve since been removed, leaving the structure two storeys shorter. Fortunately the brewery was able to rise from the ashes.

It’s quite late by the time we finally say our farewells. We’ve spent pretty much the whole day at the brewery. I feel knacked. Must be all that walking up and down stairs.

Back in Albany, we drop off Craig at home then Reed drives me to the Olde English Pub for a meal and a pint. I’m so tired that I knock half of my fried fish onto the floor. Bum.

Reed wants to know what the caramel flavour is at the back of his Fullers ESB.

“It’s the boiled sweet flavour you get when you pasteurise British beer.”

He seems a little disappointed at my explanation.

No need for a Laphroaig eye-closer tonight. I can barely keep them open as I stumble into my room. Exhausted but happy.

Tomorrow I’ve a day in the museum. New York State Museum, where Craig works. Will the fun never end?




The Olde English Pub and Pantry
683 Broadway
Albany, NY 12204

Guinness’s Park Royal Brewery in 1949 – the Cooperage Shops and Refrigerating Plant

It’s taken a while, this series, but the end is in sight. Almost.

We’ve already visited the most interesting bits of the brewery. Well, the bits most are interested in. Me, I have a fascination for the auxiliary bits of a brewery. Like the cooperage shop. And the cooling system.

Breweries of any size repaired – and often made – all their own wooden casks. It made sense, as casks were one of the biggest capital expenditures a brewery made. A brewery like Bass or Guinness owned millions of casks, which needed to be kept in good order and, when necessary, replaced. Landlords weren’t always as careful with casks as they should have been, resulting in damaged or filthy casks.

Making and repairing casks was a labour-intensive business and the cooperage department was often one of the largest in terms of numbers employed.

“The Cooperage Shops.—The cooperage shops are located adjacent to the cask cleansing shed, the machinery and equipment being of more or less standard type. The shops are laid out to cope with all repairs and new casks required for the Park Royal trade.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 55, Issue 5, 1949, page 286.

There’s plenty that needs cooling in a brewery. Some of it obvious, like cooling the wort after boiling and before pitching yeast.

“The Refrigerating Plant.—In common with all breweries the demand for cooling facilities at Park Royal is heavy, the maximum demand in summer being of the order of 5,000,000 B.T.U. per hour, occasioned principally by wort and beer cooling.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 55, Issue 5, 1949, page 288.

I’ve no idea what 5,000,000 B.T.U. means, but it sounds like a lot. Just cooling the 3,000 barrels of wort produced every day must have taken a fair bit of energy.

They had two different types of cold water, at different temperatures.

“There are two sections of the refrigerating plant, one being the chilled water services at 45° F. for wort and beer cooling, and the other a brine service at 25° F. for yeast and gyle cooling. The machines are CO2 compressors of the high-speed single acting vertical totally-enclosed type. The choice of a CO2 system was made on the grounds that in the event of a leakage it would be less harmful than in an ammonia system, although it was appreciated that its higher vapour-pressure characteristic would require a considerably higher operating pressure—1,300 p.s.i.g., in fact; and also that it would be slightly less efficient from the thermo-dynamic point of view than ammonia.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 55, Issue 5, 1949, page 288.

Brine was used in the wort refrigerators or attemperators. Though if you remember, unusually, Guinness’s fermenters weren’t fitted with attemperators.

“The plant for the chilled water services comprises five machines, two of which are capable of eliminating 2,000,000 B.T.U. per hour each when cooling water from 65 to 45° F. with condensing water at 70° F. which is the summer temperature of the direct water. The remaining three machines are capable of eliminating 1,000,000 B.T.U. each under similar conditions. The condensers are of the submerged type, while the evaporators are of the enclosed type, both of steel casings. There is one condenser and three evaporators to each unit. The compressors are direct-coupled to variable-speed motors, those for the large machines being of 200 h.p. and the small machines 100 h.p.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 55, Issue 5, 1949, page 288.

I make that a total capacity of 7,000,000 B.T.U., well more than the peak demand of 5,000,000 B.T.U.

Finally, the brine machines.

“The brine machines are similar to the chilled water plant excepting that there are three machines each of 250,000 B.T.U. per hour capacity, direct-coupled to 50 h.p. motors. Each machine, however, has one condenser and one evaporator. Three brine pumps are provided for the circulation of brine to various sections of the brewery. For charging the installation with CO2 gas, a charging station has been erected outside the main engine room which enables six flasks of CO2 to be charged into the plant at the same time. The charging lines are so inter-connected throughout the plant that gas can be drawn from another machine to assist in the charging of another if necessary, so that during overhaul work it is not necessary to lose any gas as it can easily be transferred to one of the other machines.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 55, Issue 5, 1949, pages 288 - 289.

They’ve lost me there. Why do you need to charge the installation with CO2? I really don’t understand that.

There’s not much left. And pretty obscure stuff at that. Anyone interested in pipes and valves?

Utica (part one)

An exciting day dawns. First with more bacon and not fewer eggs. Before the real fun begins. We’re off to F.X. Matt.

Craig picks me up and I sit in the back. It’s a while before I realise that it isn’t Alan in front of me but Reed.

“Where’s Alan?” I ask.

“He’s gone back to Canada. He was worried by his credit card not working.” Craig replies.

“And miss out on Matt?”

“Yes, I know. He’ll regret it. Especially when I tell him how wonderful it was.”

As will I. No doubt that it will be wonderful. In exactly which way, I'm not sure. But I'm, convinced it will be.

The drive is longer today, leaving Craig more opportunities to fill me in on the history of New York. No complaints from me. History is sort of my thing.

In Utica, there's a little wandering around in circles. They are ever decreasing, which gives me hope. We spot the big Utica Club sign sitting on top of the brewery and, ignoring the insistent satnav, head that way.

We enter through the shop and are soon in the grand entrance hall. Three people are there to meet us: Damon, the regional sales manager, Steve, the pilot brewer, and Rich, a Quality and Innovation guy.

Soon Ben Keene, editor of BeerAdvocate Magazine arrives. I asked if he wanted to tag along, as he lives not far away. And, if I’m honest, because I wanted to meet him. We’ve worked together a while, but never met. No amount of digital contact matches a few hours in the same room.

A glass-faced cabinet full of old Matt bottles clings to one wall. It soon gets closer attention. There are pre-, post- and Prohibition examples.

Then it’s off down a corridor and up in a lift to the brew house. And a very noble one it is, too. With gleaming copper kettles. But also something not quite so stylish.

“Is that a mash filter?” I ask.

“Yes.”

It’s rather an old one, too. I’ve never seen one of those in use before. They were briefly popular many decades ago. Though not so much in the UK, where most of the older breweries I’ve been around are.


There’s no brewing happening today, as they’re performing maintenance on the brew house. Workmen rather than brewers are clambering around the equipment.

They’ve also a designated cereal cooker for the pre-mash of grits. Not seen one of those before, either. Looks like this is going to be a day of firsts.

After a bit of clambering around, we take a look at the huge malt silos. Outside we can see a railway car that’s delivering malt. Craig photographs it.

“It’s from Canada malt. I’ll send the picture to Alan to annoy him.”

And there’s another first. Never been to a brewery that still had an active railway siding.

This place is a maze. We continue to clamber up and down staircases and wander corridors. Next stop is the pilot brewery. It looks very similar in size and form to the kit at the real McCoy I saw yesterday. Sadly, there’s no beer ready to drink.

“That’s why everyone likes stopping by here,” one of our guides says, “the chance to drink beer. Interesting beer, usually.”

More scrambling around later, we’re in the hop store. I’m heartened to see large quantities of English hops, from Charles Faram.

Next is one of the highlights of the day. We’re taken into the room filled with what they call “Lincoln” tanks. So called because they were installed when Lincoln was president. What? They’ve sat here more than 150 years and are still in use? I’m gobsmacked. I’m pretty sure that’s the oldest equipment I’ve ever seen in use at a brewery. Though they aren’t currently used for beer, but for soft drinks.

There’s room after room of storage tanks. All pretty big horizontal affairs. None of them look very new. In fact everywhere I look there’s weird old bits of machinery, occasionally jarringly punctuated by something shinily new.

There are also closed, derelict rooms, filled with ancient, rusting tanks, the floors deep in mud and other gunk.

Just when I think this is a brewery like no other, I spot what’s become a feature of everywhere I visit: oak barrels. Filled with oak-ageing beer. Oddly, it seems atypically modern.

We visit the sample room, where bottles of every batch are kept for a year or so, in case there are complaints from the trade. It’s easy enough to check if there really were problems with a brew or not.

And with that, it’s time for lunch. With none other than Fred Matt himself. But that’s for next time.