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I know that Saxony was one of the regions of Germany where top fermentation hung on the longest. Also that a local speciality was Braunbier. It’s nice to have some more details about it.
Though looking at the numbers, that’s not quite so clear:
Output and no. of breweries per region in 1893 |
|
top-fermenting breweries |
bottom-fermenting breweries |
top-fermenting beer |
bottom-fermenting beer |
% top-fermenting |
% bottom-fermenting |
Brandenburg |
430 |
138 |
1,724,795 |
3,157,941 |
35 |
65 |
Königreich Sachsen |
541 |
190 |
1,710,653 |
2,476,475 |
41 |
59 |
Rheinland |
575 |
377 |
761,519 |
3,121,390 |
20 |
80 |
Schlesien |
576 |
219 |
977,143 |
1,794,259 |
35 |
65 |
Provinz Sachsen |
451 |
186 |
594,312 |
1,862,008 |
24 |
76 |
Westfalen |
456 |
233 |
84,020 |
2,250,789 |
4 |
96 |
Thüringen |
264 |
578 |
243,652 |
1,974,374 |
11 |
89 |
Hessen-Nassau |
66 |
275 |
23,019 |
1,712,756 |
1 |
99 |
Schleswig-Holstein |
582 |
56 |
247,960 |
1,009,047 |
20 |
80 |
Hannover |
310 |
101 |
131,494 |
1,121,364 |
10 |
90 |
Grossherzogtum Hessen |
7 |
183 |
660 |
1,055,851 |
0 |
100 |
Ostpreussen |
154 |
55 |
266,334 |
609,050 |
30 |
70 |
Pommern |
243 |
79 |
108,453 |
554,576 |
16 |
84 |
Hamburg |
18 |
13 |
169,130 |
476,537 |
26 |
74 |
Westpreussen |
33 |
62 |
133,917 |
463,095 |
22 |
78 |
Braunschweig |
42 |
33 |
22,870 |
463,654 |
5 |
95 |
Posen |
101 |
57 |
177,038 |
307,800 |
37 |
63 |
Mecklenburg |
346 |
43 |
115,318 |
293,561 |
28 |
72 |
Anhalt |
53 |
18 |
90,838 |
285,073 |
24 |
76 |
Bremen |
9 |
10 |
19,778 |
204,697 |
9 |
91 |
Oldenburg |
61 |
17 |
25,855 |
125,421 |
17 |
83 |
Hohenzollern |
84 |
143 |
4,596 |
122,088 |
4 |
96 |
Lübeck |
26 |
6 |
31,485 |
65,126 |
33 |
67 |
Total Brausteuergebiet |
5,428 |
3,072 |
7,664,839 |
25,506,932 |
23 |
77 |
Sources: |
“Zeitschrift für das gesammte Brauwesen 1894”, p.23 |
Handbuch der deutschen Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1971-76, vol. 2, p. 18. |
There were indeed a large number of top-fermenting breweries in Saxony, but they produced far less beer than the rather smaller number of bottom-fermenting breweries.
I’m going down the summarising rather than translating route again. It makes life much easier for me and I reckon it’s all the same to you in the end.
Braunbier is a well-liked top-fermenting beer in the province of Saxony.
It’s brewed from high-dried malt (dried at 66-70º C) with about 2 kg of Farbmalz per 50 kg.
The kettle mashing system is used with either one or two boils of the mash. OG 8-8.5º Plato, 1.5 hour boil, hopping rate 1-1.1 pounds per 50 kg of malt.
It is pitched with top-fermenting yeast at 20º C, in cold cellars 25º C. First the entire wort is transferred to a collecting tun in order to remove sediment and the yeast added. As soon as the wort displays a thin white head it is transferred to already prepared casks of 1 to 2 hl. And bung fermentation carried out.
Because the wort had been in the collecting tun for a few hours the sediment is completely removed. When the fermentation is complete the casks are stood up straight again, washed and refilled to the top. In the following days a nice cap of yeast seals the bung hole. Now the barrels are sent out to the pub, where they are stored for a few more days until the beer is almost clear. Only then is it filled into one litre stone jars sealed with new corks. After 8 to 14 days, according to the time of year, it foams strongly and is particularly thirst-quenching. The colour is cherry-red like Bockbier.
Source: Olberg, Johannes (1927) Braunbier in Moderne Braumethoden, pp 62-63, A. Hartleben, Wien & Leipzig.
The finished beer would have been 3-3.5% ABV and not very hoppy. It sounds quite different to the Berlin type of Braunbier but, like that, it was delivered to publicans pretty much at the end of primary fermentation and bottled by them.
I wonder when the last Saxon Braunbier was brewed? It sounds like it wold be pretty easy to recreate.
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