I've not the time to tell you all the fun I had in Germany. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, I've got some lovely decoction mashed for you. They complete the set of Heineken beers. I had worried that the pilot brewery wouldn't have made any batches of these two beers, Heineken's session Lagers. The first book contained none. Fortunately, there are some brews in the second book.
I was surprised that the mashing scheme of Domker Lagerbier was so complicated. It's a lot of effort for the equivalent of Mild Ale. Just like Beiersch, there's a triple decoction. Except the use of rice adds an extra level of complexity. At over 8 hours, it's the longest of any of the schemes.
The scheme for Licht Lagerbier is generally the same as for Pils, except some of the times are different. Especially during the sparging process.
| Donker Lagerbier 30th Mar 1936 | |
| step | duration (minutes) |
| Mash in at 34º C (93º F) | 5 |
| Mash in rice at 17º C (63º F) | 5 |
| Draw off first decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F) | 15 |
| Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F) | 15 |
| Boil first decoction | 15 |
| Rest whole mash at 50.5º C (123º F) | 15 |
| Draw off second decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F) | 20 |
| Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F) | 10 |
| Boil second decoction | 25 |
| Rest whole mash at 65º C (149º F) | 10 |
| Draw off third decoction and raise to 100º C (212º F) | 5 |
| Boil third decoction | 20 |
| Mash at 72º C and mash out (162º F) | 60 |
| Sparge at 67º C (153º F) and rest | 60 |
| Draw off main wort | 75 |
| Draw off second wort | 130 |
| Total time | 485 |
| Source: | |
| Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 834-1789. | |
| Licht Lagerbier 23rd Mar 1938 | |
| step | duration (minutes) |
| Mash in at 50.5º C (123º F) | 10 |
| Mash in rice at 28º C (82º F) | 5 |
| Draw off first decoction and raise to 70º C (158º F) | 30 |
| Raise decoction to 100º C (212º F) | 15 |
| Boil first decoction | 15 |
| Rest whole mash at 64.5º C (148º F) | 30 |
| Draw off second decoction and raise to 100º C (212º F) | 15 |
| Boil second decoction | 15 |
| Mash at 75.5º C (168º F) and mash out | 45 |
| Sparge at 71.5º C (161º F) and rest | 45 |
| Draw off main wort | 45 |
| Draw off second wort | 150 |
| Total time | 420 |
| Source: | |
| Heineken Brouwjournalen van de proefziederij, 1935 - 1957 held at the Amsterdamse Stadtsarchief, document number 834-1789. | |
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4 comments:
I realize this is beyond my knowledge, but I'm confused what is going on with the rice. I thought for starters rice needed more time than that to be converted by the enzymes in the barley malt, although maybe the quantities involved in how much is being drawn off for the first decoction aren't significant.
Or I'm just wrong about how all of this works, which is certainly possible.
I also don’t follow this. Normally the rice would be mashed a short time with10% malt, then boiled to gelatinize the starches, then added to the main mash.
I've used a lot of rice, usually just supermarket rice boiled to a porridge. It doesn't take much time at all to be converted once it hits the alpha-amylase range (higher 60s, early 70s).
When I was doing Brew in a Bag, for easier handling I would often boil rice separately in a stockpot with a portion of the strike water, allow to cool to around 72 degrees then stir in a kilo of my milled base malt. It only took around 20 stirs to reduce a thick gluggy "rice pudding" to a clear runny "dextrin soup" that could be easily mixed into the main mash.
Since I went to an all-in-one electric system - a Brewzilla - I've switched to flaked rice.
In the Heineken case, it looks like the rice in each of the decoctions spent some time going up through the alpha acid stage, and anything left would have been well nuked during the mash rest at 72 degrees after the third decoction.
Thanks for the explanation. I guess I can see how rice starch is so simple it gets converted quickly.
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