the comingled history of brewing and refrigeration
TRANSCRIPT
The Comingled History of Brewing and Refrigeration
Dan Dettmers’ possibly inaccurate but immensely entertaining interpretation of how refrigeration influenced the beers we
drink and vice versa.
2016 IRC Research & Technology Forum
Brewing Refrigeration
Progress
Meat Packing Cold Storage Entertainment ???????????????
Progress + =
Ancient Brewing History Origins of beer
Göbekli Tepe (9,000 BC) Ancient Sumaria (3,000 BC)
Many flavorings used Roots, berries, herbs Beer would quickly go bad (bacteria)
Hops discovered in ancient Asia Romans brought from Asia but it
took 1,000 years before use in beer Hildegard Von Bingen (~1120 AD)
discovered bacteriostatic properties
Ancient Refrigeration History 1100 B.C - “In the days of the third month, we cart the blocks to
the ice houses to store” Shih Ching, Chinese poem 500 B.C. – Egyptians use radiative and evaporative cooling to cool
large jars of water 300 B.C. – Alexander the Great digs trenches, fills with snow and covers with oak branches as learned from the Greeks and Macedonians
60 A.D. – Nero directs his people “to boil the
water…and cool it in snow…” 1600 – Francis Bacon and Latinus Tancredus
publish experiments that obtain ice forming temperatures by mixing salt, snow, saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and ice.
Primary source: The Men Who Created Cold, Woolrich
Emperor Nero
Two Styles of “Beer” Develop Ale
Top fermenting yeast
Ferments at warm temp (55 - 75ºF) Can be fermented in
warehouses in England
Generally higher in alcohol
Often darker in color
Lager Bottom fermenting
yeast Ferments at lower
temp (35 - 55ºF) Underground
temperatures (German caves perfect for lagering)
Usually pale
Origins of Beer Styles
Lambic
Brewing: Pre-Civil War Brewing is regional
Every small town has several breweries
Distribution is limited by availability of refrigeration Early 1800’s Tudor the
“Ice King”, Piper and Wyeth the “Engineer” perfect the ice harvest
East Coast focus on ales
Brewing: Pre-Civil War • Mechanical refrigeration
began to replace harvested ice in the late 1800’s.
• The rivers and lakes were becoming too polluted to allow natural ice to be used
Rise of the “Macro-Beer” Refrigeration
1851 – John Gorrie invents “ice-making” machine Tudor runs smear
campaign 1857 – first
commercial canned ice plant
1872 – David Boyle patents ammonia compressor
Brewing 1865 – Civil war
ends The north has
transportation and manufacturing infrastructure
1870 – Hops shortage ends Production moves
to west coast Barley production
to upper midwest
German Migration German immigrants
arrive from Europe with their brews Settle across PA, OH,
MI, IL, MO and WI Dig caves for lagering
and storing their beer Establish large
brewing presence in Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, etc.
Image Source: Wikipedia
Rise of the “Macro-Beer” Refrigeration
1871 – Andrew Chase, under Gustavus Swift, perfects refrigerated rail car
1876 - pasteurization
Brewing 1844 – Jacob Best
founds Best Brewing (Pabst)
1858 – Joseph Schlitz purchase brewery from August Krug
1855 – Fredrick Miller purchases Plank-Road Brewery
Rise of the “Macro-Beer” October 10, 1871 – Mrs. O’Leary’s cow
kicks over a lantern Allegedly!!!! Hundreds killed 3.3 square miles of Chicago is destroyed
Schlitz donated thousands of barrels of beer By 1902, surpasses
Pabst as largest 1953 strike allows AB
to jump to #1 1976 recipe change
leads to downfall My Grandpa swears
off Schlitz forever
Rise of the “Macro-Beer”
Source: United States Brewers Association, 1979 Brewers Almanac, Washington, DC: 12-13.
Year National
Production (1,000,000’s bbl)
Number of
Breweries
Average Brewery Size
(1,000’s bbl)
Per Capita Consumption
(gallons)
1865 3.7 2,252 1,643 3.4 1870 6.6 3,286 2,009 5.3 1875 9.5 2,783 3,414 6.6 1880 13.3 2,741 4,852 8.2 1885 19.2 2,230 8,610 10.5 1890 27.6 2,156 12,801 13.6 1895 33.6 1,771 18,972 15.0 1900 39.5 1,816 21,751 16.0 1905 49.5 1,847 26,800 18.3 1910 59.6 1,568 38,010 20.0 1915 59.8 1,345 44,461 18.7
Rise of the “Macro-Beer” 1870’s - Adolphus Busch pioneers double-
walled railcars & network of icehouses 1919 – 18th Amendment & Volstead Act 1933 - Prohibition ends for beer, only 160
breweries survive 1935 the beer can debuts
(American Can Co.) “Shipper Breweries” dominate
WWI & WWII – grain shortage limits brewing
Advances 1914-1941
Electric motors replace steam engines
December, 1920
Advances 1914-1941
Horizontal acting replaced by vertical Speeds increase from
40 RPM to 500 RPM to 1750 RPM
December, 1900 December, 1920 December, 1940
Advances 1914-1941 Evaporative condensers save water
Dec
embe
r, 19
20
Rise of the “Macro-Beer” WWII – Brewing industry
dominated by women Post WWII
Consolidation of industry 5 breweries went from 19% to
75% market share Beer distribution changed
1935 – 30% packaged, 70% draft 1945 – 64% packaged, 36% draft 1980 – 88% packaged, 12% draft
1973 – “Lite Beer from Miller” 1982 – Bud Light
Developments After 1945
Dual rotary screw compressor introduced by Lysolm in Sweden, 1958
Single rotary screw compressor introduced by Grasso in 1974
More efficient heat exchangers with fin and surface enhancements and forced air circulation
Rise of the “Macro-Beer” Year
Number of Breweries
(Traditional)
Number of “Specialty” Breweries
Per Capita Consumption
(gallons)
1945 476 0 19.2 1950 350 0 18.1 1955 239 0 16.8 1960 175 0 16.2 1965 126 0 17.2 1966 116 1 17.3 1970 83 1 20.4 1975 53 (52) 1 22.7 1980 48 (40) 8 25.7 1985 71 (34) 37 25.2 1990 298 (29) 269 25.3 1995 1,006 (29) 977 23.2 2000 1493 (24) 1469 21.9 Source: United States Brewers Association, 2013 Brewers Almanac
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
U.S. Breweries by Size
Brewpubs
Micro-Breweries Regional
The “Craft Brew” Movement 1965 – Fritz Maytag purchases the Anchor
Brewing Company 2015 – pass 4,000 brewery mark
Sou
rce:
Bre
wer
s Ass
ocia
tion,
201
5
