Found this on the website of the (British) Society for the History of
Alchemy and Chemistry.

Meeting report

Analysis in Industry

The Society held a meeting on 23 May 2002 in the Conference Room of the
Science Museum and Imperial College Library entitled "Analysis in
Industry".  ****

The title of Ray Anderson's paper was "From Saccharometer to Hartong
Number: Analysis in the Brewing Industry, 1780-1940". The introduction
of a uniquely calibrated hydrometer, the saccharometer, in the 1780s
provided brewers with a means of assessing the best ways of using their
primary raw material, malted barley. The analytical determination of
the yield of 'extract' from malt was to remain of great commercial
importance in the burgeoning brewing industry of the 19th century. The
growing output of breweries; the switch away from crude dark heavy
beers to more delicate and more difficult to produce styles; the advent
of all year round brewing with the introduction of artificial
refrigeration from the 1870s; all encouraged the application of science
in brewing. By the 1880s various levels of sophistication in analysis
could be identified in UK breweries. At a minimum, measurement of
specific gravities was required for Excise purposes and thorough visual
inspection of raw materials, casks, etc., was considered essential. A
step up from this was the provision of a bench or table in the brewers'
room to accommodate a microscope for checking yeast purity and perhaps
an assortment of glassware for simple testing of water and malt. In
some breweries analysis by brewers who had received training in
chemical/microbiological techniques as part of their pupilage or
apprenticeship extended far beyond this to more extensive testing of
water, malt, hops, wort, sugars and beer in relatively well equipped
laboratories. Specialist analytical chemists had been engaged by only a
handful of the largest breweries by the 1880s, with the Burton brewers
leading the way with the employment of particularly talented men who
carried out research as well as routine duties. Four of the Burton
chemists were to be elected Fellows of the Royal Society. But Burton
was unusual; most brewers relied upon consulting chemists for expert
analytical services, particularly when they were outside the normal run
and in times of difficulty. The arsenic poisoning episode of 1900 when
contaminated beer caused many deaths was the most spectacular and
tragic example. Consulting chemists retained a central role in brewing
analysis well into the 20th century, even as the number of companies
employing specialist analysts increased. Analysts drawn into the
brewing industry in the 19th century had predominantly received their
scientific education in London or Germany, but with the establishment
of specialist brewing schools in Birmingham and Edinburgh at the start
of the 20th century; recruitment from these sources became common. The
average head chemist by the 1920s ranked someway below the head brewer
in the hierarchy of the brewery with a salary intermediate between that
of the 2nd or 3rd brewer. He had a status equivalent to that of the
head bookkeeper.

  Outside the UK, brewers sought to meet their analytical requirements
in a variety of ways. In Germany specialist brewing testing and
experimental stations attached to higher education establishments in
major cities provided analytical services and few breweries employed
specialist analysts even in the 20th century. The USA followed the
English model, although German immigrants largely ran the industry
there; consulting chemists operated in Chicago, New York and elsewhere
and leading brewers also employed chemists. Consulting chemists were
also to be found Denmark; however two companies, Carlsberg and Tuborg,
dominated and established sophisticated laboratories.

  By the 1930s the emphasis on raw materials, which had until then been
the dominant feature of brewing analysis internationally, began to be
diluted with the rise in sales of bottled beer requiring more attention
to be paid to aspects of beer flavour, shelf-life and appearance
(clarity, foam and sparkle). Analysis thus became increasingly a tool
in seeking competitive advantage in the marketplace, complementing its
long-standing role as a guide to production integrity and efficiency.