Page:EB1911 - Volume 03.djvu/662

grammes respectively. Taking the proteid content of the average beer at 0·4% and the carbohydrate content at 4%, a simple calculation shows that about 3% of the total proteid and 11% of the total carbohydrate food of the average worker will be consumed in the shape of beer.

The chemical composition of beers of different types will be gathered from the following tables.

A. English Beers.
(Analyses by J. L. Baker, Hulton & P. Schidrowitz.)
I. Mild Ales.

Number.	Original Gravity.	Alcohol %.	Extractives (Solids) %.
1.[1] 2.[1]  3.[2]	1055·13 1055·64 1071·78	4·17 4·47 5·57	6·1 5·7 7·3

II. Light Bitters and Ales.

Number.	Original Gravity.	Alcohol %.	Extractives (Solids) %.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.	1046·81 1047·69 1047·79 1050·30 1038·31	4·15 4·23 4·61 4·53 3·81	4·0 4·1 3·2 4·2 3·5

III. Pale and Stock Ales.

Number.	Original Gravity.	Alcohol %.	Extractives (Solids) %.
1.[3] 2.[4] 3.[4]	1059·01 1068·58 1076·80	4·77 5·48 6·68	5·8 7·1 5·9

IV. Stouts and Porter.

Number.	Original Gravity.	Alcohol %.	Extractives (Solids) %.
1.[5] 2.[6] 3.[6]  4.[7]	1072·92 1054·26 1081·62 1054·11	6·14 4·73 6·02 3·90	6·3 4·5 8·8 6·5

The figures in the above tables are very fairly representative of different classes of British and Irish beers. It will be noticed that the Mild Ales are of medium original gravity^[8] and alcoholic strength, but contain a relatively large proportion of solid matter. The Light Bitters and Ales are of a low original gravity, but compared with the Mild Ales the proportion of alcohol to solids is higher. The Pale and Stock Ales, which represent the more expensive bottle beers, are analytically of much the same character as the Light Bitters, except that the figures all round are much higher. The Stouts, as a rule, are characterized by a high gravity, and contain relatively more solids (as compared with alcohol) than do the heavy beers of light colour. With regard to the proportions of the various matters constituting the extractives (solids) in English beers, roughly 20-30% consists of maltose and 20-50% of dextrinous matter. In mild ales the proportion of maltose to dextrin is high (roughly 1:1), thus accounting for the full sweet taste of these beers. Pale and stock ales, on the other hand, which are of a “dry” character, contain relatively more dextrin, the general ratio being about 1:11/2 or 1:2. The mineral matter (“ash”) of beers is generally in the neighbourhood of 0·2 to 0·3%, of which about one-fourth is phosphoric acid. The proteid (“nitrogenous matters”) content of beers varies very widely according to character and strength, the usual limits being 0·3 to 0·8%, with an average of roughly 0·4%.

B. Continental Beers.
(Analyses by A. Doemens.)

Description.	Original   Gravity.	Alcohol %.	Extractives   (Solids) %.
Munich Draught Dark   ”    ”   ” Munich Draught Light    ”    ”   ” Munich Export  ”   ” Munich Bock Beer[9] Pilsener Bottle Pilsener Draught Berlin Dark Berlin Light Berlin Weissbier	1056·4 1052·6 1048·0 1048·1 1054·3 1059·5 1076·6 1047·7 1044·3 1055·2 1056·5 1033·1	3·76 3·38 3·18 4·05 3·68 4·15 4·53 3·47 3·25 3·82 4·36  2·644	6·58 6·45 5·55 3·92 6·32 7·48 10·05  4·90 4·58 6·17 5·46 3·01

It will be seen that, broadly speaking, the original gravity of German and Austrian beers is lower than that of English beers, and this also applies to the alcohol. On the other hand, the foreign beers are relatively very rich in solids, and the extractives: alcohol ratio is high. (See Brewing.)

C. American Beers and Ales.
(Analyses by M. Wallerstein.)

Description.			Original   Gravity.	Alcohol %.	Extractives (Solids) %.
Bottom Fermentation Beers (Lager Type). Top Fermentation Ales (British Type).	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$ $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3.	1046·7 1055·6 1063·4 1046·0 1051·7 1084·2 1073·5 1068·0	3·48 3·56 4·12 2·68 3·42 5·89 6·46 5·50	5·08 6·50 7·43 5·96 5·86 8·60 5·69 5·53

It will be noted that the American beers (i.e. bottom fermentation products of the lager type) are very similar in composition to the German beers, but that the ales are very much heavier than the general run of the corresponding British products.

Production and Consumption.—(For manufacture of beer, see Brewing.) Germany is the greatest beer-producing nation, if liquid bulk be taken as a criterion; the United States comes next, and the United Kingdom occupies the third place in this regard. The consumption per head, however, is slightly greater in the United Kingdom than in Germany, and very much greater than is the case in the United States. The 1905 figures with regard to the total production and consumption of the three great beer-producing countries, together with those for 1885, are as under:—

Country.	Total Production (Gallons).		Consumption per Head of Population (Gallons).
German Empire.  United States. United Kingdom.	1905.	1885.	1905.	1885
	1,538,240,000 1,434,114,180 1,227,933,468[10]	932,228,000   494,854,000 993,759,000	26·3 19·9 27·90[10]	19·8  8·8 27·1

1. London Ales.
2. Strong Burton Mild Ale.
3. Fairly representative of “Pale Ales.”
4. Heavy Stock Ales.
5. Irish Stout.
6. Nos. 2 and 3 are respectively “single” and “double” London Stouts from the same brewery.
7. London Porter or Cooper.
8. The specific gravity, or “gravity” as it is always termed in the industry, of the brewer is 1000 times the specific gravity of the physicist. This is purely a matter of convention and convenience. Thus when a brewer speaks of a wort of a “gravity” of 1045 (ten-forty-five) he means a wort having a specific gravity of 1·045. Each unit in the brewer’s scale of specific gravity is termed a “degree of gravity.” The wort referred to above, therefore, possesses forty-five degrees of gravity. The “original gravity,” it may here be mentioned, represents the specific gravity of the wort (see Brewing) before fermentation. The solids in the original wort may be ascertained by dividing the excess of the gravity over 1000 by 3·86. Thus in the case of Mild Ale No. 1 the excess of the original gravity over 1000 is 1055·13 − 1000 = 55·13. Dividing this by 3·86 we get 14·28, which indicates that the wort from which the beer was manufactured contained 14·28% of solids. In the trade the gravity of a beer (or rather of the wort from which it is derived) is generally expressed in pounds per barrel. This means the excess in weight of a barrel of the wort over the weight of a barrel of water. The weight of a barrel (36 gallons) of water is 360 ℔; in the above example the weight of a barrel of the beer wort is 360 × 1·05513 = 379·8. The gravity of the wort in ℔ is therefore 379·8 − 360 = 19·8. The beer which is made from this wort would also be called a 19·8 ℔ beer, the reference in all cases being to the original wort.
9. A particularly heavy beer, only brewed at certain times in the year.
10. The maxima of production and consumption were reached in 1899/1900, when the production amounted to 1,337,509,116 gallons (at the standard gravity) and consumption to 32·28 gallons per head.