Beer in the DDR (part 3)

Yes, more slides from my DDR talk.

There's more stuff about the DDR hop industry. Including information about how hops were used. Showing how much hop extract could be used. And the small quantity of aroma hops used. Mostly in the posher types of beer.

Then there's some stuff about mashing. Fun fact: the DDR Helles mashing scheme is very similar to how Budweiser was brewed in the 1990s. Both have a rice cereal mash that is used as a decoction. How odd is that?

  

1960s Hydroautomatic Brewhouse (Steinecker)

Even more DDR fun. Sort of. The source is from the DDR, at least.

This time with a more high-tech brewhouse. A two-vessel system. Which, if you paid attention to my post on a four-vessel brewhouse, meant that meant the vessels had dual functions. With the mash tun doubling as lauter tun and the mash kettle doubling up as the wort kettle. As in the system illustrated here.*

It's automatic. Or at least, that's what's claimed. With a brewer only needed to keep an eye on it. Sounds dead groovy. Like the decade that spawned it.

As this was a system developed by a firm, Steinecker of Freising, Bavaria, I doubt very much one was ever installed in the DDR. It would have cost way too much hard currency. Unless the Czechs produced a knock-off back in the communist days. (Or the Good Old Days, as I call them. Much to the annoyance of Dolores.)

Hydroautomatic Brewhouse (Steinecker)

(1) Malt Steeping Vessel
(2) Twin-Roll Mill for Wet Milling
(3) Mash and Lauter Tun
(4) Mash and Wort Kettle
(5) Hop Filter
(0) Control Panel
(7) Sight Window with Liquid Level Indicator
(8) Cutting Unit
(9) Propeller
(10) Hop Feeding Device
(11) Exhaust with Fan
"Technologie Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1967, page 265.

* "Technologie Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1967, page 264. 

Four-vessel DDR brewhouse

More DDR fun today. I've accumulated so much material on DDR brewing that maybe I sould assemble it into a book. Like "DDR! volume two". Except who would be interested in a book about a country that no longer exists. Let me know if you would. If there's enough interest, I might nail it together.

Back to the topic of the day. A four-vessel brewhouse. In the DDR. Though, if you look closely, it couldn't be a West German system. As there's a second mash tun. One specifically for a cereal mash of unmalted grains. Which obviously wouldn't apply in Reinheitsgebot-land. Where you would only need three vessels.

I suppose that the extra mash vessels must have been installed after WW II. As the use of unmalted grains wouldn't have been allowed before then. I imagine that, in most cases, the other three vessels were already installed and continued to be used.

The four vessels were:

a mash tun, which was unheated
a mash kettle for boiling the partial mash
a lauter tun
a wort pan for boiling the whole mash*

A simpler, two-vessel system was also in use. Here, one vessel functioned as both mash tun and lauter tun and the other as mash kettle and wort kettle.** Which is more like the set up in a traditional UK brewhouse, though used in a different way.

Looking at the Helles Vollbier mashing scheme I published a few days ago, it's clear that some breweries had a two- or three-vessel brewhouse. In that scheme, the cereal mash was performed in the kettle rather than a dedicated mash kettle. I imagine that situation was more common than the system illustrated here. 

(1) mash kettle I    (4) wort kettle    (7) hop montejus    (10) discharge pump
(2) mash kettle II    (5) malt mill    (8) agitator drive
(3) lauter tun    (6) adjunct mill    (9) mash pump


* "Technologie Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1967, page 260.
** "Technologie Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1967, page 260. 

1970s Pilsator decoction mash

As you read this, I should be sipping a beer in a bar in Copacabana. Flash bastard that I am. Far away from the freezing cold of Amsterdam. 

More fun from behind the iron curtain. In the form of another decoction scheme.

It's been a while since I went on a decoction mash binge. Such a fascinating subject. Who would have guessed that there were so many different methods? And this is another new one to me.

The source is a brewing record image for a Pilsator. I can't remember where I got it, nor which brewery it is. Dead interesting, thougfh.
It's a type of single deoction. But with a twist.

It's mashed in at 50º C, then has rests at 64º C and 74º C. Weirdly, it's cooled back down to 64º C. Thn warmed back up to 76º C. Only then was the wort boiled. But only for ten minutes. Which seems pretty short. It can't have been very much wort that was boiled, as it only raised the temperature of the mash by 2º C.

What's odd about this method? Usually any boils are earlier in the process. And are used to raise the temperature of the mash considerably. For example, from 50º C to 64º C.

1973 DDR Pilsator mashing scheme
operation	time
	start	end	temp. º C	hl
3,500 kg pilsner malt mashed in	06:20	06:40	56	120
drain 1st mash	06:55	07:05		110
raise to 64º C	07:00	07:15
saccharification rest	07:15	07:45	64
raise to 74º C	07:45	07:55
rest 20 min	07:55	08:15	74
move to mash tun	08:15	08:25
cool to 64º C	08:25	08:35	64	140
drain 2nd mash	08:35	08:40		60
saccharification rest	08:40	08:55	76
raise to boil	08:55	09:25
boil	09:25	09:35
move to mash tun	09:35	09:45
saccharification rest	09:45	10:00	76
mash out in lauter tun	10:00	10:25
Source:
a random DDR brewing record I have

DDR Helles Vollbier decoction mash

I spent a couple of days this week writing a talk about beer in the DDR that I'll be giving in Germany next month. It's been a lot of fun.

Much of the material I already had. But there were a couple of areas I had to research a little. One being mashing. Obviously, Kunze's Technologie Brauer und Mälzer was my source. Where I came acorss something I'd previously missed. A brewing record for a Helles Vollbier.

Including just the sort of thing I love. A really detailed mashing record. It's a dual decoction. Though the first is a cereal mash doubling as a decoction. Which is fascinating. As a cereal mash with rice is how Budweiser was made during Mitch Steele's time at Anheuser Busch. You can hear him talk about it here:


Of course, Budweiser didn't get a second decoction, like this Helles did.

It's quite a long process. Six hours in all. Then they spent another four hours running off the wort and sparging. No wonder it never become popular in the UK.

DDR Helles Vollbier decoction mash
action	mash tun			mash kettle
	time	hl	º C	time	hl	º C	time taken
mash in 1,000 kg rice and 1,000 kg pilsner malt				0:00 - 0:35	55	50	35
raise to 65º C in 20 min				0:35 - 0:55	55	65	20
rest 10 min				0:55 - 1:05	55	65	10
raise to 78º C in 15 min				1:05 - 1:20	55	78	15
rest 20 min				1:20 - 1:40	55	78	20
raise to boil in 25min (adjunct mash)				1:40 - 2:05	55	100	25
boil 35 min				2:05 - 2:40	55	100	35
mash in 200 kg Munich malt and 1,800 kg pilsner malt at 50º C	1:45 - 2:00	60	50
rest 40 min	2:00 - 2:40	60	50
mix with adjunct mash	2:40 - 3:00	115	64				20
rest 35 min	3:00 - 3:35	115	64				35
pull decoction				3:35 - 3:40	50	64	5
raise to 77º C in 5min				3:40 - 3:45	50	77	5
rest 10 min				3:45 - 3:55	50	77	10
raise to boil in 15 min				3:55 - 4:10	50	100	15
boil 20 min				4:10 - 4:30	50	100	20
raise to 75º C mash out	4:30 - 4:40						10
rest 30 min	4:40 - 5:10						30
raise to 78º C	5:10 - 5:15						5
saccharification rest	5:15 - 6:00						45
						total	360
Source:
Technologie Brauer und Mälzer by Wolfgang Kunze, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1967, page 212.

 

 

A Modern Lager Brewery - mashing

We're now at the very heart of Lager brewing: decoction mashing. A process that was very different to the mashing schemes usually practised in the UK.

"Mashing.—For the primary mash, cold water is used, and usually, after half-an-hour's stand, boiling water is added, to bring the heat up to 90° F. The most recent practice is to make this mash at such a temperature, and leave it standing for such a period as will conduce to a slight acidification taking place, whereby proteolytic activity is encouraged, with the consequence that a better digestion of the proteins into their permanently soluble form of peptone is obtained. As has already been pointed out, many other variations of the decoction system are practised, with a view to saving time and fuel, but, with the possible exception of the Kubessa modification (in which the three grist constituents, grits, flour, and husks, are dealt with separately), there is little doubt that the original three-mash method, with certain modifications, is still the most generally favoured. That system usually consists of about one-third of the total mash being transferred to the mash copper, and there gradually raised to the saccharifying temperature, then rapidly boiled for a certain period, after which it is slowly returned to the mash tun, where it raises the temperature of the mash to 127° F. This is repeated a second time, when the resulting heat of the mash will be 150° F. On the third occasion, the muddy wort is separated from the more solid portion of the mash, and this is treated in much the same way, the final temperature being about 167° F.

The manipulations in the mash copper vary according to the class of malt in use and the type of beer brewed, and constitutes one of the many points which only a thoroughly competent lager brewer can determine; where, however, a laboratory, provided with a polarimeter, exists, the adjustment of the mashing operations, to give a wort of definite specific rotatory power, should not be difficult.

After the mash has been raised to its final temperature, it is transferred from the mash tun either to the clearing tun, which in many cases is fitted with a water-jacketted bottom, or, as is more general nowadays, to the mash filter, from whence the worts are drawn off into the wort copper, and there boiled with the hops. In brewing lager, the wort is not left in contact with the hops in a hop-back, as is the case in an English brewery; the vessel, through which the wort at this stage simply passes on its way to the pump, is provided with a strainer, only slightly smaller than the vessel itself. The newer forms of this apparatus are fitted with leaching and pressing arrangements. In this connection, it should be remembered that the major portion of the insoluble matters has been precipitated while boiling the mashes, and has been left in the clearing tun or mash filter as the case may be. An open type of receiver, fitted with cooling coil and float valve, is sometimes employed."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, vol. XVII, 1920, pages 493 - 494.

From the description, it sounds like the first two decoctions were with the thick mash, the last one with the thin mash. This wasn't just a random whim. Most of the enzymes were in the liquid part of the mash. By boiling the thick mash the maximum quantity of enzymes was retained. By the time of the third decoction, this didn't matter as the whole mash was raised to mash out temperature by the final decoction.

Decoction mashing, as practised in Bavaria, was a bit more complicated than just a triple decoction. There were many different methods of even just triple decoction. Most big Bavarian towns had their own specific method.

I'm not sure what effect not having a hop back and not leaving the hops in contact with the wort after boiling would have. The more commercially minded UK breweries pressed the hops in the hop back to squeeze every last drop of wort. Though I'm inclined to believe that this wouldn't have been exactly top-class wort.

Fermentation next time.

Malzbier again

This is great. Just when I was wondering how they stopped Malzbier from fermenting fully, I stumble across something that explains how it worked.

Take a look:

“Malzbier, Sußbier, Caramelbier and so forth. Their common characteristic is a relatively sweet, hop-bitter-free taste; they vary considerably from one another in strength, they are made sometimes from just malt, sometimes also with the addition of sugar. The name "Malzbier" may be used only if at least 15 kg of malt has been used per hectolitre of beer. The malt which is used for these beers is highly-dried Munich malt with a considerable addition (10%) of caramel malt and Farbmalz or Farbebier or caramel. The best mashing scheme is one that produces little sugar (the Springmaisch method), the hopping rate is low (1/2 - 3/4 pounds per 50 kg of malt), as yeast, low-attenuating flocculating yeasts are deliberately used, the fermentation must not be too warm, all with the purpose of a low attenuation. The lagering is short. Draught beer is lagered cold, bunged and filtered, and at racking it is often given a sugar additon of 2-4 kg per 1 hl. In bottles the beer is usually filled with yeast, i.e. unfiltered, so that a secondary fermentation can take place and sediment can be preserved, if this is present, the bottles are pasteurized at 55-60°.”
Ullmann, Fritz ed. (1928), Bier in Enzyklopädie der technischen Chemie Band 2, pp 378, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin and Vienna. [My translation.]

So it was a combination of a mashing method which deliberately produced few fermentable sugars, a low-attenuating yeast and a cool fermentation temperature.

I can guess what you’re thinking: what the hell is a Springmaisch? I had to look it up myself. Which is slightly embarrassing, as one of the highest-ranking results was from my blog. In my defence, it was something I wrote almost a decade ago. And there are a crazy number of mashing methods.

"Springmaisch method
The einmaisch temperature is 37º C. The mash is then added to boiling hot water. The temperature of the mash is so raised to 70º C. The temperatures between are skipped. This method is used with over-modified malt which saccharifies too quickly."
"Brauerhandbuch" by Karl Hennies, 1937, pages 124-127.

This explains the purpose in this context:

"Mashing method with which the optimal temperatures of the b-Amylase are passed over by adding boiling hot water to the mash; as consequence a low final fermentation degree results."
Berufsschule Main-Spessart website
http://www.bs-msp.de/Brauerdictionary/dictionary/data/dictionary/files/sudhaus/s.htm

Fascinating stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree. Though it would be nice if the Ullmann text had been more specific about OG, FG and ABV.

15 kg of malt per hectolitre works out to around 1040º, or 10º Plato. So almost Vollbier.

Note how, despite this being in the Reinheitsgebot for all of Germany era, these beers quite often contained sugar. Which tells me that they must have been top-fermented, otherwise that wouldn’t have been allowed.

German brewing in 1966 – mashing

Finally, after many, many months, we’ve got to the brewhouse.  Thank you for your patience.

We kick off with a description of the mashing process:

“The brewing process.—This is identified by the mashing method. Normally a decoction method with two mashes is used and only in rare cases is the infusion system applied. Pilsener beers have a thin mash (4-6 hl. main mash per 100 kg.); the mashing temperature (56-62° C.) requires smaller part-mashes. In many cases the pale colour of the wort will be obtained when husks are not boiled with the mash. Subsequently the husks are added to the mash before lautering takes place. By these means reductions in tannin values of approximately 10-15%, and in husk bitter substances of approximately 8-10% can be achieved. Stronger beers are mashed more intensively by lowering the mashing temperatures; alternatively, larger part-mashes may be boiled for a longer period, or a concentrated mash (less than 4 hl. per 100 kg.) can be used. Dark beers are still usually prepared with the 3-decoction method, mainly in order to obtain the required flavour. As a result the brewing period is lengthened (12-15 hr.).”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 72, Issue 1, January-February 1966, page 19.

I’ve read before about special care being taken in the mashing of Pilsener to make sure that the colour remained very pale. Keeping the husks out of the decoctions is quite extreme and presumably required some special manipulation of the grist after grinding. Obviously, you’d want the husks there at the lauter phase to help filter the wort.

You may remember from other articles that the classic Pilsener decoction method is Hoch-Kurz, where the mash in is at the relatively high temperature of 62° C. Again the idea is to prevent as much as possible any darkening of the wort.

I’m sure that infusion mashing has become much more common in the intervening years, at least amongst industrial brewers. For the simple reason that it’s cheaper and quicker than decoction mashing. For very pale beers like Pilsener it also means you don’t have to worry about any darkening of the wort during decoctions.

They were a bit obsessed with continuous fermentation in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Does anyone still practice it? I seem to remember there being some small problem with the flavour of the finished beer: it tasted crap.

“The variations between the mashing methods are probably the reason why continuous brewing methods have not been examined in greater detail. Czechoslovakian authors and a unit of the Ziemann firm, which was displayed at the Dortmund Exhibition, are, however, tackling these problems.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 72, Issue 1, January-February 1966, page 19.

This sounds very much like the process described as traditional decoction mashing by Griggs:

“In traditional continental European decoction mashing a thin mash (3.5-5 hl liquor/ 100 kg. grist; 3.26-4.66 imp. brl/Qr.) is made from undermodified malt that is comparatively finely ground. The thin mash is necessary to permit it to be stirred and pumped between mashing vessels. In this, and the other mashing systems to be considered, the mash conversion processes are carried out in vessels that are separate from the devices (lauter tuns or mash filters) in which the wort is separated from the residual spent grains. Because the mash is stirred and portions of it are pumped between vessels air is not entrained and the solids do not float. When portions of the mash are boiled the starch is gelatinized and becomes susceptible to enzymic attack, residual cellular structures are disrupted, proteins are denatured and precipitated, enzymes are inactivated, chemical processes are accelerated, flavour substances (not necessarily desirable) appear in the wort and the wort darkens. Unwanted substances such as pentosans and B-glucans are extracted. Boiling portions of the mash is expensive because it involves the consumption of energy. The successive temperatures, which occur in the `main, mixed mash', allow key enzymes to act at or near their optimal temperatures. In decoction mashing the grist is mashed into the mash-mixing vessel, which has a stirrer and may have heat-exchanging surfaces to allow the temperature of the contents to be increased. At intervals aliquots of the mash are withdrawn to the decoction vessel where they are heated, rapidly or slowly as the programme requires, with or without `rests' at particular temperatures, to boiling. After a period of boiling the hot material is pumped back into, and is mixed with, the main mash raising its temperature at a predetermined rate to a pre-chosen value. Before a decoction is carried out the stirrer in the mash-mixing vessel may be turned off and the mash allowed to settle. Then part of the settled `thick mash' is pumped to the decoction vessel.”
"Brewing: science and practice", by Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens, 2004, page 90.

Not that Briggs specifies a slightly less thin mash than Narziss: 3.5-5 hl liquor/ 100 kg. Grist as opposed to 4-6 hl. This is much thinner than a British-style infusion mash, which is typically 1.6-3.2 hl liquor/100 kg grist*.

“With conventional brewing units one attempts to carry out the lautering as quickly and as evenly as possible, in such a manner that the time interval from one brew to another is between 3 and 4.5 hr. using a five-vessel brewhouse. Improvement in lautering by steaming of the malt before grinding, or by wet grinding, can be obtained.

The new Steinecker lautering tun uses wet grinding and works with a grist depth of 60 cm. This unit combines speedy filtration with optimum sparging conditions, and with it one can reach 7 or 8 brews per day; with steam grinding it is also possible to reach 7 brews per day, and at the same time, as a result of the improved grinding of the hardest portions of the grist, reduced mashing times can also be obtained. The extreme is provided by the half-continuous wort unit of Reiter, which reduces mash times to 1 hr. (with one decoction mash) as a result of using a very high percentage of meal in the grist. As the lautering process only requires 1 hour, including sparging, all of which is achieved by the use of a vacuum drum filter, it is possible to cast one brew every hour, provided three coppers are available. With the exception of this particular working unit, other units, such as the brewing column or the erection of vessels on one level behind a wall, still employ well-known brewing methods. Nevertheless, attempts are being made to automate parts of the brewing process: this can already be observed in the mechanization of the mash filter. In particular, the use of plastic cloth has simplified the methods.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 72, Issue 1, January-February 1966, page 19.

Speeding up the brewing process is another obvious way to save money. Cutting down the mashing time to just one hour seems pretty extreme. But it means a brewery could rattle through the brews. 7 or 8 a day is very good going.

Next time it’s boiling and cooling.






*"Brewing: science and practice", by Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens, 2004, page 90.

German brewing in 1960 - mashing and boiling

No, I hadn't forgotten. Just busy with too many things at the same time. Most of it Lager connected.

This type of brewer's report always fascinates me. They're useful, too, with a concise account of a country's brewing methods. That it's all about Lager is a plus.

On a totally unconnected note, I've a couple of Lager projects planned for next year. I hope they work out. It will be something no-one has ever seen before. And some of the information in this JIB article will play a role.

Anyway, back to German brewing in the time of the Wirtschaftswunder, starting with mashing:

"Brewing.—In a particular area there tended to be some conformity in the beer types produced and the mashing procedure adopted. All-malt mashes were enforced and again a common liquor treatment was to soften with saturated lime-water in the cold, then adding gypsum or calcium chloride in an extension of the softening apparatus; more simply, the gypsum was added dry to the grist. The flexibility of the process, whereby various beers of distinct character are produced by variations in the mashing procedure, is shown in Fig. 1, where the average mashing conditions for three typical pale beers are grouped together, ignoring the decoction details. This clearly underlines the desirability of obtaining good mash proteolysis where a full-drinking beer is required, the temperature chosen for saccharification being in rather closer agreement for each type."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 66, 1960, page 499.

It strikes me as random what is and isn't allowed according to the Reinheitsgebot. Why could you add gypsum to the mash? Unlike filtration agents, it will be present in the finished beer. So how come it doesn't count as an ingredient? I can sort of see the argument if the water is treated before brewing, but when you add it directly to the mash? That's taking the piss.

The diagram demonstrates nicely the difference in mashing techniques for different types of beer. The Pilsner scheme looks like Hochkurz (high short) mash. It's what was normally used for Pilsner as a standard decoction could add too much colour. Not sure what that Dortmund method is. It seems to have a lot of steps in it.

Here's a bit more about mashing:

"Six-roll mills with vibrating screens predominated, and regular grist analyses were performed to maintain the correct grind, which was considered particularly important with regard to lauter-tun filtration. The mash was made either by dropping the grist dry into the prepared length of liquor in the tun, or by mixing grist and liquor externally in a vortex pre-masher and making up with liquor to standard dip in the tun. Two decoctions were usually made for pale beers and three for Munich, about one-third of the mash being decocted in each case, with the actual quantity dependent on the temperatures required."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 66, 1960, page 499.

That's a bit vague on decoction details. Two decoctions for pale beers? Didn't the Dortmund scheme in the diagram have three? By "Munich" I'm pretty sure he means Munich Dunkles. I wonder why that got an extra decoction? Possibly tradition. A description of the Munich method of mashing by Julius Otto, published in 1865 (when all Munich Lagers were dark) specifies a triple decoction.

Now something about the brewing kit employed:

"Two breweries in Dortmund which suffered from shortage of space had installed block brewhouse units. These were of different designs, but in each case the block unit consisted of mash and decoction vessels mounted above the copper, with the mash taken off to a separate mash filter.

Brewing plant in Bavaria usually consisted of the traditional double brewhouse with 4 vessels — mash tun, mash kettle, lauter tun and wort kettle. New plant tended to retain the lauter tun in preference to the mash filter, even in large breweries, although it was admitted that, with a poor malt, filtration could take over 6 hr."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 66, 1960, page 499.

Six hour runofff - sounds as bad as having loads of oats in the grist. Four vessels? I though traditional Lager breweries had two? Have I been missing something.  or have I only seen smaller, simpler breweries?

Block brewhouse units? What the hell are they?

"Boiling was usually vigorous although fountain spreaders were not used, and the hop rate varied from 7 oz. per brl. for the voll-bier type to 13 oz. for Pilsner. Plant for hop- and hot-trub-separation was generally two-fold, as in Denmark. Traditionally the trub was allowed to settle out on the coolship after the hops had been strained off, the bright wort was decanted and cooled on open horizontal refrigerators and the trub wort filtered on a press with cloths. Although slow and open to infection, this process was still prevalent in Bavaria, but newer plant in the North replaced the coolship by an enclosed stainless-steel tank, and trub wort filtration was then either by self-emptying centrifuge or through kieselguhr. Plate cooling was then employed, although the filtered trub wort was usually re-sterilized before being cooled and mixed with bright wort."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 66, 1960, page 500.

Oh great, something specific about hopping rates. You can see how low they are if you compare them to Whitbread's:

Whitbread beers in 1960
Date	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	Hops oz/brl
2nd Mar	Best Ale	Mild	1030.6	1010.0	2.73	67.32%	5.67	11.14
1st Mar	FB	Brown Ale	1033.3	1009.0	3.21	72.97%	5.25	11.24
2nd Mar	KKKK	Strong Ale	1051.8	1016.0	4.74	69.11%	7.50	24.88
10th Jun	PA	Pale Ale	1038.6	1012.0	3.52	68.91%	5.89	14.56
29th Feb	WPA	Pale Ale	1035.5	1008.0	3.64	77.46%	8.63	19.97
Source:
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/127.

Pilsner was barely more heavily hopped than sub-3% ABV Mild. The only Whitbread beer of a similar gravity to the Lagers, KKKK, has double the hops. At this point British beers were no longer particularly heavily hopped. My conclusion is that German Lagers were very lightly hopped.

I've seen plenty of open coolers in small German breweries. Annoying that the author calls them "Coolships" again. One of the reasons coolers continued to be used after other cooling methods were invented was because of the gunk that settled out when wort was in them.

Now here's something I've not come across:

"One novel process was seen which employed a system of wet grinding. Malt was washed and pre-soaked in cold liquor for 10-15 min. before being passed through a single pair of crushing rollers along with the actual mashing liquor. The grain was thereby merely squashed, the husks being undamaged, and this was said to facilitate lautering. This apparatus was built into a fully automatic remote-controlled brewhouse which has now been in successful operation for 4 years."
Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 66, 1960, page 500.

Crushing soaked grains sounds totally crazy. I wonder what sort of yield they got with that method? I'd be worried about leaving lots of goodness in the grains.

Next time it's fermentation.

Dextrin and decoction

Busy, busy, busy. That's my life. Gallavanting around the world trying to sell my book. Sometimes it gets in the way of my other work.

I found these fascinating analyses of different mashing methods just before I left for San Diego. No time to write about them then. "I'll do it when I get back." I thought. That was before a random Truman document led me astray. I've only just remembered about the mashing stuff.

When I first looked seriously ay decoction mashing in my early blogging days, I was surprised to discover just how many different methods there were. One made a particular impression on me: the Satz (or Augsburg) method.

In it, the malt is mashed in with cold water and left to sit for four or five hours. The liquid which accumulated below the false bottom, called Satz, was drawn off. It contained various stuff from the malt but, most importantly, some of the enzymes.

It's one of the methods which crops up in the article in "Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie" which appeared in 1868. There are six mashing schemes considered in total. But, frustratingly, none of them are explained. I think I know what infusion is, but what about decoction or Bock? As I just mentioned, there are very many different types of decoction. Which one do they mean?

A couple of different tables appear in the article. First is the composition of the wort:

Worts
	decoction	Bock	Satz method	so-called English method	with added starch	infusion
sugar	4.85	7.10	4.37	5.00	5.31	5.26
dextrin	6.24	8.60	7.61	7.70	6.23	6.68
nitrogen-containing substance	0.79	1.35	-	-	0.67	-
other contents	0.41	0.63	0.95	0.80	0.22	0.70
specific gravity	1050	1073	1052.7	1055.1	1051	1051.5
extract (directly measured)	11.87	17.05	11.98	12.70	12.30	11.94
extract according to Balling	12.29	17.68	12.93	13.50	12.52	12.64
Source:
Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, 1868, page 543.

Next the composition of the beer after fermentation:

Beer after tub fermentation
	decoction	Bock	Satz method	so-called English method	with added starch	infusion
alcohol	2.81	3.38	2.94	2.96	3.03	3.13
sugar	1.58	2.32	1.46	1.68	1.59	1.33
dextrin	4.61	6.91	4.77	5.26	4.56	4.80
nitrogen-containing substance	0.38	0.74	-	-	0.44	-
other contents	0.38	0.4	0.89	0.97	0.14	0.55
specific gravity	1022.8	1042	1028.6	1031.8	1027	1026.8
extract (directly measured)	6.57	9.98	6.23	6.93	6.59	6.13
extract according to Balling	6.95	10.38	7.12	7.90	6.73	6.68
Source:
Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, 1868, page 544.

And finally one showing the relationship between the sugar and dextrin content in both the wort and finished beer.

	for each unit of sugar
mashing method	dextrin in the wort	dextrin in the beer
with added starch	1.170	2.868
Bock	1.211	2.979
infusion	1.270	3.609
decoction	1.286	2.918
so-called English	1.540	3.137
Satz	1.740	3.267
Source:
Jahresbericht über die Leistungen der chemischen Technologie, 1868, page 544.

I have to admit that these don't show what I would have expected. I'd have bet that the infusion mash would produce the least dextrin. But that's not the case. It actually places about in the middle of the pack.

In the last table the Bock method comes quite low down because of the high density of the wort and the poor degree of attenuation. These both mean that there are relatively high levels of sugar both before and after fermentation.

It's fascinating, even though I'm not sure exactly what it's telling me.