Cairnes processes in 1898

Let’s take a look at some of the processes now. Starting with the mashing schedule.

While this is for Table Beer, the schemes for all the other beers are pretty much the same. It looks very much like the type of process used by many breweries in England and some in Scotland. That is, an infusion mash, followed by an underlet and a stand for two hours. Finishing off with a sparge.

Next boiling and fermentation.

Not much to say about the boiling process. All the beers were boiled for two hours. With the exception of Single Stout, which had two, all the beers just used a single copper. That is, that there was only one wort. Which is no problem, if you aren’t parti-gyling. Which Cairnes weren’t.

Every beer was pitched at 60º F. Which is a bit unusual. Standard practice was to pitch stronger beers cooler. The point being to keep the maximum temperature to around the same. More heat being generated during the fermentation of a stronger wort. Which may explain why, here, the maximum temperatures of the stronger beers are very high. X Ale, in particular, was allowed to get very hot: 89º F.

The fermentations are a little on the long side, lasting as long as nine days. Though, oddly, the strongest beer, X Ale, has one of the shortest at just seven days. 

26th October 1898 Table Beer
action	barrels	strike heat	mash heat	time stood (minutes)	tap heat
mash	20	165º F	154º F	30	149º F
underlet	4	175º F		120	145º F
sparge		170º F			153º F
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.

Cairnes boiling and fermentation in 1898
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
TB	Table Beer	2		60º F	73º F	7
Ale	Mild	2		60º F	78º F	9
E.I. Ale	Pale Ale	2		60º F	76º F	7
IP Ale	IPA	2		60º F	74º F	7
SS	Stout	2	2	60º F	80º F	9
DS	Stout	2		60º F	82.5º F	8
X Ale	Mild	2		60º F	89º F	7
Source:
Cairnes brewing record held at the Guinness archives.