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I'm slowly ploughing my way through the 1903 edition of "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel". It has over 1,000 analyses of beers, mostly German but with examples from most major brewing countries.

I've already harvested the analyses from a couple of earlier editions, which means there are only 100 or so I need to collect. To add to the 20-odd thousand in my main gravity spreadsheet. It's getting to be quite a collection. Which is sort of the idea.

To quickly recap, in the 19th century Lager was split into two main types, Winterbier and Sommerbier. Before refrigeration, both were brewed in the winter, but the Sommerbier was stronger and lagered for longer because it needed to last through the summer. Sommerbier was also called Lagerbier and Winterbier called Schenkbier.

This is a particularly useful set of analyses because it has the Winterbier and Sommerbier from the same brewery for the same brewing season. Which means we can make meaningful comparisons between Winterber and Sommerbier.

A couple of general observations to begin. I'm shocked at the high lactic acid content of every sample. I'd have expected it to be no higher than 0.1%. Over 0.2% I would have expected to give the beer a detectable tartness. The gravity of most beers is surprisingly high. The strongest Sommerbiers look more like Bocks, with gravities over 1060º and ABVs over 6%. The modern equivalents of these beers - Helles or Dunkles Lagerbier have much lower gravities, usually around 12º Plato or 1048. On its website, Tucher amusingly claims that the recipe for Original Urbräu has been the same for 150 years. Clearly that's bollocks

There are a couple of examples where clearly the same beer has been analysed as both a Sommerbier and a Winterbier: Tucher, Lederer and Lechner.

Nürnberg region Sommerbier in 1886
Brewer Style lactic acid % FG OG ABV App. Atten-uation
Aktien-Br. Nürnberg Sommerbier 0.268 1017.3 1057.0 5.15 69.65%
Aktien-Brauerei Zirndorf Sommerbier 0.26 1017.7 1063.2 5.91 71.99%
Bernreuther (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.249 1016.9 1055.9 5.06 69.77%
Bernreuther (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.225 1015.8 1059.5 5.69 73.45%
Denk (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.234 1013.3 1064.7 6.71 79.44%
Dummet (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.241 1015 1062.2 6.15 75.88%
Dürst jun. (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.238 1016.4 1063.0 6.06 73.97%
Dürst sen. (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.199 1016.4 1048.8 4.19 66.39%
Dürst sen. (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.215 1015.5 1053.5 4.93 71.03%
Gaismann (Fürth) Sommerbier 0.203 1014.5 1055.4 5.31 73.83%
Grüner (Fürth) Sommerbier 0.243 1016.6 1059.8 5.61 72.24%
Humbser (Fürth) Sommerbier 0.222 1014.5 1057.9 5.65 74.96%
Lechner (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.196 1018.3 1063.2 5.84 71.04%
Lechner (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.198 1020 1054.1 4.40 63.03%
Lederer Sommerbier 0.202 1018 1058.5 5.25 69.23%
Lederer Sommerbier 0.246 1017.5 1055.4 4.91 68.41%
Liebel (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.227 1017 1058.4 5.38 70.89%
Loewen-Bräu (Müller) (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.283 1019.8 1057.1 4.83 65.32%
Mailänder (Fürth) Sommerbier 0.23 1017.5 1058.4 5.30 70.01%
Reif (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.26 1016.8 1057.1 5.23 70.58%
Schmauser & Weinmann (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.289 1015.3 1056.7 5.38 73.02%
Seiderer & Worlein (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.23 1015.8 1057.8 5.46 72.66%
Strebel (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.224 1015 1058.4 5.65 74.32%
Süss (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.253 1017.4 1060.0 5.53 71.00%
Tucher Sommerbier 0.272 1017 1057.8 5.30 70.59%
Tucher Sommerbier 0.247 1016.5 1051.7 4.56 68.09%
Zeltner (Nürnberg) Sommerbier 0.236 1017.5 1060.2 5.54 70.91%
Average 0.237 1016.6 1058.0 5.37 71.17%
Source:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156.


Nürnberg region Winterbier in 1887
Brewer Style lactic acid % FG OG ABV App. Atten-uation
Aktien-Br. Nürnberg Winterbier 0.235 1018.5 1055.9 4.84 66.91%
Aktien-Brauerei Zirndorf Winterbier 0.194 1017.8 1053.0 4.55 66.42%
Bernreuther (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.249 1016.9 1055.9 5.06 69.77%
Denk (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.199 1015 1052.4 4.85 71.37%
Dorn (Vach) Winterbier 0.206 1013.2 1048.5 4.58 72.78%
Dreykorn (Lauf) Winterbier 0.281 1017.2 1055.1 4.91 68.78%
Dummet (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.228 1015.8 1055.0 5.09 71.27%
Dürst jun. (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.23 1016.6 1051.3 4.49 67.64%
Dürst sen. (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.199 1015.3 1047.6 4.19 67.86%
Humbser (Fürth) Winterbier 0.21 1017 1052.2 4.56 67.43%
Lechner (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.198 1020 1054.1 4.40 63.03%
Lederer Winterbier 0.246 1017.5 1055.4 4.91 68.41%
Liebel (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.228 1017.5 1056.0 4.99 68.75%
Loewen-Bräu (Müller) (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.233 1015.8 1053.8 4.93 70.63%
Mailänder (Fürth) Winterbier 0.259 1016.5 1058.6 5.46 71.84%
Reif (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.229 1015.5 1054.0 5.00 71.30%
Schmauser & Weinmann (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.221 1017 1051.7 4.49 67.12%
Seiderer & Worlein (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.252 1015 1048.0 4.28 68.75%
Strebel (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.243 1017.5 1055.4 4.91 68.41%
Süss (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.279 1014.9 1054.5 5.14 72.66%
Tucher Winterbier 0.247 1016.5 1051.7 4.56 68.09%
Zeltner (Nürnberg) Winterbier 0.236 1014.7 1059.6 5.85 75.34%
Average 0.232 1016.4 1053.6 4.82 69.30%
Source:
Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel by Joseph König, 1903, pages 1102 - 1156.

As you'd expect, the Sommerbiers have a higher average gravity: 1058 compared to 1053.6. So a difference of 4.4 points. But there was considerable variation across different breweries. Ranging from a negative 0.3 points at Mailänder to a massive 11.7 points at Dürst junior. Interestingly the average FGs are almost identical at 1016-ish. The inevitable consequence of which is that the degree of attenuation of Winterbiers is lower. Modern Lagerbiers are very different, averaging well over 80% apparent attenuation.

lactic acid % FG OG ABV App. Atten-uation
average Sommerbier 0.237 1016.6 1058.0 5.37 71.17%
average Winterbier 0.232 1016.4 1053.6 4.82 69.30%
difference 0.20 4.4 0.55 1.88%

The Sommerbiers range from 1048.8 to 1064.7 and the Winterbiers from 1047.6 to 1059.6. Which means that the weaker Sommerbiers have a lower OG than many Winterbiers. It's a lot more variation than you would see in British beers of the same type from the same region. Though 14 of the 28 samples of Sommerbier had a gravity within two points of the average. For Winterbier, that was 13 of 23.

Unfortunately there's nothing about hopping rates. So I can't confirm that Sommerbier was more heavily hopped than Winterbier.

I'm sure I'll be worrying you with plenty more from "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel". It's so full of information.

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