Friday 30 April 2010

More Austria in 1865

You can blame Pivni Filosof for this. Asking questions after my last Austria in 1865 post. He got me thinking. Something that's always dangerous.

Austrian beer production and no. breweries in 1865
Kronländer no. breweries output (Austrian eimer) output (hl) population pop. per brewery output per head (litres)
Niederösterreich 127 2,864,015 1,621,183 1,990,700 15,674.80 81.44
Oberösterreich 286 958,256 542,423 736,500 2,575.17 73.65
Salzburg 76 315,144 178,388 153,200 2,015.79 116.44
Böhmen 1028 5,416,962 3,066,284 5,140,200 5,000.19 59.65
Mähren 281 1,233,405 698,172 2,030,800 7,227.05 34.38
Schlesien 80 283,742 160,613 513,400 6,417.50 31.28
Ostgalizien 189 456,593 258,456


Westgalizien 124 276,853 156,713 5,444,000 43,904.75 7.63
Bukowina 20 48,681 27,556 513,400 25,670.00 5.37
Steiermark 125 547,500 309,914 1,137,700 9,101.60 27.24
Kärnthen 203 148,954 84,316 337,700 1,663.55 24.97
Krain 23 45,732 25,887 468,800 20,382.61 5.52
Küstenland 2 1,016 575 602,000 301,000.00 0.1
Tirol und Vorarlberg 143 291,843 165,198 885,400 6,191.61 18.66
Ungarn und Serbien 286 846,383 479,097 11,180,000 39,090.91 4.29
Croatien und Slavonien 27 45,522 25,768 868,400 32,162.96 2.97
Militärgrenze 34 52,040 29,457 1,197,200 35,211.76 2.46
Siebenbürgen 84 110,576 62,592 2,122,500 25,267.86 2.95
Total 1865 3,138 13,943,217 7,892,591 35,321,900 11,256.18 22.34
Sources:
http://www.populstat.info/
“Bericht über der Welt Ausstellung zu Paris im Jahre 1867, volume 7”, 1868, page 125.


A couple of points. The population figures are for slightly later, 1869 to be precise. But close enough to be meaningful.

Despite the text claiming that it was boom time for Austrian brewing, the amount of beer produced per head was quite small. Only Salzburg, Niederösterreich and Oberösterreich look impressive. I'll remark that Salzburg, the are producing relatively the most, had been part of Bavaria for a few years during the Napoleonic Wars. Bohemia and Moravia were well behind, which came as a bit of a surprise. As the reputation of Bohemian beer in particular was on the up.

That'll do for now. But I don't think I've quite finished with these numbers yet.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Another example of parti-gyling

Guess what I've got for you now? That's right, another example of parti-gyling. How did you guess?

This is also from the 1930's, but from another brewery: Courage. In this example there's a wider range of gravities in the beers and they aren't all of the same style. KKK is a Strong Ale, the other two are Milds.

Let's start with KKK:


Here's that same information in table form:


Courage 22nd Sept 1930 KKK
barrels gravity SG grav points
102 30.4 1084.2 3,101
15 12 1033.2 180
0 2 1005.5 0
3 0 1000.0 0
120 27.34 1075.7 3,281
Source:
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/258.

You'll note that the beer used almost all first wort. Not surprising, as its gravity was only just lower than that of the first wort.

Now MC:


In table form:


Courage 22nd Sept 1930 MC
barrels gravity SG grav points
in FV 5
119 30.4 1084.2 3,618
148 12 1033.2 1,776
91 2 1005.5 182
5 0 1000.0 0
363 15.36 1042.5 5,576
in FV 6
70 30.4 1084.2 2,128
98 12 1033.2 1,176
52 2 1005.5 104
220 15.49 1042.9 3,408
Source:
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/258.





The MC was blended in two separate fermenters, FV 5 and FV 6. The blends were slightly different in their composition, but had the same gravity.


And finally, X:


Courage 22nd Sept 1930 X
barrels gravity SG grav points
in FV 13
88 30.4 1084.2 2,675
109 12 1033.2 1,308
161 2 1005.5 322
4 0 1000.0 0
362 11.89 1032.9 4,305
in FV 16
88 30.4 1084.2 2,675
109 12 1033.2 1,308
159 2 1005.5 318
8 0 1000.0 0
362 11.89 1032.9 4,301
Source:
Courage brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/08/258.

This was also blended in two different fermenters, FV 13 and FV 16. And again the blends were slightly different.

The worts were generated by a typical mashing scheme: mash, underlet and sparge. I would go into it in more detail, but I don't have the space here. (Or rather it would make this post even longer and duller than it already is.)

Someone asked why they bothered with all the trouble of party-gyling. Having to fiddle with different worts and that. But, the way breweries were set up and the way they brewed, it wasn't as awkward as you might think. The first wort was moved to the coppers and already boiling by the time the sparge had begun. Rather than leave the wort lying around until the whole mashing process was complete, which could cause problems later on, boiling started immediately. The second wort would have been drawn off by the time the first wort had been boiled. Often the same copper would be used to boil all three worts in succession. They had a long brew day. For this brew, the mash started at 10 PM and the last wort was drawn off at 8 AM the next morning.

Let me know if you've had enough parti-gyling. I've a couple of thousand more examples I'm just aching to pester you with.

Number of breweries by Austrian region 1865 and 2004

Yes, I've got sidetracked again,. It's supposed to be German month and I keep writing about Austrian beer. Well, they are next door to each other. And they speak the same language.

Just some random statistics. About the number of breweries in the different regions of Austria across the last 150 years. Just the sort of junk that fascinates me. Unlike everyone else.


Number of breweries in Austria by region
1865 2004
region No.  % No.  %
Kärnten 203 21.1% 7 4.9%
Oberösterreich 286 29.8% 36 25.0%
Salzburg 76 7.9% 16 11.1%
Steiermark 125 13.0% 27 18.8%
Tirol and Vorarlberg 143 14.9% 20 13.9%
Wien/Niederösterreich 127 13.2% 35 24.3%
Burgenland 3 2.1%
Austria 960 100% 144 100%
Sources:
Verband der Brauereien Österreichs
“Bericht über der Welt_Ausstellung zu Paris im Jahre 1867, volume 7”, 1868, page 125.


One remark. The Tirol of today is considerably smaller than that of 1865. Because a big chunk - South Tirol - was given to Italy after WW I. Most of the other regions, or Bundesländer, are, to the best of my knowledge, pretty much unchanged. Except Burgenmland. I think that was part of somewhere else in the 19th century.

Not much has changed over the years, when it comes to the most popular locations for breweries. Except Kärnten has become much less popular. And Niederösterreich more popular.

Razor-sharp analysis there. I've nothing more to add.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1890 Truman Imperial, Double and SS Stout

Hey, hey, hey. As Krusty would say. The party-gyling fun has spread to Let's Brew Wednesday. And when I say fun, I mean mind-numbing tedium.

We've a thrice [check that's a real word] of Stouts, all magically spun from the same set of grains. If you've managed to stay conscious throuugh my party-gyling posts you'll have a good idea how Truman did that. Not magic, but still an impressive feat of mathematics. They didn't have claulators back in the 1890's. Even if they had, Truman wouldn't have let their brewers use them. Even in the 1970's their brewers had to perform all their calculations on a slate.

That Truman produced so many Stouts (in addition to these three there was also a Running Stout, Keeping Stout and Double Export Stout) is a sign of  the popularity of such beers. And a testament to the commercial flexibility provided by party-gyling. A glance at any 19th-century brewery price list will confirm just how widespread a technique it was. How else could a small brewery have 15 different products?



I think that's me about done. There are some party-gyle logs singing like sirens. Excuse me while I go and smash into some rocks . . . . .





-->
Truman - 1890 - Imperial - Double - SS stouts
General info: A wonderful example of how to gyle. This is a set of three big ass stouts made from a single mash. Imperial Brown stout, a double stout and a tasty little (1.070!) SS-type export stout. The sheer volume of this original beer was mindboggling. Over 33,000 gallons of beer! Its literaly unbelivable. You'll be surprised that, although similar, these beers are all quite different and great each in their own right. This is something everyone must try.
Beer Specifics

Recipe by percentages
Gravity (OG)
1.081

38% English pale malt
15.4% Raw sugar
Gravity (FG)
1.019

35.1% Englsih pale malt
0%
ABV
8.21%

10.4% Brown malt
0%
Apparent attenuation
76.06%

1.2% Black malt

Real attenuation
62.31%







IBU
82.0

Mash
120min@152°F
1.3qt/lb

SRM
35


120min@66.7°C
2.73L/kg

EBC
69.4










Boil
2 hours













Homebrew @ 70%
Craft @ 80%
Grist
5gal
19L
10bbl
10hl
English pale malt 1
5.97
lb
2.717
kg
323.81
lb
125.11
kg
Englsih pale malt 2
5.52
lb
2.511
kg
299.26
lb
115.62
kg
Brown malt
1.63
lb
0.743
kg
88.49
lb
34.19
kg
Black malt
0.18
lb
0.083
kg
9.87
lb
3.81
kg
Raw sugar
2.42
lb
1.103
kg
131.40
lb
50.77
kg

15.720

7.157

852.83416



Hops








Goldings 4.5% 120min
4.54
oz
128.8
g
281.57
oz
6.803
kg
Hallertauer Mittelfrüh 3.5% 30min
1.39
oz
39.4
g
86.08
oz
2.080
kg
Goldings 4.5% dry hop
1.72
oz
48.8
g
106.73
oz
2.579
kg









Fermentation
62°F /16.7°C















Yeast
Nottingham ale yeast

1968 London ESB Ale Yeast  - WLP002 English Ale Yeast









Tasting Notes: All of the beers are big and dark. A ton of rich brown malt character rather than the black malt of more contemporary stouts. Each is very fruit with a butt ton of hops chucked in. Rum raisins, port, brandie cherries and roast malt tannins. Each can be aged however the IBSt really takes on a life of its own in the bottle.

-->
Imp
5gal
19L
10bbl
10hL
G1 - vol
1.42
5.38
2.83
2.83
G1 - grav
1.113
1.113
1.113
1.113
G1 - BU
127
127
127
127
G2 - vol
0.81
3.07
1.61
1.61
G2 - grav
1.090
1.090
1.090
1.090
G2 - BU
91
91
91
91
G3 - vol
0.28
1.06
0.56
0.56
G3 - grav
1.038
1.038
1.038
1.038
G3 - BU
42
42
42
42
Hopping
1.92oz/gal
14.41g/L
3.73lb/bbl
1.44kg/hL
Totals
OG 1.097
FG 1.022
BU 106
Abv 9.9%


-->
Dbl
5gal
19L
10bbl
10hL
G1 - vol
0.74
2.81
1.48
1.48
G1 - grav
1.113
1.113
1.113
1.113
G1 - BU
127
127
127
127
G2 - vol
1.11
4.22
2.22
2.22
G2 - grav
1.090
1.090
1.090
1.090
G2 - BU
91
91
91
91
G3 - vol
0.65
2.46
1.30
1.30
G3 - grav
1.038
1.038
1.038
1.038
G3 - BU
42
42
42
42
Hopping
1.92oz/gal
14.41g/L
3.73lb/bbl
1.44kg/hL
Totals
OG 1.083
FG 1.017
BU 88.9
Abv 8.8%


-->
SS
5gal
19L
10bbl
10hL
G1 - vol
0.42
1.60
0.84
0.84
G1 - grav
1.113
1.113
1.113
1.113
G1 - BU
127
127
127
127
G2 - vol
0.96
3.66
1.93
1.93
G2 - grav
1.090
1.090
1.090
1.090
G2 - BU
91
91
91
91
G3 - vol
1.11
4.24
2.23
2.23
G3 - grav
1.038
1.038
1.038
1.038
G3 - BU
42
42
42
42
Hopping
1.92oz/gal
14.41g/L
3.73lb/bbl
1.44kg/hL
Totals
OG 1.071
FG 1.014
BU 75.2
Abv 7.5%


-->

5gal
19L
10bbl
10hL
Gyle 1
2.58
9.80
5.16
5.16
Gyle 2
2.88
10.95
5.76
5.76
Gyle 3
2.04
7.76
4.08
4.08
Totals
7.50
28.50
15.00
15.00


Ingredients and technique

Grist & such
Very typical stout grist for the time. Two different pale malts of which only the best malt should be used. A good amount of brown malt with even more sugar added. White sugar can be used but I prefer something with a little more complexity. Invert No2 is great or dark brown muscavado sugar. If you want to do something neat, try using some Gula Jawa. The sugar was added with about 35% of it going into each of the first two gyles and then the remainder going into the last gyle.

Hops
The hops were absolutely fresh being less than a year old. A massive amount of hops went into this thing at nearly 5 pounds per barrel. The dry hopping was also huge with IBSt, Double  and SS having around 0.85lb/bbl, 0.5lb/bbl and 0.25lb/bbl. One of the most interesting things with this beer was the use of Bavarian hops. Nearly ¼ of all the hops were Hallertauer-like.

Mash & Boil

There were a ton of small little infusions to keep the temperature up. They started with a short 30min rest at 145F (63C) and then jacked it up to 158F (70C) for two hours. I’ve done both this double rest and a single rest splitting the difference at 152F (67C) and found that there isn’t really that much difference. I found the double rest to add a little more complexity that the single but not overly so. The boil was two hours for the first two gyles and then three hours for the last.

Fermentation, Conditioning & Serving
All these beers were fermented a moderately low temperature and the stronger the stout the more it was aged. Aim for about 2.1 volumes of CO2 using either corn sugar or glucose syrup and around 1 million cells/ ml of beer. Serve at cellar temp per the usual.

Gyling & Blending

We’ve been over gyling many times before the only thing different for this one is that there is a third gyle. Each are sugared, hopped and boiled separately and then blended prefermentation. One of the interesting things in this set of gyles is that Truman, for some reason, did a tiny bit of post-fermentation blending with the three beers. The recipe provided is for the usual amounts with a bit of a twist. When doing any of the volumes the amount of total beer you will get out will be about 50% more (5gal = 7.5gal). Here are the specific breakdowns for each beer with al the numbers and the general amounts by ‘volume’. Good luck!