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.