PDA

View Full Version : Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Traditional North German Beers



Blog Tracker
28-06-2013, 08:13
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/06/traditional-north-german-beers.html)


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KKbGAWPLV74/UclrqOPASoI/AAAAAAAARTg/z-ZyOSnc2f0/s400/Brauerei_Konigsee_Malzbier_1952.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KKbGAWPLV74/UclrqOPASoI/AAAAAAAARTg/z-ZyOSnc2f0/s1600/Brauerei_Konigsee_Malzbier_1952.jpg)
We're still with Narziss's article on the Reinheitsgebot, but this time looking at top-fermenting beers rather than Lagers.

I'll let Narziss speak first:


"3.1.2. Sugar is permitted in North Germany for the traditional top fermented 'Malt Beers'. Today these beers are brewed with 100% malt to a gravity of 8% and fortified after a limited fermentation and filtration by sugar to 12% gravity. The dark colour is adjusted or corrected by sugar caramel (roasted sugar without ammonia). They are not allowed to be sold in Bavaria as 'Beers', only as 'malt-beverages with sugar". Originally they had to be filled into bottles which could be clearly distinguished from beer bottles. After the Eurobottle was used for softdnnks and even wine (the Vichy bottle as well), this issue has been weakened, it is quite obvious, that even in Germany, there are different regulations, varying from country to country, according to tradition. The addition of sugar to the 'Malt-Beers' (Sucrose, Invertsugar, Sugar Caramel) has to be declared on the label. The sales figures are in ihe region of 1.5%. but they decrease each year. Sugar and saccharine are used in certain areas of North West Germany to fortify the taste of the 'plain beers' (Einfachbiere). They are called 'Sweet' or 'Caramel'; the colour is dark and the gravity in the range of 2.0-5.5% P. They follow an old tradition in this part of the country and are not allowed to be distributed to other areas. The content of sugar and of saccharine must be displayed on the labels. The production of 'beers' containing sugar is supervised by excise officers and controlled by government laboratories as well. The same regulations apply to weak beers which are sweetened with sugar and saccharine. The demand for these beverages is also declining (below 0.03%).

Table II gives a survey on Traditional North German beers which had been on sale before 1914. between the wars and which are available in some areas still today."



TABLE II. Traditional North German Beers



Name
Strength
Alcohol
Notes


l.
Malt
12% Plato
1.5% w/w
30% sugar plus caramel limited fermentation


2
Fresh or young
Various
_
'Green' beer finished in the household


3
Spontaneous fermentation beers
Strong
Various
Contained some unboiled worts acidic stored like wine before consumption


4
Plain beers (dark)
2-0-5-5% plato
Limited fermentation
Sugar and saccharine added


5
Berliner Weissbier
7-0-8-0% plato
Lactic acid and yeast fermentation +-2% w/w
50% Malted barley 50% Malted Wheat


Today only 5 have survived the sales of 1 are approximately 1.5% of total volume and Ihe others have practically vanished.



Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 90, Issue 6, November-December 1984, page 353.
I'd best re-translate the names back to German before we go any further.

Malt Beer = Malzbier
Plain Beer = Einfachbier

You may notice a similarity between the beer styles mentioned above and those in Dörfel's 1947 manuscript:




Groterjan top-fermenting beer types


beer type
real extract
ABV
OG
special features


Malzvollbier
7-10
1.2-1.8
11-11.5
Includes sugar colouring and sugar


Caramel Einnfachbier
1-2.4
0.7-0.9
4
Includes sugar colouring and Dulcin sweetener


Jung Braunbier
1.8-2.3
0.7-1.2
2-3
Includes sugar colouring and sweetener


Berliner Weissbier
2.7-3.4
2-3.5
7-8
Barley malt and wheat malt, 0.25-0.4% acidity


Feinbitter Starkbier
12
1.2-1.4
16
Includes sugar colouring, heavily hopped, low degree of attenuation


Porterbier
7-9
5-7
18-22
Includes sugar colouring, heavily hopped, more alcohol


Source:


Die Herstellung obergäriger Biere und die Malzbierbrauerei Groterjan A.G. in Berlin, by Braumeister A. Dörfel, 1948, page 20.





I'd always known that Bavaria had a tighter form of the Reinheitsgebot, but not that some products which could be sold as beer in northern States had to be relabelled for Bavaria. I wonder if that's still the case?

I keep having new surprises in relation to old German top-fermenting styles. Today's is the inclusion of spontaneously fermented beers. I'm trying to think what the hell it could be. I know that Gose was spontaneously fermented in the 18th century, but by the 19th century they'd worked out how to brew it by pitching both yeast and lactobacillus, much in the manner of Berliner Weisse.

These styles have been in decline for a century at least. The biggest surprise is that they have hung around at all. But they have. Here are the figures of sales by type in 2009 - 2010:




Off sales by beer type 2009 - 2010



market share
quantity in hl



2009
2010
Change in %
2009
2010
Change in %


PILS
55.2
55.1
-0.2
30,566,810
29,860,950
-2.3


EXPORT
10.1
9.8
-3.3
5,586,580
5,288,690
-5.3


WEIZEN
7.9
7.9
0.5
4,371,480
4,300,890
-1.6


BIERMIX
6.5
6.5
0.7
3,589,820
3,538,490
-1.4


HELL
4.5
4.5
0.2
2,507,100
2,459,470
-1.9


ALKOHOLFREI
3.3
3.7
12.9
1,814,090
2,005,330
10.5


KÖLSCH
1.7
1.7
0.3
929,040
912,740
-1.8


SCHWARZ/DUNKEL
1.6
1.6
-2.3
905,230
865,730
-4.4


MALZ
1.2
1.2
1.7
671,010
668,170
-0.4


ALT
1.3
1.2
-3.9
696,750
655,680
-5.9


LAGER
0.9
1
1.2
522,480
517,950
-0.9


LIGHT
0.6
0.6
-0.7
356,380
346,500
-2.8


BOCK
0.5
0.5
-0.7
286,580
278,550
-2.8


MÄRZEN
0.5
0.5
-1.4
280,790
271,050
-3.5


DIÄT
0.3
0.3
-7.2
157,310
142,900
-9.2


BERLINER WEISSE
0
0
14.8
9,060
10,180
12.4


ALLE ANDEREN
3.7
3.8
1.5
2,054,760
2,042,280
0


Source:


Deutscher Brauer Bund


http://www.brauer-bund.de/download/Archiv/PDF/statistiken/110502%20Marktanteile%20Biersortensorten%202009-2010.pdf






Off sales of top- and bottom-fermenting beer



market share
quantity in hl



2009
2010
Change in %
2009
2010
Change in %


bottom
74.44%
73.91%
-0.72%
41,169,260
40,031,790
-2.76%


top
12.07%
12.09%
0.12%
6,677,340
6,547,660
-1.94%


total



55,305,270
54,165,550
-2.06%


Source:


Deutscher Brauer Bund (derived from the other figures)



While I'm going table crazy, I may as well include another table from Dörfel's 1947 manuscript. This one shows production of top-fermenting beer by tax class.




German top-fermenting beer production by tax class 1932 - 1937 in hl


year
Einfachbier 3-6.5º Plato
Schankbier 7-8% Plato
Vollbier 11 - 14% Plato
Starkbier 16º Plato
total output of top-fermenting beer
% of total beer output
total output of bottom-fermenting beer
total output of beer


1932
860,000
123,000
920,000
3,000
1,906,000
5.7
31,532,596
33,438,596


1933
680,000
129,000
955,000
2,000
1,764,000
5.2
32,159,077
33,923,077


1934
752,000
110,000
1,193,000
3,000
2,058,000
5.6
34,692,000
36,750,000


1935
797,000
117,000
1,351,000
3,000
2,268,000
5.7
37,521,474
39,789,474


1936
747,000
101,000
1,490,000
4,000
2,342,000
5.9
37,352,915
39,694,915


1937
919,000
117,000
1,814,000
5,000
2,835,000
6.5
40,780,385
43,615,385


Source:


Die Herstellung obergäriger Biere und die Malzbierbrauerei Groterjan A.G. in Berlin, by Braumeister A. Dörfel, 1948, page 3.



I bet not many of you would have expected that the proportion of top-fermenting beer would have doubled between the 1930's and 2010. It's just one type that's been responsible for that growth: Weissbier. Pre-WW II, it was a rarity, hanging on its finger tips. Now it's the third most popular style in Germany.

More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/06/traditional-north-german-beers.html)