Still more ridiculous Heineken detail

Well, that was a busy weekend. Pub on Saturday, roast dinner preparation on Sunday, as well as the IPA talk. Time for me to relax a little. Ant what better way  to relax than looking at Heineken's brewing processes in ridiculous detail. It's now the turn of primary fermentation

What strikes me is how generally similar it us to a UK top-fermentation. The temperature slowly rises in the first half of the, peaks, and then falls back to slightly below pitching temperature at the end. The only real difference is that the temperatures are all a good deal colder. And that the fermentation takes a few days longer. In the UK 5 or 6 days was typical, while all Heineken's beers took around 9.

It's a shame that there's no record of what happened in the lagering tanks. There must have been a fermentation because the finishing gravities were: Beiersch 4º Plato, Pils 3.4º Plato and Bok 5.6º Plato. The Pils seems to have been lagered about 2 months. I'm not so sure about the length for the other beers, though it does look as it was longer for Beiersch, possibly more than 4 months. 

Annoyingly, lagering is the one part of the process which isn't properly documented. I assume that the beer was slowly cooled to around zero. The tanks were bunged at a certain point implying that it was allowed to condition naturally.

I was going to head out for a walk but it's absolutely pissing it down. The tropical-style rain we've started getting quite frequently. Just as well Amsterdam never floods.

Beiersch 2nd Jul 1935 Primary Fermentation
Date	Time	Cellar temperature	wort temperature	gravity (Plato)	% attenuation
2nd July	19	6.8	7	13.1
3rd July	7	5.9	7.3
	17.25	7.4	7.4
4th July	7	5.8	8	12.2	7
	18	6.4	8.2
5th July	7	5.8	9	10.7	18
	17.5	6.6	9.5
6th July	7	5.6	10.3	8.7	34
	17	6.2	9.6
7th July	9	5.6	9.7	7.3	45
	17	6.4	9.6
8th July	7	5.7	9.3	6.8	48
	17.5	6.4	9.1
9th July	7	5.4	8.8	6.6	50
	17.5	5.8	8.5
10th July	7	5.3	6.1	6.4	51
Source: Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 1785-1792, page 11.

Pilsener 11th Jul 1935 Primary Fermentation
Date	Time	Cellar temperature	wort temperature	gravity (Plato)	% attenuation
11th July	17	7.5	7	12.2
12th July	7	5.7	7.2
	18	3.2	7.6
13th July	7	6.2	8	11.6	5
	13	5.4	8.2
14th July	9	5.2	8.8	10.3	16
	17	5.6	9.2
15th July	7	5.7	10	8.6	30
	17	5.5	9.7
16th July	7	5.5	10	6.7	45
	17	6	9.6
17th July	7	5.5	9.6	5.6	54
	17	5.5	9.7
18th July	7	5.3	9.2	5	59
	18	7.2	9.2
19th July	7	5.8	9	4.6	62
	18	6.6	8.6
20th July	7	5.4	6	4.4	64
Source: Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 1785-1792, page 20.

Bok 5th Aug 1935 Primary Fermentation
Date	Time	Cellar temperature	wort temperature	gravity (Plato)	% attenuation
5th Aug	18.5	7	6.9	17.3
6th Aug	7	5.8	7.8
	17.5	7.8	7.4
7th Aug	7	5.9	8.1
	19.5	5.7	7.9
8th Aug	7.5	6.8	8.6	14.5	16
	17.5	7.8	9
9th Aug	7	5.2	10.2	12.6	27
	17	6	10.5
10th Aug	7	5.4	7	10.2	41
	13	5.8	7.2
11th Aug	-	-	-
12th Aug	7	4.8	7.1	8.4	52
	17	5.4	7.2
13th Aug	7	4.7	4.5	8.2	53
Source: Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 1785-1792, page 59.