DDR Helles Vollbier decoction mash

I spent a couple of days this week writing a talk about beer in the DDR that I'll be giving in Germany next month. It's been a lot of fun.

Much of the material I already had. But there were a couple of areas I had to research a little. One being mashing. Obviously, Kunze's Technologie Brauer und Mälzer was my source. Where I came acorss something I'd previously missed. A brewing record for a Helles Vollbier.

Including just the sort of thing I love. A really detailed mashing record. It's a dual decoction. Though the first is a cereal mash doubling as a decoction. Which is fascinating. As a cereal mash with rice is how Budweiser was made during Mitch Steele's time at Anheuser Busch. You can hear him talk about it here:


Of course, Budweiser didn't get a second decoction, like this Helles did.

It's quite a long process. Six hours in all. Then they spent another four hours running off the wort and sparging. No wonder it never become popular in the UK.

DDR Helles Vollbier decoction mash
action	mash tun			mash kettle
	time	hl	º C	time	hl	º C	time taken
mash in 1,000 kg rice and 1,000 kg pilsner malt				0:00 - 0:35	55	50	35
raise to 65º C in 20 min				0:35 - 0:55	55	65	20
rest 10 min				0:55 - 1:05	55	65	10
raise to 78º C in 15 min				1:05 - 1:20	55	78	15
rest 20 min				1:20 - 1:40	55	78	20
raise to boil in 25min (adjunct mash)				1:40 - 2:05	55	100	25
boil 35 min				2:05 - 2:40	55	100	35
mash in 200 kg Munich malt and 1,800 kg pilsner malt at 50º C	1:45 - 2:00	60	50
rest 40 min	2:00 - 2:40	60	50
mix with adjunct mash	2:40 - 3:00	115	64				20
rest 35 min	3:00 - 3:35	115	64				35
pull decoction				3:35 - 3:40	50	64	5
raise to 77º C in 5min				3:40 - 3:45	50	77	5
rest 10 min				3:45 - 3:55	50	77	10
raise to boil in 15 min				3:55 - 4:10	50	100	15
boil 20 min				4:10 - 4:30	50	100	20
raise to 75º C mash out	4:30 - 4:40						10
rest 30 min	4:40 - 5:10						30
raise to 78º C	5:10 - 5:15						5
saccharification rest	5:15 - 6:00						45
						total	360
Source:
Technologie Brauer und Mälzer by Wolfgang Kunze, VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 2nd edition, 1967, page 212.

 

 

Porter in the DDR

See, I promised you the tale of DDR Porter and here it is. A coupling of two of my favourite obsessions.

How was it brewed
Let's start with "Leitfaden Für den Brauer und Mälzer" by Rudolf Dickscheit (Leipzig, 1953, pages 163-164).

"Porter
What in Germany is designated Porter, would be called Stout in England. For export, Stout is brewed with a graity of up to 21% [21º Plato]. Porter is a beer of similar character, but has amn original gravity of just 12%. To avoid confusion, in the following I will stick with the term Porter which is normally used in Germany.

The basis for a good Porter is a very well-modified malt. To obtain this, the usual method is a 14 day cold process.

The malt is heated in piles on the upper level and dried in the same way as Munich malt.

Porter is made by the infusion mash method which is standard in England. It can, for example, be brewed as follows:

Mash 69º C for 3 hours
Pump the whole mash into the heated Läufer tun
Rest 69º C for 30 minute
First sparge let stand for 30 minutes
Draw off first sparge
Second sparge let stand for 30 minutes
Draw off second sparge, add the hops and boli for 3 hours

Add caramel [Kulör] to obtain the desired colour, and add sugar in the kettle to obtain a gravity of 18 to 20% [Plato].

The grist generally contains caramel malt and Farbmalz. Farbmalz makes up 7 to 10% of the grist. The hopping rate is 600 to 700 grams per hectolitre. After the wort has been boiled for three hours it's transferred to the cool ship and with cooling apparutus brought down to 18º to 24º C. To the cooled wort a top-fermenting yeast is added. Since the fermentation temperature lies between 18º and 24º C, a violent fermentation soon begins. During the primary fermentation, the wort is only carefully cooled so that a temperature of 18º to 24º C is maintained.

The room temperature should be about the same as the wort temperature.

The aim is an unbroken fermentation of all the fermentable extract.

When the primary fermentation is over, the young beer is transferred to small lagering barrels. There it is infected with Brettanomyces and a sugar solution added. After a relatively short time a lively secondary fermentation starts. The lagering barrels are not bunged but allowed to froth over.

Brettanomyces produces substances which lend the beer particular vinous flavour. As soon as this appears to a sufficient extent, the Porter is filtered: afterwards, more sugar is added at a rate of 50 grams per hectolitre. It's inoculated with Brettanomyces a second time and filled into bottles.

Bottle-conditioning takes place at 15º C in a warm cellar, so that the Brattanomyces can produce a strong fermentation and the bottles gain a sediment. As soon as there is sufficient conditioning, the cellar is cooled to 0º C.

The Porter is now ready for consumption. However it can be matured for longer to develop and round off its flavour.

In general, pasteurisation is not necessary; if it does occur, the pasteurised taste is not so unpleasantly discernible as in pale beers.

A Porter brewed by the aforementioned method would not be identical to the beer produced in the DDR with the name 'Porter', but would be more similar to the English beer than is currently the case."

I like the bit about pasteurisation. Reading between the lines in brewing manuals, it's clear many professional brewers thought pasteurisation was detrimental to a beer's flavour. Dickscheit's differentiation between Porter and Stout is pretty spot on. As is his description of how Stout was brewed in England circa 1914 (by the time he wrote the book, probably only Barclay Perkins Russian Stout was made that way). I wonder how the hell he knew all of this?

But most important is the last paragraph. The method laid out wasn't how DDR breweries actually brewed, but something to which they should aspire in order to make an authentic English-style Porter. You can find this in a Michael Jackson article about Porter:

"Even after or War II, at least one German brewer continued to make a "British-style" Porter with a Brettanomyces yeast culture."

It's my fault. I sent him a translation of part of Dickscheit's instructions which omitted the final paragraph.

Where was it brewed
These are the breweries in the East that I know for certain (I've seen a label) brewed Porter:

Brauerei Eibau, Eibau
Schultheiss, Berlin
Brauerei Th. Krepper, Burg bei Magdeburg
Brauerei Sternburg, Leipzig
Brauerei Schmiedefeld, Schmiedefeld
Brauerei Meiningen, Meiningen
Brauerei Krampf, Eibau
Brauerei Braugold, Erfurt
Riebeck Brauerei, Erfurt
Rose-Brauerei, Grabow
Brauhaus Halle, Halle
Freyberg's Brauerei, Halle
Brauerei Lübz, Lübz
Brauerei Erich Weltz, Sülze (Extra Stout XXX)

Some of these probably date to before WW II, but I'm sure there are many others missing.

What it was like
I'm in a generous mood again. Here are the technical details of beers brewed in the DDR during the 1970's:


"Technologie Brauer und Mälzer" by Wolfgang Kunze (Leipzig, 1975) is a wonderful book. It tells you everything you need to know about running a brewery in the DDR. Right down to the how the labels should look:

- name and location of the producer
- bottling date
- size: 90 mm X 60 mm for 33 cl bottles, 100 mm X 70 mm for 50 cl bottles
- retail price in at least 12 point letters
- colour: for Porter, carmine red

When I open my brewery, I intend sticking to the rules. Except for the retail price, of course.