Wednesday 28 July 2021

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1935 Heineken Pils

I was so happy when Peter Symons pointed me at Heineken’s pilot brewery records. Because they contain all the process details missing from the main brewery records. All the really good stuff: decoction, hop additions, fermentation profile and lagering times. Making this one of my most accurate recipes.

The grist is pretty simple, consisting of just pilsner malt and rice. Not a great deal you can say about that. I assume that the rice was at least partially included to keep the body and colour light. The rice was mashed in separately, but there wasn’t a cereal mash. As you’ll see in the mashing scheme below.

A single type of hops was used, Leitmeritz from the 1934 season. Leitmeritz is the German name for the Czech town of Litoměřice. The hops grown there were similar to Saaz, which is what I’ve specified in the recipe.

Pitched at 45º F, the temperature rose to a maximum of 50º F, before falling back gradually to 43º F.  Primary fermentation lasted a total of 9 days. Lagering lasted just over two months – a total of 72 days. 

1935 Heineken Pils
pilsner malt 9.25 lb 80.43%
flaked rice 2.25 lb 19.57%
Saaz 120 mins 0.33 oz
Saaz 60 mins 0.50 oz
Saaz 20 mins 0.75 oz
OG 1050
FG 1013
ABV 4.89
Apparent attenuation 74.00%
IBU 13.5
SRM 3
Mash double decoction  
Boil time 120 minutes
pitching temp 45º F
Yeast WLP830 German Lager


Pilsener mashing scheme
step duration (minutes)
Mash in at 51º C (124º F) 20
Mash in rice at 33º C (91.5º F) 5
Draw off first decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F) 45
Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F) 15
Boil first decoction 15
Rest whole mash at 66º C (151º F) 75
Draw off second decoction and raise to 100º C (212º F) 15
Boil second decoction 15
Mash at 75.5º C and mash out (168º F) 5
Sparge at 75.5º C (168º F) and rest 60
Draw off main wort 55
Draw off second wort 90
Total time 415
Source:  
Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 1785-1792, page 19.


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