Braunbier decoction 1826

This is fun, isn't it? Looking at all these methods of decoction. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much.

You're not stupid. If you've bothered to read the title, you have a fair idea of what this post will be about: decoction mashing in a Braunbier brewery in 1826. This will be a first. Our first foray into the time before thermometers. Before they used them in Germany, at least. In Britain, thermometers were popular amongst brewers before 1800. The practice took a while to spread to the Continent.

The source is "Beschreibung der Braunbierbrauerei" by Benno Scharl, 1826, pages 63-65.

The ground malt is tipped into the mash tun, which already contains cold water. The two are thoroughly mixed together with a mashing shovel. This process is called Einmaischen. The mixture is left to stand for 3 - 4 hours before mashing begins.

First Dickmaisch. As soon as the water in the kettle is boiling vigourously, the Dickmaisch can begin. Some let it boil longer than others.

The boiling hot water is ladled* from the kettle into the mash tun. While this is happening, mashing occurs in the tun. Mashing is performed in the same way as Einmaischen, the grains and water being mixed thoroughly with a mashing shovel. Mashing continues until the kettle is empty. The mixture, as much as possible of the malt, is transferred to the kettle until it is full. Now the first Dickmaisch is in the kettle. The rest remains in the mash tun. During this time the fire is stoked so that the Dickmaisch comes to the boil quickly.

In the beginning the malt has to be stirred so that it doesn't fall to the bottom of the kettle and burn. When the heat increases, the malt rises of its own accord. When the Dickmaisch comes to the boil, the fire shoukld be reduced so that it does not boil over. It is boiled for 1.5 hours.

Second Dickmaisch. When the first Dickmaish has boiled for 1.5 hours, it's ladled back into the mash tun. The procedure is now the same as for the first Dickmaisch, except that none of the thick part in the kettle is ladled back into the mash tun. When mashing of the second Dickmaisch is over, it's left to stand for 15 minutes.

Half an hour earlier, at the beginning of the second Dickmaisch, about three Eimer of clear wort is tranferred to the underback. When the kettel has been cleaned of the spent grains, this wort is put into the kettle so that it doesn't burn before the Lautermaisch begins.

Lautermaisch. After the mash has stood in the run for 30 minutes, the tap is opened and the Lautermaisch run into the underback. when the kettel is full, it's heated again until the Lautermaisch comes to the boil.

As son as the Lautermaisch comes to the boil, it's ladled back into the mash tun and there's more mashing, as described above.

As this is the last mash, mashing is longer, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile more water is heated in the kettle, enough to make a Nachbier.

When the last mash is over, the mix in the tun is left to stand for at least one or two hours.

Without the help of pumps, that sounds like an awful lot of hard, physical labour, moving all that wort around. It's recognisably a classic triple decoction, but with a couple of twists. Not returning the grains in the second Dickmaisch to the mash tun is a new one. Not sure what the point of that is. And, at an hour and a half, the boiling time of the two Dickmaisch is much longer than in later descriptions.

I can't say that I would want to attempt brewing just using these instructions. There's no indication of how much wort is put into the kettle and boiled. Which would help, in the absence of temperatures. I would assume that the aim is to hit around 50º C after the first Dickmaisch, 65º C after the second and 78º C after the Lautermaisch. But that's just my guess.

Notice my correct translation of Grand (underback) in this piece. It's wonderful to actually know what it means. Any suggestions for the English equivalent of Einmaisch?

How consistent were their mashing temperatures? Possibly more than you would expect. Experience would have taught brewers how much water/wort to boil to obtain the best results. Volume was easy enough for them to measure.

I've another thermometer-free description. I'm not sure if I should include it, as it isn't a decoction mash. What do you reckon? Maybe I'll take a look at the Barclay Perkins lager logs instead. That's decoction mashing. What about a decoction-mash Mild? I've a log for one somewhere. An experimental brew from, I believe, 1916.


* I've translated the German "geschöpft" as "ladled". You know the two crossed things you always see on German beermats. Those two things with the long handles. One looks like a shovel with holes in it, the other like a bucket on a stick. I think "geschöpft" means using the bucket on a stick. If you have a better translation. please let me know.