Thursday, 26 February 2026

1970s Pilsator decoction mash

A Diamant Brauerei Magdeburger Pilsator label with a silhouette of the city's skyline.
As you read this, I should be sipping a beer in a bar in Copacabana. Flash bastard that I am. Far away from the freezing cold of Amsterdam. 

More fun from behind the iron curtain. In the form of another decoction scheme.

It's been a while since I went on a decoction mash binge. Such a fascinating subject. Who would have guessed that there were so many different methods? And this is another new one to me.

The source is a brewing record image for a Pilsator. I can't remember where I got it, nor which brewery it is. Dead interesting, thougfh.
It's a type of single deoction. But with a twist.

It's mashed in at 50º C, then has rests at 64º C and 74º C. Weirdly, it's cooled back down to 64º C. Thn warmed back up to 76º C. Only then was the wort boiled. But only for ten minutes. Which seems pretty short. It can't have been very much wort that was boiled, as it only raised the temperature of the mash by 2º C.

What's odd about this method? Usually any boils are earlier in the process. And are used to raise the temperature of the mash considerably. For example, from 50º C to 64º C.

1973 DDR Pilsator mashing scheme
operation time    
  start end temp. º C hl
3,500 kg pilsner malt mashed in 06:20 06:40 56 120
drain 1st mash 06:55 07:05   110
raise to 64º C 07:00 07:15    
saccharification rest 07:15 07:45 64  
raise to 74º C 07:45 07:55    
rest 20 min 07:55 08:15 74  
move to mash tun 08:15 08:25    
cool to 64º C 08:25 08:35 64 140
drain 2nd mash 08:35 08:40   60
saccharification rest 08:40 08:55 76  
raise to boil 08:55 09:25    
boil 09:25 09:35    
move to mash tun 09:35 09:45    
saccharification rest 09:45 10:00 76  
mash out in lauter tun 10:00 10:25    
Source:
a random DDR brewing record I have


1 comment:

Matt said...

I think the cooling your seeing is just an error correction step for when they mix the 74c mash back into the main 56c mash, making sure their final mix of the two is 64c. Also, they do raise it more than 2c, they raise it from 64c to 76c.