Pre prohibition beer

Yeah, that can't be correct. That mash would never convert.

Cheers!

 

If you're looking for a pre-prohibition lager, perhaps look at a brewer who was actually brewing it pre-prohibition?

Schell’s Deer Brand

AALs aren't something I seek out, so I've never had it. (But, I'd bet they could increase their ratings by 10 points on this site if they branded it as "Pre-Prohibition" instead of hiding that in the description! )

 

It could be he other way around. Unmalted wheat is zero degrees Lintner.
Actually, 90/10 malted/unmalted sounds pretty good. A bitch to lauter but possible?

Side bar, I know...

 

Yup, it could be the other way around.

Bill, everything I have read indicated that the bulk of the grist for a traditional Wibier is a combination of barley malt (which provides diastatic poower and husk for lautering) and unmalted wheat. There may be a small portion of oats as well. For my homebrewed Witbiers I use 50% Belgian Pilsner Malt and 50% Flaked Wheat.

If BA IceAce can provide some links (i.e. a published article) for his claim that Pierre used malted wheat in brewing Hoegaarden I would be interested in reading that. A conversation he may have had with Christine 10 years ago just does not cut it with me.

Cheers!

 

I don't know about pre prohibition beer, but it is a great lager. Seems like a more flavorful higher quality version of an aal.

 

I concur and said just as much.

And after re-reading my post I realized that someone did a horrible job of phrasing (mainly me).

My post made it sound as though the grain bill was 90/10 wheat...

...what it should have said was 50%Belgian Pils, 45% wheat (with the 90/10 ratio) and 5% oats.

Oops...

 

Excellent post and thanks for adding a beer to my wish ist!

 

How close to pre-pro is Yuengling traditional lager? I ask because I really don't know.

 

I was wondering if you ever tried the Batch 19 from Coors? If so, what was your opinion of it, not just in taste, but concerning the (pre-prohibition) story behind it?

 

I haven't had that one, but @JackHorzempa looked into it a while back and posted that he didn't believe that it was true to the pre-prohibition recipe. Here's one post I found:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/the-problem-with-batch-19.82287/page-3#post-1208792

On the topic of AALs, in an older post I once said:
"... but it seems that the AALs that I have found enjoyable have all shown their hops- and that list does include Lord Chesterfield. I think it really drives home the old brewers saying that "hops are the seasoning of beer". Without those hops, most AALs come across as an unseasoned dish."

And that's the way it still boils down for me. I also really enjoy the Straub 1872 that Jack mentioned earlier in the thread, and it seems to be made with more care towards recreating the original recipe.

 

In fact Fuller's used corn in their beers up till quite recently. It didn't harm their ESB very much

AALs were in fact a continuation of German beers from before 1900. The Reinheitsgebot didn't apply outside Bavaria. The favourite German adjunct was rice more than corn but such beers have a long history.

 

I don't think it would take many alterations to the basic process used by Anheuser Busch to brew Budweiser in order to get close to a typical pre-prohibition recipe, or product line up. Cut out the high gravity brewing and instead opt for an original gravity of between 12-14% (depending on the type of beer to be brewed, Bohemian style, Vienna style or Munich style lager, but with room for brewer discretion within this span), use a hopping rate according to the beer to be produced (say between 0.5-1.2 lbs per barrel) add at least a few more weeks of lagering, strive for a slightly higher residual extract. Use around 30% corn grits or rice, or go all malt. Don't use colorants (caramel malt or black malt) for Bohemian style beers, but use either colorants and or darker malts for darker styles of beer.

I do think however that it would make a big difference in the flavor of the finished beers.

 

Yuengling Traditional Lager was developed in the 1980s and first released in November, 1987. Some Yuengling promotional material claim it is "...a historic recipe (which) was resurrected..." while other authorized sources suggest that Yuengling brewmaster Ray Norbert based it on "...lagers that had developed in Czechoslovakia during the first half of the nineteenth century". Besides obvious differences in modern brewing methods and ingredients (factors that plague all such "historic" recipe claims), Yuengling Lager's use of Cascade hops, first commercially released in the 1970s, proves it is not an authentic pre-Pro recipe by most criteria.

 

From the top of my head I think that lager as we know it came after Sedlmeyr and Dreher's visit to the UK where they found out about making pale malt . That was just in the first half of the 19th century and I'd be surprised if pale lagers became everyday drinks before 1850.

 

Thanks, I figured it's a modern update and the lack of Cluster hops underscores the point. Of course as marquis mentioned most any lager is a derivative of the original models from the last half of the 19th century. When Yuengling arrived in our market last week I thought it similar to what we tasted back in the 70s then decided it would be silly of me to pretend I actually remember. We older fellows are hard pressed to recall what we had for breakfast.

 

Have you tried Anchor California Lager yet? That one is an all malt pre-pro, and it's a great beer to boot.

 

That's surprising , barley grown in continental climates usually suffered from haziness because of protein content. That's why rice and corn were added in the first place.It meant that local barley could be used for brewing.

 

A good part of California enjoys a Mediterranean climate if that makes a difference. Whatever they used they made it work. The lagerish hybrid nature of California Common beer was developed by very determined men who were obviously thirsty.

 

My guess is that the barley back in The times referred to here were from parts of Northern California or the coast that have a milder climate. Or the barley could have been from Oregon. There was a malt house in the Bay Area that closed late last century.

Rahr malting has 2row today that is in the 11.5-/+.5, so that range is under 12 for total protein, so haze is not a problem.

 

California was known in the late 1800s/early 1900s for the cultivation of a less protein rich barley variety known as Bay Brewing Barley.