Beer History Storyline
Measurement and Quality Control
See how thermometers, saccharometers, microbiology, pH, laboratory methods, and shared standards made brewing more measurable and reproducible.
Chronological milestones
Sources and further references are available on each individual event page.
March 23, 1601
Jan Ostroróg Grants New Statutes to Grodzisk’s Maltsters and Brewers
1762
Michael Combrune Promotes Thermometer-Controlled Brewing
1784
John Richardson Introduces the Saccharometer to Brewing
June 18, 1798
František Ondřej Poupě Establishes an Informal Brewing School in Brno
1843
Balling Invents the Saccharimeter
1875
J. C. Jacobsen Establishes the Carlsberg Laboratory
1876
Horace T. Brown Helps Form Burton’s Bacterium Club
1876
Louis Pasteur Publishes Studies on Beer
1883
Johan Kjeldahl Introduces a New Method for Nitrogen Analysis
November 1883
Emil Christian Hansen Introduces Pure Yeast Culture At Carlsberg
1887
Joseph Williams Lovibond Introduces the Tintometer
March 1908
William Sealy Gosset Publishes “The Probable Error of a Mean” as “Student”
1909
S. P. L. Sørensen Introduces the pH Scale at the Carlsberg Laboratory
1934
The American Society of Brewing Chemists Is Founded
1937
Sander Hansen Develops an Automated Tunnel Pasteurizer
1949
The European Brewery Convention Establishes Its Analysis Committee
1958
Ziemann Installs Centralized Brewhouse Control at Heineken
1961
Ziemann Builds Its First Complete Stainless-Steel Brewhouse
1975
Sandwalls Adopts High-Gravity Brewing to Expand Capacity
1978
ASBC Standardizes Digital Density Measurement for Beer
1979
Brewing Organizations Publish a Shared Beer-Flavor Terminology
1983
Siemens Introduces Recipe-Controlled PLC Automation with Braumat
March 1987
Asahi Super Dry Triggers Japan’s Dry-Beer Boom
1992
Krones Builds Its First Sterile Beer Filler