Grists and mashing temperatures in 1905

Another snazzy title there. It's no wonder readers flock to this blog. Today's text is a little something on grist composition and mashing temperatures. One of the main reasons I've selected it is the explanation of the use of several different pale malts in a beer. And why a proportion of foreign malt was used.

"In addition to English malt, brewers use some kind of malt made from foreign barley; for experience has shown, that beers brewed from a grist containing a proportion of foreign malt drain more easily in the mash tun, come into condition more quickly, and clarify more readily, than if the beer were brewed solely from English malt. Malts made from foreign barleys contain relatively smaller amounts of soluble albuminoids, and their lightness and large amount of husk help to make a buoyant mash, which drains easily. The barleys from which these malts are derived are grown and harvested under ideal conditions, and this, doubtless, accounts in a measure for the light, dry, and delicate flavour which such malts impart to beer.

Brewers fully recognise that two malts mashed separately under identical conditions will produce beers of very different character. Since it is most important that the beer of a brewery should be constant in flavour, the brewer tries to maintain a standard by using a mixed grist comprised of two or more malts. Thus if a brewer should be brewing a pale ale from a grist consisting of a mixture of a Pale English, Hungarian, and Californian malts, the chances of this mixed grist producing a wort of fairly uniform flavour and composition would be greater, than if one of the three malts were used. Again, if one of the malts showed some defect, the result would not be so unsatisfactory as if it were used alone. The proportions in which different malts are mixed calls for great judgment and care on the part of the brewer. Pale malt forms the principal constituent of most grists, London stout being excepted, the colour of the beer being adjusted by adding certain proportions of amber, brown, and black malts, or caramels.

Stock and export beers are mashed at a higher temperature than beers brewed for rapid consumption. The following table shows the approximate composition of the grist used in some typical beers and also the mashing heats:—

Beer	Mashing temperature	Grist
Pale or Stock Ale	151 - 153º F	Pale English malt	60%
		Foreign malt (Smyrna or Californian)	25%
		Flaked maize	5%
		Invert sugar	10%
Mild Ale	145 - 148º F	Pale English malt	35%
		Amber malt	15%
		Foreign malt (Smyrna or Californian)	30%
		Flaked maize	5%
		Invert sugar	15%
London Stout	148 - 150º F	Pale English malt	25%
		Amber malt	50%
		Roasted malt	2%
		Foreign malt	17%
		Invert sugar	6%

For London porter a somewhat similar grist would be used. A portion of the roasted malt would be replaced by caramel, and raw cane sugar might be used in place of some of the malt. London porter is usually brewed with from 15 to 20 per cent. of substitutes.

Beer	Mashing temperature	Grist
Irish Stout	148 - 150º F	Pale English malt	40%
		Amber malt	20%
		Foreign malt (Smyrna or Californian)	22%
		Maize	10%
		Roasted malt or barley	8%

The composition of these grists is, of course, only approximate, and varies according to the discretion of the brewer. There are, however, certain well-defined differences. In the superior beers a smaller percentage of malt substitutes are used than in running beer. In some Irish stouts and porters no substitutes are used, but this is not invariably the case. In Ireland practically no mild ale is brewed, porter and stout being the beverage of the country."
"The Brewing Industry" by Julian L. Baker, 1905, pages 75-77.

So, foreign malt was used because it had a good husk that helped drainage of the mash. I suppose the ffact that they were also cheaper than English malts is just a happy coincidence.

I confess that the Mild and London Stout grists look weird. All that amber malt. Not seen that in any records. And where's the brown malt in the London Stout?

I'm a bit confused about the mashing temperatures. Isn't Mild usually mashed at a higher temperature to produce a less fermentable wort? Or have I got that the wrong way around?

A pure beer brewery in Sheffield (1a)

More from the Departmental committee on beer materials. The interviews are fascinating. Hearing brewers describe their trade fleshes out the brewing records a treat. The passage below provides an insight into how ingredients were selected.

I've seen Bavarian hops many times in brewing logs. But never known exactly why they were being used. I do now.

5946. You say that it is your rule "to purchase all " English malt of fine to finest quality, and selected from  three distinct districts." Why have you specially selected three districts?  —I was advised by a friend of mine, who is a large brewer, when I first took the management of the brewery, to get them from two or three distinct districts; he said : " What you may be deficient in one district, you may gain in another" ; and we now buy our barleys as far as possible from three distinct barley-growing districts.

5947. Have you any objection to specify those districts? —Oh, no ; at the present time we have a contract for malt with a Mr. Haynes, of Ratcliffe-on-Trent, near Nottingham.

5948. A maltster ? —Yes; and we have one with Sandars and Company, of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

5949. Also maltsters ? —Large maltsters. Then we buy another portion from Mr. Milnthorpe, maltster, of Barnby-Don, near Doncaster. These are the three districts that we get our malt from.

5950. You buy your malt ready made ? —That is so.

5951. You do not buy the grain and malt it yourselves ? —No.

5952. (Professor Odling.) You do not actually know where the barley itself is grown ? —Well, it always comes out of those districts.

5953. In which the maltsters' places are ? —Yes; of course, it would hardly pay them to get it out of another district.

5954. (Chairman.) It is from information which they give you that you know that a certain proportion of foreign malt is blended with it ? —We buy the foreign malt independently.

5955. And blend it yourselves ? —We blend the malts ourselves.

5956. Where do you get your foreign malt from ? —We buy the foreign malt from Sandars, of Gainsborough, chiefly; we buy California and Smyrna malt, as a rule.

5957. But you do not blend it until it comes to your brewery ?—That is so.

5958. You say you use a certain proportion of what you call choice Bavarian hops ?—Yes.

5959. Do you consider that that is a hop which is conducive to the brewing of better beer than English hops, or is it a matter of economy ?—No, they are fully as dear ; the price is fully as high as that of the best English hops.

5960. You think it adds to the flavour of your beer ? — And to the keeping qualities.

5961. A certain admixture of Bavarian hops adds to the keeping quality of the beer?— We think so; that is our experience.
"Minutes of evidence taken before the Departmental committee on beer materials", 1899, page 227.
Evidence given by George Harston, Managing Director of the Anchor Brewery, Sheffield.

Using a blend of several malts was pretty much standard practice by this point. I'd always assumed that this was to even out the differences in any specific batch of malt,. And it seems I was right. Hooray for me!

Smyrna barley

Large quantities of foreign barley were imported into Britain for malting. California and the Mediterranean were the main sources of cheaper malt. Top-quality, very pale malt, was made from barley imported from central Europe, usually Bohemia, Moravia or the Saale district. The latter were mostly used in the best Pale Ales, such as Bass.

Mediterranean barley, usually given the generic name of Smyrna, was extremely popular because of its price and adaptability.

Here's what Alfred Barnard had to say about Smyrna barley:

"A remarkable feature of Smyrna and kindred malts is their adaptability to every class of beer that is produced upon the English system. Originally, except perhaps in Scotland where their value was earlier recognised, they were used solely for light pale ales. Now, it is understood, that their use is equally desirable for full-bodied mild ales and even black beers, a very large quantity of these qualities finding their way to Dublin, both in malt and barley. Except in the case of the finest pale ales, where the more costly Moravians are used which themselves supply the same properties in a higher degree, all beers are cleaner, sounder and more brilliant when a portion of Smyrna malt is blended with the heavier English grain. Whilst this is, doubtless, owing, in some measure, to an almost perfect climate where these barleys are grown, it is probably to a still greater extent due to the fact of their being grown on a natural unmanured soil. We believe the yield hardly exceeds one quarter per acre, and the grain is exceedingly light, weighing only about 400 pounds per Imperial quarter, whereas an average English crop will yield from four to six quarters per acre of barley, weighing nearly 448 pounds per quarter. In attaining this, however, there is no doubt that certain constituents have crept in which the brewer is much better without, but they can be largely neutralised by blending them with the pure extract from barley grown under more natural conditions and sunnier skies.

In addition to the advantages we have already described as accruing from the use of Smyrna malts, there is another feature of no slight importance to the brewer. These malts, when judiciously used, are by far the most economical of any at the brewer's disposal. The barley comes over at so low a price that, when properly manipulated, the cost per pound extract, even if brewed by itself, is much less than from any English malt. The difference in extract between an average Smyrna and an average English malt may roughly be taken at some seven or eight pounds; this represents a difference against the Smyrna of about three shillings per quarter. The difference, however, in price between the two malts, would average more than double this amount in favour of the Smyrna, even as compared with an English malt of quite inferior quality. Besides this, when blended, as is usually the case, with the heavier English malt during the process of mashing, the drainage of the "goods" and the thorough conversion of the more starchy malts are both largely assisted by the nature and character of the thinner grain; hence, many brewers have found that, provided only it be sufficiently ground, as much as twenty per cent. of the thinner malt can be used without any appreciable diminution of extract, as compared with the results obtained from English malt by itself. We need hardly say, that this points to a saving so large as to have made these malts a very important factor in the brewers' calculation of the cost of his finished product."
"The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 4" by Alfred Barnard, 1891, pages 540-541.

Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop looking more deeply. Going past brewing, fermentation, chemistry and malting and getting into plant biology and agriculture. Is there any aspect of science without a connection to brewing?