Brewing in Argentina (part two)

This time we're going to look at the largest brewery in Argentina in more detail. Which was also the oldest.

The Bieckert brewery ranks among the first hundred breweries of the world. The area of the plant equals 22,000 square yards. Two extensive four-story buildings, provided with elevators and communicating bridges, comprise the main portion of the brewery. There are thirty-eight cellars, six for fermentation and the others for reserve. The beer is stored in 180 wooden and sixty slate vats. The establishment has two 100-horse power boilers, six 70-horse power boilers, and one 40-horse power engine. The machinery is all of French manufacture. The refrigerating plant comprises five machines. The water used in the Brewery is obtained from three spring wells. There are four bottle-washing machines, each having a capacity of fifty dozen bottles. From these machines the bottles pass to other apparatus where they are finished by means of sand and water. After an inspection they pass to the filling department, where they are filled and corked by machinery. The same care is bestowed on the cleansing of the barrels. Some of the retail customers of this brewery have fixed tanks in their cellars which are filled by means of pipes from casks from the brewery. These tanks are kept in order and periodically cleaned out by the brewery free of charge. The brewery employes number 500, and the establishment has twenty-four wagons in its delivery service. It ships extensively to the interior of the country.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

I wonder what they mean by that first sentence? That Bieckert was one of the hundred largest breweries in the world? That would surprise me a bit. Though it does sound like it was quite large. Some numbers regarding how much beer they brewed would have been nice.

Slightly surprising that all the machinery was French. I would have guessed German or British. I don't remember the French being particularly well-known for manufacturing brewing equipment.

Most surprising was learning that some pubs in Buenos Aires had cellar tanks. It seems a very early date for tank beer. And rather odd to fill them from barrels.

Here's some more about the beers they were brewing.

The principal beers made by the Bieckert Company are: Pilsen beer, which they advertise as the “Queen of White Beers”; bock beer and La Africana, which is advertised as "the superior of all the black beers.” The brewery makes a special note in its advertisements that no corn or other injurious substance is used in the manufacture of its beers.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

I seem to remember La Africana featuring in Martyn Cornell's talk of Stout brewing in South America. Though Stout isn't mentioned on the label at all. Interesting that they also brewed a Bock.

We'll be looking at Quilmes next.

Let's Brew - 1911 Eldridge Pope Light Tonic Stout

There’s nothing more typical of the late Victorian and Edwardian period than the new type of low-gravity Stouts. Mostly sold in bottled form. And this is a great example.

Low-gravity is certainly what this beer is. It’s even 5º lower than in 1896. Quite a few changes to the recipe, too. The brown malt has been dropped and in its place is quite a bit of crystal malt. Another addition was a rather considerable quantity of oats. Much more than the usual token amount to allow a beer to be sold as Oatmeal Stout.

There’s also been a change in the sugar. The No. 3 invert has been replaced by DM, or dextro-maltose. I’ve substituted No. 3 invert.

Three types of hops, Kent from the 1908 harvest, along with English and Oregon from 1909. 

1911 Eldridge Pope Light Tonic Stout
pale malt	6.00 lb	58.82%
crystal malt 60 L	1.00 lb	9.80%
black malt	0.625 lb	6.13%
oats	1.25 lb	12.25%
No. 2 invert	1.125 lb	11.03%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.20 lb	1.96%
Cluster 120 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1047
FG	1015
ABV	4.23
Apparent attenuation	68.09%
IBU	44
SRM	33
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

Brewing in Argentina

How fitting that I should stub my toe on an article about brewing in Argentina just before I visit the country for the first time. In fact, as you read this I'll hopefully be shovelling down cocktails in Buenos Aires.

BREWING IN ARGENTINA.
The brewing industry in the Argentine Republic has been on a progressive scale during the last ten years, until it has reached a point whore it more than fills the requirements of the market. This is fairly well shown by the decrease in the importations of beer which, valued in 1888 at £134,361 fell to £13,518 in 1897. In all respects the beer brewed in the Argentine is reported to compare favourably with that manufactured elsewhere. There are five breweries operating on an extensive scale and well equipped with modern appliances.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

It sounds like the Argentinian brewing industry was on the up. And, looking at the slump in the value of imports, it does look like local production was sufficient to meet local demand.

If there were only five large, modern breweries, then there were obviously quite a few which weren't. As there were 28 breweries just in Buenos Aires.

Naturally the province of Buenos Aires is the seat of the industry, the number of breweries in the province being twenty-eight. The capacity of these breweries was returned as 51,229,200 litres during 1895, but the total production of beer was only 8,767,338 litres. This was 500,000 more litres than during the preceding year, but still only about one-sixth of the capacity.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

Based on those figures, the domestic brewing industry was actually way too large for demand. The capacity was over half a million hectolitres, but fewer than 90,000 hl were brewed. That's an enormous mismatch. Output was at just 17% of capacity. How had that come about? Had breweries been built speculatively in anticipation of future demand? I'd love to know if production increased to come somewhere in the vague region of capacity.

Lat's see who the biggest players were.

The pioneer in the brewing business of the Argentine Republic was Herr Bieckert. He was the founder of the present Bieckert Brewing Company (Compania Cerveceria Biockert, Limited), whose plant is situated in the city of Buenos Aires. This brewery and the Argentine Quilmes brewery, which is situated a short distance outside of Buenos Aires, are the largest establishments in the country. The Bieckert Company was established in 1860, and in 1889 passed into the hands of an English syndicate for the consideration of £1,000,000. The Quilmes brewery, which has been established for ten years, has a capital of £260,000. The product of each of these breweries is said to be fully equal to the average light lager beer of other countries. The main product of all the Argentine breweries is a beer that is light both in colour and gravity, and contains a low percentage of alcohol; much the same kind of beer as the pale American products. The Quilmes Company makes a darker beer that is not so heavy.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 46 - 47.

It doesn't surprise me that British investors had got involved in the Argentinian brewing industry. The British were heavily involved in Argentinian business generally. And, at the end of the 19th century, UK investors had been buying up brewing companies all over the world.

Surprise, surprise - pale Lager was the main product. Who would have guessed that? I wouldn't assume that these beers were low-gravity by modern standards. They mean low-gravity compared to UK beer at the time, so were probably 4.5-5% ABV.

We'll be learning more about Argentinian dark beers in the next instalment.

William Younger beer for Hong Kong

I often come across special versions of beers. Ones made for specific export markets. Things like Company Porter, brewed for the East India Company. Or the Crimea Porter, brewed for British troops fighting in Crimea.

I'm currently ferreting away in William Younger's brewing records. Ones I photographed in 2009. I know, it's taken me a stupidly long time to get around to them. I've got good reasons for that. I tend to concentrate on transcribing records that fit in with the books I'm working on. Which makes sense, given the limited number of hours in a day.

And the William Younger records are a specific case. Being in what I call Scottish format, there are multiple brews over a two-page spread. Also, because Younger brewed lots of different beers and I didn't understand the records too well, I took loads of pictures. As a result, for the log I'm currently transcribing, WY/6/1/2/45, I have around 200 beers. Which take a long time to go through.

Being a bit OCD, rather than skipping through the photos, picking out examples of each beer, I'm transcribing every single one. In the past, I did skip, simply to save time. And I'm glad that I did go through this particular brewing record more exhaustively. Because I've found a couple of beers I missed. One of which is particularly interesting: A beer brewed for export to Hong Kong.

My, that was a long-winded introduction. That's almost my whole day's supply of words used up. Let's get on with the supposed topic.

Scrolling through my spreadsheet, I noticed that there was another beer brewed for export to Hong Kong. A rather odd one.

SE (Special Export?) is exactly the sort of beer I would expect to be exported to the Far East. A fill-strength, heavily-hopped Pale Ale. While Special S1 is a lightly-hopped Sweet Stout. Not a type of beer that was usually exported. Younger's DBS, a more London-type of Stout, was more suitable for export.

Initially, Younger brewed quite normal-looking Stouts, MBS and DBS, reasonably attenuated and quite heavily hopped. In the 1870s, they introduced a new set of Stouts, S11, S2, S3, which were far more lightly hopped and very poorly attenuated, only around 50%. By the 1890s, these traits had become even more exaggerated. With many examples having no fresh hops at all, only spent ones from previous brews.

Special S1 at least doesn't have any pre-loved hops. It just doesn't have many hops. And it's dry-hopped, which domestic versions weren't.

Both of these beers were racked into 54-gallon hogsheads. Which is the type of cask beer was usually exported in. 

William Younger beer for Hong Kong
Date	Year	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	dry hops (oz / barrel)
14th Nov	1888	Special S1 HK	Stout	1077	1032	5.95	58.44%	3.38	1.23	5.30
10th Jan	1899	SE HK	Pale Ale	1064	1017	6.22	73.44%	14.48	3.93	11.21
Source:
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/34.
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/45.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1911 Eldridge Pope X

Part of the unusual parti-gyle with the Pale Ale above was this Mild Ale. Now, you may be asking why the ingredients aren’t the same. The answer is simple: The Pale Ale was pretty much all first wort and a couple of the sugars were only added to the second and third coppers.

All of which means that, despite being weaker, this beer is significantly darker than the Pale Ale. Being what I would class as semi-dark. Which is quite typical for Mild Ales of the period. Few were fully dark before WW I.

The hops are also different as the first and second coppers were hopped quite differently. While the first copper had five different types of English hops, the second had two types of English hops and one of Oregon.

With a gravity of just 1036º, this isn’t that far away from a modern Mild. And is much weaker than a London Mild Ale, which would have had a gravity over 1050º. 

1911 Eldridge Pope X
pale malt	6.25 lb	81.22%
flaked maize	0.375 lb	4.87%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	9.75%
No. 3 invert sugar	0.25 lb	3.25%
caramel 1000 SRM	0.07 lb	0.91%
Cluster 120 mins	0.75 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1036
FG	1009
ABV	3.57
Apparent attenuation	75.00%
IBU	37
SRM	11
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

The cost of various malts in 1907

Back trying hard to leach information from research from my new book without self-plagiarising. Or posting the whole of the book before I publish it.

Where am I? Trying to use a random table from the book. With a totally different text. At least, I hope a totally different text. Luckily, I assembled and discussed this table so long ago, I've not the slightest fucking idea what I wrote about it.

This is fun, isn't it? Well, for me at least.

The table, rather than comparing the price per weight of the different malts, looks at the price per pound of extract. Which is a better way of looking at the relative cost.

It's clear why Chilean barley was so popular. It was cheaper than English barley. Big surprise their. Who would have guessed that brewers would go for cheaper options?

Note also that Chevalier barley was being grown in Chile. Chevalier wasn't just the main barley variety grown in the UK, but was also common all over the world.

The cost of various malts in 1907
Oriigin	Malt type	Cost per lb. of extract. d.
English	pale ale malt	4.8
Smyrna	pale ale malt	4.4
Ouchak	pale ale malt	4.6
Californian	pale ale malt	4.3
English	stock ale malt	4.7
English	mild ale malt	4.5
Smyrna	mild ale malt	4.3
Californian	mild ale malt	4.2
Chilian (brewing)	mild ale malt	3.9
Chilian (Chevalier)	mild ale malt	4.5
Benghazi	mild ale malt	4.4
	Amber malt	4.7
	Brown malt	5.5
	Black malt	6.1
	Roasted barley	4.8
Source:
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 13, page 342.

 

Farewell old friend

I was incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Martyn Cornell yesterday. Not only was he a giant of the beer writing world, but also a dear friend.

Getting to know him well was a great honour. His work, which was often critical of the bad history which had preceded him, has influenced a whole generation.

His last blog post is typical of his writing. exploding, once more, the myth that Porter was named after market Porters. But, rather than leaving it there, he expounded at some length on the Wood Yard brewery and the Combe family. 

I last saw Martyn just a few weeks ago in Santiago. He seemed in really good form As fun and as cheerful as ever, even when things were going wrong.

I'll miss our chats. Not just the ones about beer history.Because, all the beer stuff aside, he was just a really good bloke. Who will be sorely missed by many.

Martyn Cornell with a gaggle of beer judges in Santiago.

 

 

 

A comparison of brewing adjuncts

As I'm sure I've already bored you lots of times with this. I'm not publishing excerpts of "Free!" on the blog. Other than recipes, that is. To read the the main text, you're going to have to buy the book.

What I am doing, is sharing some of the source material. The interesting stuff I unearth while researching the book. Often, a couple of thousand words I've found I'll condense down into just a sentence or two.

This probably doesn't come as any surprise: I quite enjoy the process of research. Given how deeply and fundamentally lazy I am, I wouldn't bother doing it if it wasn't fun. Even the really long-winded and tedious stuff. Like transcribing brewing records. I'm currently getting stuck into some William Younger records that I photographed in August 2009.

Getting to today's topic, it's a table of information about grains other than barley. The table appears in the adjuncts section of the brewing materials chapter. With some text that I won't be repeating here. Don't want to get into self-plagiarism. (Something my son Andrew keeps warning me about.) Luckily, I wrote the text a few weeks ago. Which, given my shit memory, means that I can't remember fuck all about it.

Looking at the analyses, the motivation behind using flaked rice - which was, in the early 1880s, in the immediate aftermath of the Free Mash Tun Act, the adjunct of choice - becomes clear. Rice had more starch, and hence higher potential extract, than maize. So why had brewers almost universally switched to maize by 1900? It's very simple. Maize was cheaper than rice. 

A comparison of brewing adjuncts
	rice	maize	oats
Starch	79	55.1	56.1
Water	10.6	12.0	13.6
Oil	0.1	5.5	4.0
Cellulose..	0.2	13.2	1.0
Albuminoids	7.5	8.0	16.5
Carbohydrates ..	1.4	3.0	6.0
Ash	1.0	1.8	2.4
Loss	0.2	1.4	0.4
total	100	100	100
Source:
Thatcher, Frank, A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting (The Country Brewers' Gazette, London, 1907), pages 256 - 259.

English Lager (part three)

We're back with the story of the world's favourite type of beer in the UK. This time looking at Allsopps fancy new Lager brewery, bought at great expense from the USA.

The author clearly believed that Allsopps was a wonderful company.

It is always difficult in the initial stages of a new industry to make it sufficiently popular to command success, and this may have been the cause of the general failures of the lager beer breweries of this country, but Messrs-Allsopp and Sons will start their project under the most favourable conditions for success. Their capital is ample, they can command the best of talent to be found amongst technical brewers, they now have not only a speciality in bitter and other beers commanding a ready sale throughout the United Kingdom, but they are also interested in tied houses in which they can control the sale of their new product in good condition. We shall, therefore, at no distant date be able to see the effect of this competition between top and bottom fermentation beer, and if the attempt is successful other brewers similarly circumstanced will be entering the field in competition with Messrs. Allsopp, and thereby give a stimulus to this industry which it was never before able to command.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 5 - 6.

It's quite funny, really, reading about how great Allsopps were. Just a few years before it all came tumbling down. They didn't have much capital left, as they'd spent it on overpriced tied houses. I doubt that the company ever expected to sell much of its Lager in its own tied estate. They wanted Lager for their export trade to the Far East.

The brewery was only active in Burton for a decade or so. Before falling into disuse. It was moved to Arrol's brewery in Alloa in 1921.

Here's the thing brewers seemed to hate about Lager: lagering. The Pfaudler vaccum system was intended to greatly speed up the process.

One great drawback to lager beer brewing is the length of time required to get it into condition for consumption, and many attempts have been made to hasten the process. The Pfaudler system of fermentation now in use in some American breweries is held out by the inventor as being able to produce a perfect beer, fit for consumption, in eleven days. After making every allowance for the optimism of inventors, the saving of time will be enormous if the invention is found in actual practice to do half as much as is claimed for it, and we are informed that this invention is to be tried at Burton in the production of the new beer, so that many problems are to be solved by Messrs. Allsopp's venture.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 5 - 6.

Could the system really brew a perfect Lager in eleven days? I doubt it. I'm sure some sort of beer could be produced. Eleven days is about how long a primary fermentation at low Lager temperatures would take. Doesn't leave much room for lagering.

Given that the Pfaudler system didn't take over the world, I'm guessing it wasn't quite as brilliant as claimed. 

Here's more about the Lager brewery:

A Lager Brewery for Burton.
Messrs. Allsopp and Sons are about to enter upon an important enterprise in the establishment of a lager brewery in High Street. The site chosen is that which is occupied by the company’s old brewery, which was closed for several years after the formation of the company, but has lately been reopened. Here it was that Messrs. Allsopp originally commenced business, and where the family laid the foundation of their fortunes. The initial outlay on the new venture is estimated at £80,030, and it has been decided upon after careful consideration by the directors, and after the most stringent enquiries and investigation on the part of the chairman (the Hon. Percy Allsopp) and the head brewer (Mr. Hutton) among the lager breweries in Germany. The system decided on is that of the Pfaudler Vacuum Fermentation Company, and known as the “F. F.” vacuum system, whose chief works and offices are in New York. By this method, it is claimed, the main fermentation and the so-called after or small fermentation are combined, and the beer is completely fermented, aged, and made ready for the market — a matured and perfect beer in every detail. The plant which it is proposed to lay down will be capable of turning out from 50,000 to 60,000 barrels a year, and it is to include machines for making ten tons of ice per day for cooling purposes. This is the first time the system has been adopted in England, and it is expected to be in working order early in May, and the first lot of lager placed on the market in June. The directors are confident that the scheme will prove very advantageous to the shareholders.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, page 10. 

80,000 quid was a shitload of money back then. Though it was a decent size. 60,000 barrels was enough to supply all the Lager consumed in the UK.

It does sound like the Pfaudler system just skipped secondary fermentation  I'm sure there's no way that could affect the flavour.

Let's Brew - 1911 Eldridge Pope Pale Ale

Strongest of Eldridge Pope’s Pale Ales was, er, Pale Ale. There were another couple of versions of AK, but they were so similar to the base AK that I haven’t bothered including them.

This beer was parti-gyled. Not with AK, but with X and XXX. Which you might think is a bit weird. And you’d be right. It was possible because PA was made with almost exclusively first wort. Which didn’t include any No. 3 invert.

All the same elements are here that are in AK. Except in different proportions. There’s half the amount of sugar. Which was three-quarters No. 2 invert and a quarter something called “DL”. No idea what that might be so I’ve just bumped up the amount of No. 2.

Five types of English hops were employed. With no indication of their vintage.

My guess is that this was a semi-stock Pale Ale, aged for a few months before consumption. 

1911 Eldridge Pope Pale Ale
pale malt	10.00 lb	87.57%
flaked maize	0.67 lb	5.87%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.75 lb	6.57%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.50 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.50 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1051
FG	1015.5
ABV	4.70
Apparent attenuation	69.61%
IBU	46
SRM	6
Mash at	152.5º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

Eldridge Pope mashing scheme 1896

The fermenting room at Eldridge Pope in the 1890s.

I thought some of you might be interested in a typical Eldridge Pope mashing scheme to go along with all the recipes of theirs I've been publishing.

For the 19th century, it's not that complicated a procedure. It's a typical example of what I would call an underlet mash. A mashing system that was incredibly popular in England. Not so much in Scotland, where most brewers seem to have gone for a single infusion, followed by a couple of sparges.

In an underlet mash, there's an initial infusion, followed 15 to 20 minutes later by the addition of a relatively small amount of hotter water from the bottom of the tun. Using an entrance called an underlet. The internal rakes would then be spun a couple of times to mix the hotter water evenly through the mash. Raising the temperature of the mash by a few degrees. The mash was then left to stand for a couple of hours.

In essence it was a simple type of step mash. The only slight downside was that you needed to have internal rakes in your mash tun. Which most breweries, where Steel's mashers were installed, didn't really need otherwise.

Admittedly, the table below would be more useful for anyone trying to recreate it if the initial heats were given. Let me know if you give it a try.

Eldridge Pope XX and PA mashing scheme 15th April 1896
operation	barrels water	strike heat	tap heat	time stood (minutes)
mash	72	161º F		17
underlet	5	190º F	152º F	147
sparge 1	62	170º F	156º F
sparge 2	61	160º F
Source:
Eldridge Pope brewing record held at the Dorset History Centre.

 

 

English Lager (part two)

It may seem difficult for some youngsters to grasp, but at one time fuck all Lager was consumed in Britain. A century after it had been introduced into the country, it still only accounted for 2% of consumption. Not a very impressive rate of growth.

Still, that 2% is enormous compared to the amount of Lager consumed in 1899.

Persons not conversant with brewing statistics inform the public through the daily press that in this country lager beer is becoming a popular drink, but this statement is not borne out by facts, and we can only surmise that the writers have mixed up their continental experience and what they have seen at some of the German cafes in London and of the populous towns with ordinary beer consumption, making this experience to become in their minds the national habit. To show the pertinence of our conclusion we give statistics from the forty-first report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for the financial year ended the 31st March last. The gross barrels of beer brewed amounted to 35,632,131, and the quantity upon which duty was actually paid within the year was 35,590,095. The quantity of British beer exported from the United Kingdom within the same period was 462,953 barrels, but the quantity of foreign beer imported was only 45,194 barrels. These figures of home production and import are startling enough when given in barrels but probably the expression of them in terms of percentage consumption will make the comparison more striking still and it will be found that of the beer consumed in this country 99.88 per cent, was home brewed, and 0.12 per cent only of foreign origin. We do not overlook the fact that attempts have been made during the last ten years of establishing lager beer breweries in the United Kingdom. The number started has been very small, and in the majority of cases the attempt has met with failure. At the present time there are only about four such breweries in the United Kingdom. The plant in each case is of limited capacity, and the output not such as to make any appreciable difference in the percentages before given, especially when in the calculation it has been assumed that all the beer imported was lager beer, which, strictly speaking, is not the case.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 5 - 6.

German brewers did have pubs in London. The most prominent being Spaten's on Piccadilly Circus, opened in the 1890s. But they also had one Market Street in Manchester. So Lager-drinking wasn't purely a metropolitan phenomenon. Lager had been available in Manchester since 1869:

"THE STOCK EXCHANGE LUNCHEON-ROOMS.
ENTRANCES:
NEWMARKET-ST. and BACK POOL FOLD, CROSS-STREET,
with the WINES Bodega Company, Bass's PALE ALE, Reid's Imperial STOUT, and Dreher's VIENNA BEER."
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Monday 02 August 1869, page 1.

There were, indeed several failed attempts at establishing a Lager brewery. Here are a few:

The Bayerische Lager Beer Brewery in Eltham, Kent, which opened in 1881 and closed in 1888.
The Austro-Bavarian Lager Beer and Crystal Ice Company in Tottenham, London, brewed from 1882 to 1895.
The Kaiser Lager Beer Co. which lasted from 1884 to 1890.
The English Lager Beer Brewery which started brewing at Batheaston in 1890 and went bankrupt in 1893.

There were also established brewers who tinkered with Lager and they abadonned it. For example, William Younger in Edinburgh and the St. Anne’s Well Brewery in Exeter

I'm trying to work out who the four Lager brewers were. Wrexham and Tenent. Who were the other two? Jeffrey of Edinburgh, maybe?

Lots more of this to come.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1911 Eldridge Pope AK

How has a decade and a half affected Eldridge Pope AK? I some ways not all, in others quite a bit.

Let’s start with the quite a bit. The gravity is down more than 5º and the ABV more than half a percent. Boo.

Exactly what I’d expect, mind. In the early years of the 20th century brewers were under pressure. The excise duty on beer was increased to pay for the Boer War and the cost of brewing licences was greatly increased. The price of beer being totally inelastic, brewers reacted to these increases by reducing gravities. Which had been their response for more than a century.

The grist is as near as dammit identical. Same ingredients, same proportions. Nothing to see there.

While the hopping rate per barrel remained identical, the 1911 iteration included a large quantity of old hops. Mid-Kent and Kent from 1908, Worcester from 1909, East Kent from 1909 and Mid-Kent from 1910.

1911 Eldridge Pope AK
pale malt	7.00 lb	79.28%
flaked maize	0.33 lb	3.74%
No. 2 invert sugar	1.50 lb	16.99%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	0.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1043
FG	1011
ABV	4.23
Apparent attenuation	74.42%
IBU	32
SRM	7.5
Mash at	152º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity

 

Exhibit of Foreign and Colonial Beers (part three)

I'm back with this exhibition again. With an article I'll be mining extensively.

Let's continue with the overview of beers from various regions. Starting with India.

The samples from India were top-fermentation beers; but they all partook more or less of the character of lager beers. There could be no doubt that the Indian pale ale of Messrs. E. Dyer and Co., of Solan, was the best of the group; whilst among the Indian stouts the palm must be given to the XX No. 3 of Messrs. E. Dyer and Co., Lucknow.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

I wonder what is meant by "the character of lager beers"? Lots of dextrin but few esters? It's worth noting that the only top-fermenting styles brewed in any of the regions were Stout and Pale Ale. The latter mostly in the form of IPA. There's no Mild or Old Ale. I'm fascinated by how international IPA at this date. Though it would later fall out of fashion.

The samples sent from Japan were very tastefully got up; the beers themselves were of an agreeable flavour, although they were of such a distinct type that much cannot be said about them.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

So, pretty labels, but very distinctive, the Japanese beers. It seems like a bit of a back-handed compliment. And I wish they had said more about them to explain further. Sapporo Lager is one of the beers at the exhibition which I've drunk myself.

The India pale ale of the Copeland Brewery Company, Toronto, was unquestionably the best sample from Canada, some of the other Canadian beer being of rough flavour. Messrs. Howard, Halifax, and the Cosgrave Brewery Company, Toronto, sent some very satisfactory stouts.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

They don't seem to have been very impressed by the Canadian beers. Note that they were IPA and Stout again.

Among the Australian samples, the Carlton Brewery Company, and McCracken’s Brewery, Melbourne, both sent samples of very fair ale. The extra stout of the Shamrock Brewing and Malting Company was in our opinion the best Australian stout.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

It must have been a challenge getting the Australian beers to London in good condition. Which might be why there were no Lagers amongst the samples, only top-fermenting beer.

There was a large number of different brands of beers from the United States, and among these may be specially mentioned the export beer of the Pabst Brewing Company, Milwaukee, which was a very fine full drinking beer.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, November 15th 1902, page 672.

Interesting that Pabst was selected for special praise. My kids seem to quite like Pabst Blie Ribbon. Though I doubt that's very similar to Pabst Export from 1902.
 

English Lager (part one)

One of the many topics with which I'm weirdly fascinated by is the history of brewing Lager in th UK. Maybe it's because it nicely dovetails with a couple of my other obsessions. Namely Barclay Perkins and brewing in Scotland.

So I was dead pleased to find this lengthy article about English Lager, published in 1899. It seems to have been prompted by Allsopp's announcement that it was getting into the Lager game.

English Lager.
An announcement has been macle, apparently with authority, that Messrs. Allsopp and Sons intend at an early date to commence brewing lager beer at one of their Barton breweries. This announcement is a welcome one to those who take an interest in the world's consumption of beer, because it is likely to settle the question once for all whether in this country the small consumption of bottom-fermentation beer is due to its non-suitability to the wants of beer consumers, or that it has not been brought to the notice of the general public in an attractive form as to quality and price. In America, for instance, with a population of cosmopolitan origin, the production of lager beer is extending in all directions, and it has been asserted by those best acquainted with the industry that in a comparatively short time the brewing of top-fermentation beer will cease altogether, the national taste going in favour of lager beer, which, through not being highly hopped, is not heady, and possesses other properties attractive to the beer drinker of the States. No doubt climatic conditions have had some effect on this change of fashion, but up to the present time it has been a problem waiting for satisfactory solution why it is that in America this change should be generally taking place, whilst here the quantity of lager beer consumed is comparatively infinitesimal, and does not appear to be on the increase.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 35 1899, January 15th 1899, pages 5 - 6.

It's slightly odd that the author combines Allsopp's Lager brewery purchase with domestic consumption of Lager. Because their primary reason for brewing Lager wasn't to serve the UK. Bit for its export markets. Where Lager was seriously cutting into their sales of IPA.

The question of why Lager took off everywhere else in the late 19th century, but not the UK, is a good one. I'd put it down to a couple of factors. Number one being that the UK was already producing high-quality beer. And at a wide range of strength and character. That is, there wasn't a huge Lager-shaped hole in the market.

The second, that the brewing industry in the UK was already highly-developed, both technologically and financially. Breweries already had pretty modern equipment. And, by 1899, most breweries of any size were limited companies. Whereas in, for example, Northern Germany, the breweries were mostly small, old-fashioned and family-owned when the Lager wave swepy over them in the late 19th century. They didn't switch to bottom-fermentation. New limited companies were formed to build and run modern Lager breweries. With the technology cash behind them to easily outbrew and outcompete the older brewers.

Life for a new Lager brewer in the UK was much more difficult. Hence the many failures. There was far more competition from existing, quality beers. And plenty of large brewers with lots of money and also tied house.

I can think of a couple of reasons why Lager would take off more quickly in the USA: immigration and climate. Lots of Central Europeans coming in already used to Lager. It's noticeable that in regions settled earlier, such as the Northeast USA, Ale remained popular well into the 20th century. Anyone who has visited pretty much anywhere in the USA in the Summer can appreciate why you might reach for a nice cooling glass of Lager.

Thinking about it, the title for this article is wrong. It should be British Lager. As, of the handfull of brewers producing Lager at the time, one was in Scotland and one in Wales.

Quite a lot more of this to come. Including details of Allsopp's fancy new Lager brewery. And what became of it.

New local update

Checkpoint Charlie it is. Our new local. That seems to be settled. For the time being, at least. Despite the prices going up. Twice. (When I were a lad, prices only went up in Amsterdam once every couple of decades.)

Outside Checkpoint Charlie.

I feel quite at home there now. Which I should do, after more than a year frequenting the place. Some of the barstaff seem to recognise us. Which, again, they should do after a year. Lucas has chatted with a couple of the other regulars. It would be more of a surprise if he hadn't, sociable beast that he is. Alexei plays the pinball. Which is probably the main reason he turns up.

It's not the same as Butcher's Tears. Yet. All those layers of interactions need time to build up. Like layers of paint. I'll give it a few more years.

Tears II garden.

We've visited Tears II, the Butcher's Tears shop, a couple of times. And had a couple of beers in their massive garden, which was pleasant. But it's not a pub. Ruling it out as our local. 

Hard work building up a local. But it's work I'm prepared to put in.

Let's Brew - 1897 Eldridge Pope XXXX

An 1890 price list describes XXXX as a Strong Old Ale. No equivocation, as with the different flavours of XXX.

Still the same three elements in the grist: pale malt, flaked maize and sugar. But with a much lower proportion of the last two. Leaving it almost 95% pale malt. What else am I going to talk about here? Let’s have a think.

I know. There are no fewer than six types of pale malt. Some made from English barley and some from foreign barley. Which seems slightly excessive. Two or three is more usual.

Four types of hops on this spin. Three English, one Californian. One lot of English hops from the 1895 harvest and another from 1896. There’s no indication of the age of the other two types of hops.

Given that this was advertised as an Old Ale, I’m fairly certain that this would have been aged. Probably for at least a year. And maybe more. 

1897 Eldridge Pope XXXX
pale malt	16.25 lb	94.20%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	2.90%
No. 2 invert sugar	0.50 lb	2.90%
Fuggles 150 mins	3.00 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	3.00 oz
OG	1075
FG	1024
ABV	6.75
Apparent attenuation	68.00%
IBU	61
SRM	7
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity