Question about Steam Beer

The new 2015 guidelines have a Historic category, and there is a Kentucky Common subcategory that is the result of extensive research into what Kentucky common was using primary records from the day, including the records from Oertels and Pheonix breweries. You can read it, and see that the beers were for quick consumption. There was no mention in contemporary records that the beer was sour.

 

Re the flavors described in turn-of the last century Steam beers in the Bay area, is it possible that they were in part derived from the wild yeast and bacteria that would have accompanied the use of wooden cooperage and open fermentation tanks? (Especially if the tanks/barrels for transport to points of sale were not pitch lined or the pitch lining was poorly applied.)

Re difference between the flavors reported for Steam beers in that era and the Kentucky common beers from the same era is it possible that they were in part derived from the fact that the populations of wild yeast (and their symbiotic bacteria) were different between those two areas of the country (which in those days were far enough apart that they might each just as well have been part of two different countries).

For example, because of the different populations of wild yeast and their symbiotic bacteria, Sourdough bread in the SF Bay area has a particular unique set of flavors that would set it apart from the same recipe for Sourdough bread in, say Lexington, KY (or in the Steppes of Russia). (Note: One critical step in making true sourdough bread is to mix water and flower and then leave the container exposed, often outdoors, for a couple of days until fermentation begins. Typically one would cover the opening in the container with cheese cloth to keep out insects and leaves, etc.)

 

There is zero mention of a lactic quality in the below account from Wahl & Henius. There is mention of high carbonation which will provide a lot of carbonic acid (a sharp quality),

Wahl & Henius also mentions: “It will keep for some time in trade packages, i.e. from 2 to 6 months,...” This indicates that Steam Beer was a stable product.



“This beer is largely consumed throughout the state of California. It is called steam beer on account of its highly effervescing properties and the amount of pressure ("steam") it has in the trade packages. The pressure ranges from 40 to 70 pounds in each trade package, according to the amount of kraeusen added, temperatures, and time it takes before being consumed and the distance it travels from saloon rack to faucet, etc. Usually 50 to 60 pounds' pressure is sufficient for general use.

Strength of Wort: 11 to 12 1/2 Balling.

Materials: Malt alone, malt and grits, or raw cereals of any kind, and sugars, especially glucose, employed in the kettle to the extent of 33 1/3 per cent. The barley is malted as for lager beers. Roasted malt or sugar coloring is used to give the favored amber color of Munich beer.

Mashing methods vary greatly. Some brewers employ English mashing methods, but the double mashing methods employed in a great many lager breweries, starting with low temperatures, in fact, mashing as though for lager beer with the exception of stopping and mashing at 158 F. (56 R.*) until all is converted, will give very good results. But as a rule the initial temperatures are taken about 140 to 145 F. (48 to 50 R.) then to 149 to 154 F. (52 to 54 R.), mash 10 to 15 minutes, and then raise to 158 F. (56 R.) as final temperature.

The raw materials are cooked and added in the same manner as if conducting a lager beer mash.

The mash is allowed to rest about 45 minutes, and the same precautions taken as to running off wort and sparging as in other mashes, the sparging water to be about 167 F. (60 R.)

The hops used depend upon the quality. Of a good quality, three-fourths of a pound per barrel is used and added in the usual way.

The wort is boiled as soon as the bottom of the kettle is covered, and after the kettle is filled, boiling is continued for one to two hours. The wort is then pumped to the surface cooler, and the over the Baudelot cooler and cooled to about 60 to 62 F. (12 to 13 R.). In breweries where no cooling apparatus is used, the wort is exposed over night, or until it is cooled to the above temperature.

Fermentation: The wort is now run into tubs of the starting tub style and size, where it is pitched with about one pound per barrel of a special type of bottom fermenting yeast, and well aerated. In about 14 hours a thick, heavy kraeusen appears from which the beer to be racked off is kraeusened. The temperature of the beer is now about 2 or 3 F. higher, or about 62 to 63 F. (13 to 14 R.) if pitched at 60. After kraeusen have been taken it is run into long, wide shallow vats, called clarifiers, which are made of wood, about 12 inches high. Precautions are taken that clarifiers, in which the beer stands six to eight inches high, are not too cold, so as to give the wort running out of the tubs a sudden set-back which may check fermentation. This can easily be avoided by sprinkling the clarifiers with hot water previous to letting wort run.

The wort then ferments in the clarifiers for two to four days. Precautions are taken against exposure to sunlight, and the fermentation should not rise too high. The matter which rises to the top is skimmed off continuously.

When indications are the same as in lager beers, viz., dark color, yeast well settled, good, clear break, etc., it is ready to be racked directly into trade packages, or if for some reason it is deemed expedient, it may be racked into small casks of 5, 10, 15, or 20 barrels' capacity and kept there at a moderate temperature until wanted, then kraeusened and racked off. If racked off directly from clarifiers, the kraeusen is added with a quart measure to the trade packages, according to the amount of carbonic acid desired, the weather, etc., usually about five gallons per one general trade package called one-half barrel or 15 gallons, or, in general, 33 to 40 percent.

Finings are also added to each keg in about the same proportion as for lager beer. Trade packages are then gone over with a special filling can, filled completely and closed with iron screw bungs. After two days they are ready for shipment. The beer should be about 5 or 10 days old before leaving the brewery when it has obtained the necessary pressure. In the saloon it is laid up for two days to allow settling, the bung being opened, as a rule, over night, to allow just a small amount of gas to escape, so as to be able to draw from the faucets without getting too much foam. This is done if drawing directly from the keg, while, if using beer apparatus, "steaming," as the escape of gas is called, is unnecessary.

If this beer is properly brewed and handled it makes a very clear, refreshing drink, much consumed by the laboring classes. It will keep for some time in trade packages, i.e. from 2 to 6 months, but is usually brewed and consumed within a month or three weeks.

--From R. Wahl and M. Henius, "Special American Beers," in American Handybook of the Brewing, Malting, and Auxiliary Trades, vol. II (Wahl-Henius Institute, Chicago, 1908), pp. 1235-1237.”

*R = Reaumur scale, in which 0 is the freezing point of water and 80 is the boiling point, at standard atmospheric pressure.

Cheers!

 

John Innes might have them:

https://www.jic.ac.uk/

That's where Chevallier came from. They have a huge collection of barley in their seed bank and not just UK varieties.

 

Funny, I'm right in the middle of exploring Sourdough Bread and creating a starter. Turns out that the San Francisco unique thing may just be a myth.http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=sdmyths

 

The topic of the high levels of high carbonation was addressed by Roger Bergen in his BT article:

“Postfermentation Treatment
This is the area in which modern Anchor Steam diverges most from its origins. As a draft-only cask- conditioned beer with a very high carbonation level, steam beer was quite singular. The quoted pressures and kraeusen rates seems absurdly high to us today, but there may have been method behind this seeming madness.

The large number of actively fermenting yeast cells and the high pressure may have given some protection from wild yeast and bacteria for a while. On the other hand, until the beer had been cellared for a week or two, considerable acetaldehyde, diacetyl, and hydrogen sulfide must have been present -- the usual primary-fermentation characters associated with kraeusened beer, although warm storage temperatures would have hastened their reduction.

Pouring steam beer in a saloon must have been a chore far beyond that associated with today's product. I theorize that a slow, careful "German" pouring style must have been used, resulting in a billowing head and gentle carbonation in the mouth. Many volatile green-beer compounds would have been blown off by the excess carbon dioxide during the pouring. It was, in its first life, a rough-and-ready working man's beer and must have been especially enjoyed by the many English, Irish, and German immigrants who built the turbulent city by the bay.

This process was essentially unchanged in 1965 when Fritz Maytag took over Anchor Brewing.”

The above contains what I consider to be speculation for the reasoning behind the high carbonation.

I wonder if a query directed to Fritz Maytag on why Steam Beer was historically carbonated at such high levels would be helpful.

Cheers!

 

Here's a link you'll enjoy then:

http://www.sourdo.com/our-sourdough-cultures-2/

It's to the original source for some of your source's information.

What seems to be the myth is that it requires open air exposure to start fermentation. It was from reading Wood's book of recipes, etc. (he's a microbiologist) and the National Geographic article that I picked up the idea that the strains of yeast and bacteria differ (the bugs and critters) or include different strains from location to location. One problem is "how widely separated" those locations have to be. But one thing about the "myth" of open air spontaneous fermentation, is that its probably the same with both bread and beer. Once the process gets started it is the residual collection of Bugs and Critters hanging around that's responsible for most of the fermentation. And maybe its on the grains in both cases as well. I've suspected for quite a while that's why the Lambic brewers' refusal to renovate the interior of their brewery buildings is a well founded action even if the reason is not fully understood. (Its kind like of the refusal to disturb spider webs in the rafters. Doesn't impact the beer necessarily but does help to control the flies attracted by the sugared liquid that comes bubbling out of the aging casks of "fresh" lambic. )