Let's Brew wednesday - 1957 Heineken Dortmunder Union

Now here’s a really weird one. A Heineken attempt to clone Dortmunder Union Export. Not for sale, but as a Christmas beer for their employees. They didn’t brew a huge amount of it, just 15.9 hl, as it was pm their pilot plant. No idea why they picked this beer to imitate. Though DUB Export was pretty popular in Germany at the time.

There’s not much to the grist. Well, at least I don’t think it is. There are four different types of malt, most of which I assume are pilsner malt. Though I’m not totally sure. Two are described as “Tcheco”, which must be an abbreviation of “Tchecoslovakia”, which is Dutch for Czechoslovakia.

Another is described, rather enigmatically “B.”. My first thought was broeimout. But that would make the colour too dark. After fiddling around in BeerSmith a bit, I found pale Munich malt gave the right colour. Perhaps it stands for “Bavaria”.

The hops were all Roudnice from the 1956 harvest. Roudnice being a town between Prague and Usti nad Labem. I’ve assumed that they’re something like Saaz. I’ve increased the quantity by a third as the alpha acid content is listed as 5% in the brewing record.

300 gms. of gypsum were added to the brewing water.

Lagering lasted 60 days. 

1957 Heineken Dortmunder Union
pilsner malt	10.50 lb	80.77%
Munich malt 10 L	2.50 lb	19.23%
Saaz 120 mins	0.67 oz
Saaz 60 mins	0.67 oz
Saaz 30 mins	1.00 oz
OG	1058
FG	1012
ABV	6.09
Apparent attenuation	79.31%
IBU	22
SRM	5
Mash single decoction
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	44º F
Yeast	WLP830 German Lager

Dortmunder Union 26th Sep 1957
step	duration (minutes)
Mash in at 52º C (126º F)	10
Draw off decoction and raise to 72º C (162º F)	5
Rest whole mash at 72º C (162º F)	15
Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F)	15
Boil decoction	15
Mash at 72º C (162º F) and mash out	5
Sparge at 65º C (149º F) and rest	30
Draw off main wort	90
Draw off second wort	85
Total time	270
Source:
Heineken Brouwjournal van de proefziederij, held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 834-1786, page 50.