Blog Tracker
08-02-2024, 08:20
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/02/pseudo-lager.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLl16suuMYMzbV2POYPBhGAF9XiUKg949zFdjioF3xQ h-ks4AtEN7gnNBYcYKa0kA4WlTTUfaRfuv7Ul0T0gbC5ZdeuL3Ty BKWuNfJ1bbt6bIHUO4ggQaYocP0NIKO7H-4nBNp74YaSZF4CH95OJDGkzA_LvnsmgHa7vatxPT3XMEGC1oxz EXwiaFL9g/s320/Vaux_Norseman_Lager_beermat.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLl16suuMYMzbV2POYPBhGAF9XiUKg949zFdjioF3xQ h-ks4AtEN7gnNBYcYKa0kA4WlTTUfaRfuv7Ul0T0gbC5ZdeuL3Ty BKWuNfJ1bbt6bIHUO4ggQaYocP0NIKO7H-4nBNp74YaSZF4CH95OJDGkzA_LvnsmgHa7vatxPT3XMEGC1oxz EXwiaFL9g/s640/Vaux_Norseman_Lager_beermat.jpg)
While the big Lager brands coming from speciaslist Lager plants were to some extent "authentic", the same wasn't the case for smaller brewers. Who made "Lagers" which were really just very pale Light Ales.
Let's look at the hops. Most of which are English. Which is dead authentic for the style. At least London Lager has continental hops, in the form of Styrian. Though even they were descended from English hop varieties. Given how few hops went into the Drybrough and Truman examples, it probably didn’t really matter what type they were.
We’ll now have a chance to see how authentic the fermentations were.
Not much really to say about the boil times. Other than that, the two hours for Elgood’s is a bit on the long side. But not stupidly so.
The Elgood fermentation profile looks just like those for its other beers. And way too warm for a Lager. But, as they were using their standard top-fermenting yeast, they couldn’t really have fermented cold.
Truman did pitch their Lager cooler, but not as low as in proper bottom-fermentation. Based on a fermentation length of just six days, I can’t imagine the Continental was fermented cold. From what I can make out in the brewing record, it looks as if they were using their standard yeast.
Elgood used the same underlet mash as for all their beers. While Truman employed a modified version of theirs, with the initial infusion a good bit cooler and the underlet quite warmer. Details are too scarce to tell what exactly what was going on at Drybrough. It certainly looks like a more complicated process than for their other beers. A mash with four steps, possibly.
Overall, not very authentic Lagers, then. Pseudo-Lagers, really. Which isn’t much of a surprise as none of the three breweries had a dedicated Lager kit.
Lager hops 1969 - 1975
Year
Brewer
Beer
hop 1
hop 2
1970
Drybrough
Continental
English
English
1975
Elgood
Lager
English (1974)
1969
Truman
London Lager
Styrian
Sources:
As in the table above.
Lager boiling and fermentation 1969 - 1975
Year
Brewer
Beer
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp
max. fermen-tation temp
length of fermen-tation (days)
1970
Drybrough
Continental
6
1975
Elgood
Lager
2
60º F
69.5º F
8
1969
Truman
London Lager
1.5
53º F
60º F
8
Average
1.8
57º F
65º F
7.3
Sources:
As in the table above.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/02/pseudo-lager.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLl16suuMYMzbV2POYPBhGAF9XiUKg949zFdjioF3xQ h-ks4AtEN7gnNBYcYKa0kA4WlTTUfaRfuv7Ul0T0gbC5ZdeuL3Ty BKWuNfJ1bbt6bIHUO4ggQaYocP0NIKO7H-4nBNp74YaSZF4CH95OJDGkzA_LvnsmgHa7vatxPT3XMEGC1oxz EXwiaFL9g/s320/Vaux_Norseman_Lager_beermat.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLl16suuMYMzbV2POYPBhGAF9XiUKg949zFdjioF3xQ h-ks4AtEN7gnNBYcYKa0kA4WlTTUfaRfuv7Ul0T0gbC5ZdeuL3Ty BKWuNfJ1bbt6bIHUO4ggQaYocP0NIKO7H-4nBNp74YaSZF4CH95OJDGkzA_LvnsmgHa7vatxPT3XMEGC1oxz EXwiaFL9g/s640/Vaux_Norseman_Lager_beermat.jpg)
While the big Lager brands coming from speciaslist Lager plants were to some extent "authentic", the same wasn't the case for smaller brewers. Who made "Lagers" which were really just very pale Light Ales.
Let's look at the hops. Most of which are English. Which is dead authentic for the style. At least London Lager has continental hops, in the form of Styrian. Though even they were descended from English hop varieties. Given how few hops went into the Drybrough and Truman examples, it probably didn’t really matter what type they were.
We’ll now have a chance to see how authentic the fermentations were.
Not much really to say about the boil times. Other than that, the two hours for Elgood’s is a bit on the long side. But not stupidly so.
The Elgood fermentation profile looks just like those for its other beers. And way too warm for a Lager. But, as they were using their standard top-fermenting yeast, they couldn’t really have fermented cold.
Truman did pitch their Lager cooler, but not as low as in proper bottom-fermentation. Based on a fermentation length of just six days, I can’t imagine the Continental was fermented cold. From what I can make out in the brewing record, it looks as if they were using their standard yeast.
Elgood used the same underlet mash as for all their beers. While Truman employed a modified version of theirs, with the initial infusion a good bit cooler and the underlet quite warmer. Details are too scarce to tell what exactly what was going on at Drybrough. It certainly looks like a more complicated process than for their other beers. A mash with four steps, possibly.
Overall, not very authentic Lagers, then. Pseudo-Lagers, really. Which isn’t much of a surprise as none of the three breweries had a dedicated Lager kit.
Lager hops 1969 - 1975
Year
Brewer
Beer
hop 1
hop 2
1970
Drybrough
Continental
English
English
1975
Elgood
Lager
English (1974)
1969
Truman
London Lager
Styrian
Sources:
As in the table above.
Lager boiling and fermentation 1969 - 1975
Year
Brewer
Beer
boil time (hours)
Pitch temp
max. fermen-tation temp
length of fermen-tation (days)
1970
Drybrough
Continental
6
1975
Elgood
Lager
2
60º F
69.5º F
8
1969
Truman
London Lager
1.5
53º F
60º F
8
Average
1.8
57º F
65º F
7.3
Sources:
As in the table above.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/02/pseudo-lager.html)