Today's source is: "A practical treatise on brewing" by Thomas Hitchcock, 1842, pages 43 - 44. Unlike some of the other sources I've used so far, this is a technical brewing manual.
"SCOTCH ALE.I'm sure you homebrewers will appreciate the details of the mashing regime. It's very different from that used in English breweries at the same time. In England there were usually three or four mashes. In Scotland the more modern method of a single mash followed by multiple sparges was employed.
This ale, like that of Burton, is made from pale malt and hops. The brewing of Scotch ale is generally confined to the winter months. This is on account of the extremely low heat at which the worts are pitched, and their lengthened fermentation. The method of making Scotch ale is very similar to that of Burton, the principal difference being a higher heat in the first mash. which is about one hundred and seventy or one hundred and seventy-five degrees.
The mashing is continued until the malt is well mixed, and is very stiff. The tun is then covered close. The time of infusion is three hours or more. The heat of the grist should be kept at one hundred and fifty-seven degrees.
When the first wort has run from the grist, it is sparged on at intervals of twenty minutes with liquor, (about a barrel,) at two hundred degrees or more, until the length of the first wort is obtained, the gravity of which varies from thirty-five to forty pounds per barrel. The latter sparges are used for a return."
Once again, the fermentation is described as long and cold. I'm starting to be convinced that this is true.
I'm always on the lookout for Burton references. Here, Burton is described as a beer brewed from all pale malt. Only later did it become the dark beer that was so popular in the early 20th century London.
"The boiling of Scotch ale is little different from that of other ales; one hour is the maximum of time. One pound of honey per barrel of wort is added in the copper, twenty minutes before drawing off. The pitching heat is generally fifty degrees, but is sometimes as low as forty-three."A short boil - London breweries boiled for at least 90 minutes - with honey added. I'm not sure I follow the last bit. In a commercial brewery that would have been illegal. From the later text it becomes clear that this method is for private brewers. I suspect that one of the reasons private brewing continued for so long was freedom to use whatever ingredients you wanted. It gave private brewers an advantage over their commercial counterparts. When this advantage disappeared after the 1880 Free Mash Tun Act, private brewing all but disappeared within a decade or two.
"From two to three pounds of yeast per barrel, will mostly be sufficient to bring the fermentation to a successful issue If the fermentation should become languid, a little more is then added, and the gyle well roused.A long fermentation again, but in this case the beer is being "cleansed". Albeit in an unusual way. The addition of carraway and coriander seeds would again have been illegal in beer for sale. Note that the yeast is being reused.
The attenuation continues from twelve to twenty days, and is reduced to about one-quarter or one-third of its original gravity. A quarter of an ounce of pulverized carraway or coriander seeds are added, to heighten the flavour: these are used in the gyle-tun an hour before cleansing. The yeast is seldom removed from the wort which is drawn from the gyle-tun, leaving the yeast therein until the whole wort is drawn out. It is then swept into a shallow vessel, and allowed to settle, when the settled ale is removed, and put into the next gyle of wort."
"These observations will be sufficient to enable a person with little practice to produce Scotch ale."This is what gives away that the instructions are designed for the amateur and not the professional.
One this text doesn't mention is the hopping rate. That could imply that it wasn't appreciably different from English ales in that respect. Or the author may just have forgotten to mention it.
I don't think I understand the term private brewers. Were they homebrewers? Were they allowed to sell beer commercially?
ReplyDeletePrivate brewers brewed for the use of their own household. Some were farmers. There were several books aimed at this market. They were homebrewers in a sense. But the beer they made was part of daily life. What they drank with their meals
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff but is depressing how first I bought into the usual explanation of Scottish ale then how quickly I accepted your initial research.
ReplyDeleteThe diversity of Scottish brewing has become interesting in its own right.
This is what happens when you dig deeper: you keep having to modify your conclusions. It's all part of the process.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really struck me is the low fermentation temperatures. It's no wonder that the Scottish were quicker to go over to lager brewing than the English. Scotch Ale seems to fit somewhere inbetween lager and ale.