Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Vienna Lagers in the 1870's
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We're back with Vienna Lager in the 19th century. Looking at some actual beers of the period. Sadly not drinking them, but you can't have everything.
The purpose of this post - god that sounds a bit pretentious - is to put some flesh on the bones of the output by degree Balling table. To tie in types of beer with those gravity ranges.
Starting with Abzugsbier, which is the same as thing as Schenkbier or Winterbier. It's the ancestor of modern Czech Výčepní Pivo, its country's most popular style. Which prompts me to ask this question: why (and when) did 10º beer fall out of favour in Vienna? Because there's bugger all in that category brewed now. A follow-up question would be: why did it remain popular in Czechoslovakia / the Czech Republic?
Getting back to the beer, this what Wahl and Henius have to say about it: lagered 6 to 8 weeks, bunged 1 or 2 weeks, cooled to about zero, CO2 content 0.32-0.39%, 200 to 260g hops per hectolitre*.
Wahl and Henius mention a stronger kind of Abzugsbier, with a gravity of 11.5º Balling. I've not seen any evidence of it in the analyses.
Moving up the gravities, one of only 12º beer is Dreher's Pilsener. My guess is that it's a style which wasn't much brewed in Vienna back then. Pilsener is still remarkably little-brewed in Austria.
Next Lagerbier which, judging by the number of examples, was also a pretty popular style. all are just over 13º, with the exception of two outliers, the 12º Lichtenthal and almost 15º Simmering. I'll turn or Wahl & Henius again for more details about Lagerbier: it had 320 to 400g of hops per hectolitre and was stored four to five months, bunged (if at all) max. 2 weeks**.
Note the low level of attenuation of all these beers. Only a couple creep over 70%.
I'm surprised to see so few Märzen samples. Both are just a touch under 14º, and are a similar gravity to modern takes on the style. Interestingly Schellenhof's is paler than Dreher's Pilsener. I'm not sure what scale the colour is measured in, but three analyses of Pilsen-brewed Pilsener are 3.5, 4 and 4.3. To put that into context, German brewed Ale had a colour of 10, Porter 40. It seems to me that these Vienna beers are only a little darker than Bohemian beer. I would have guessed that Vienna Lagers were a similar colour to the Ale, 10 on this scale.
Wahl & Henius reckon Märzen had 380 to 420g of hops per hectolitre***.
The two samples of Export are pretty different, gravity-wise. And neither is very close to the 15.5º Wahl & Henius specified. 400 to 550g of hops per hectolitre was the hopping rate****.
Weirdly, the only Bock is weaker than one of the Exports. That makes no sense. In ascending order of gravity, it should go: Abzugsbier, Lagerbier, Märzen, Export and finally Bock. As I've been trying (mostly vainly) to explain for years, Märzen and Export aren't so much style designations as indications of strength. I'm certain that all the strengths of beer below would have been roughly similar in character.
Here's the table. Enjoy.
| Vienna Lagers in the 1870's |
| Year |
Brewer |
Beer |
OG Plato |
FG Plato |
OG |
FG |
Acidity |
colour |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
| 1870 |
Grinzing |
Abzugsbier |
9.93 |
3.37 |
1039.6 |
1013.1 |
0.11 |
5 |
3.43 |
66.06% |
| 1870 |
Hütteldorf |
Abzugsbier |
9.74 |
3.78 |
1038.8 |
1014.7 |
0.09 |
5 |
3.11 |
61.19% |
| 1870 |
Lichtenthal |
Abzugsbier |
10.07 |
3.65 |
1040.2 |
1014.2 |
0.08 |
5 |
3.36 |
63.75% |
| 1870 |
Nussdorf |
Abzugsbier |
10.78 |
3.93 |
1043.1 |
1015.3 |
0.09 |
5 |
3.59 |
63.54% |
| 1870 |
Ottakring |
Abzugsbier |
10.43 |
2.53 |
1041.6 |
1009.8 |
0.11 |
4.8 |
4.14 |
75.74% |
| 1870 |
Simmering |
Abzugsbier |
10.17 |
3.83 |
1040.6 |
1014.9 |
0.1 |
5.9 |
3.32 |
62.34% |
| 1870 |
St. Mark |
Abzugsbier |
10.35 |
3.81 |
1041.3 |
1014.8 |
0.1 |
5 |
3.42 |
64.16% |
| 1876 |
Schwechater |
Bock |
16.80 |
4.25 |
1068.8 |
1016.6 |
|
|
7.23 |
74.70% |
| 1876 |
Liesinger |
Export |
17.08 |
6.35 |
1070.0 |
1024.9 |
0.28 |
|
5.83 |
62.82% |
| 1876 |
Schwechater |
Export |
13.05 |
4.80 |
1052.6 |
1018.7 |
0.13 |
|
4.40 |
63.22% |
| 1870 |
Grinzing |
Lagerbier |
13.39 |
3.93 |
1054.1 |
1015.3 |
0.12 |
4.6 |
5.04 |
70.65% |
| 1870 |
Hütteldorf |
Lagerbier |
13.33 |
3.83 |
1053.8 |
1014.9 |
0.11 |
5 |
5.06 |
71.27% |
| 1870 |
Lichtenthal |
Lagerbier |
12.23 |
3.60 |
1049.2 |
1014.0 |
0.11 |
4.8 |
4.56 |
70.56% |
| 1870 |
Nussdorf |
Lagerbier |
13.20 |
5.02 |
1053.3 |
1019.6 |
0.13 |
5.2 |
4.35 |
61.97% |
| 1870 |
Ottakring |
Lagerbier |
13.25 |
4.03 |
1053.5 |
1015.7 |
0.16 |
5.1 |
4.90 |
69.58% |
| 1870 |
Schellenhof |
Lagerbier |
13.06 |
5.07 |
1052.7 |
1019.8 |
0.15 |
4.6 |
4.25 |
61.18% |
| 1870 |
Simmering |
Lagerbier |
14.86 |
5.39 |
1060.4 |
1021.1 |
0.2 |
5.9 |
5.08 |
63.73% |
| 1870 |
Schellenhof |
Märzen |
13.83 |
5.49 |
1056.0 |
1021.5 |
0.14 |
5.6 |
4.45 |
60.30% |
| 1870 |
St. Mark |
Märzen |
13.80 |
4.92 |
1055.8 |
1019.2 |
0.11 |
6.7 |
4.74 |
64.35% |
| 1870 |
Dreher |
Pilsener |
12.74 |
4.29 |
1051.3 |
1016.7 |
0.17 |
6 |
4.48 |
66.33% |
| 1876 |
Nussdorfer |
Schenk Beer |
10.78 |
3.75 |
1043.1 |
1014.6 |
|
|
3.69 |
65.21% |
| Sources: |
| "Theory and Practice of the Preparation of Malt and the Fabrication of Beer" Julius E. Thausing, Anton Schwartz and A.H. Bauer, Philadelphia 1882, pages 748-751 |
| Wahl & Henius, pages 823-830 |
* "American Handy Book of Brewing , Malting and Auxiliary Trades" by Wahl & Henius, Chicago, 1902, pages 780 - 792.
** "American Handy Book of Brewing , Malting and Auxiliary Trades" by Wahl & Henius, Chicago, 1902, pages 780 - 792.
*** "American Handy Book of Brewing , Malting and Auxiliary Trades" by Wahl & Henius, Chicago, 1902, pages 780 - 792.
**** "American Handy Book of Brewing , Malting and Auxiliary Trades" by Wahl & Henius, Chicago, 1902, pages 780 - 792.
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