Scottish Ale brewing in the 1850's

Time for some contemporary descriptions of Scottish brewing practices. I'm starting with a relatively short one because, well, I can't be arsed to go through the long one yet. It's a complete chapter and requires a fair bit of fiddling to get into a presentable state. Maybe next week.

See if you can spot the big inconsistency:

"Ale. A well-known amber-coloured fermented liquor of considerable strength, but varying in the amount of alcohol which it contains, according to the option of the particular ale brewer. Edinburgh ale contains apparently more saccharine matter unfermented than other ales, and is strong. Burton ale has more hops added, and is hence termed pale bitter ale. The Scotch ale is said to be brewed during the cold months of the year, only one mash of half-an-hour's duration being made, and the heat of the liquor raised to 180°; it is then drained off into the wort copper. The malt is then deprived of all its soluble matter by sparging, or dashing over hot water of 180° for eight or ten times successively, the liquor draining through by apertures placed at the sides of the mash tun, and armed with stopcocks. One gallon of yeast is added to 2-10 gallons of wort, and the fermentation begun at 50°, and continued for two or three weeks: four lbs. of hops are used to the quarter of malt. The following table by my pupil, Mr. John Wright Currie, of the Perth Brewery, gives the strength of various ales brewed in that establishment. The experiments were made with great care in my laboratory.

Scottish Ales
	Absol. Alcohol per cent	Extract per cent	Water per cent
Export Ale	7.96	3.75	88.29
India Ale	8.97	2.75	89.28
No. 3 Ale	7.055	5.7	87.25
No. 4 Ale	7.855	6.675	85.47

Scottish Ale Brewing.—To brew 20 barrels of ale, 80 bushels of malt and 80 lbs. of hops are the same time the sluice of the malt bung is opened, and the malt and remainder of the liquor at 175° run down together, and stirred. The mashing requires three hours, when the sparger (sprinkler) is fixed to the head of the tun. The sparger is a copper cylinder five or six inches in diameter, closed at both ends, and nearly so to within a foot of the centre, which is open, with a cross division against, which a run of liquor by a spout from the copper strikes and sends it round the tun. An iron bar is fixed across the latter, on which the sparger is placed on a pivot. Its two arms extend the width of the tun, the inferior side of these being pierced with small holes similar to the mouth of a watering-pan, from which as it revolves, the liquor escapes and sprinkles the mash. The water in the boiler being tempered to the heat required for sparging, (185°,) the taps of the mash tun are slacked, and the worts permitted to flow out slowly, the sparger being set in motion—this operation being merely a continuation of the mashing. I may add, that having examined most of the waters used by the Edinburgh ale brewers, I have found them all very hard waters, containing a large quantity of carbonate of lime. If any virtue is to be attributed to the water, it. may be presumed that the carbonate may act by neutralizing any acid as soon as it is formed. The 30 barrels of wort, 72 lbs. saccharine extract per barrel, are boiled for half-an-hour, and 40 lbs. hops added; another half-hour's boiling takes place, the remaining hops are added, and the wort boiled for another half-hour. Worts of the gravity of 50 lbs. extract per barrel strengthen 5 lbs. per barrel in one hour's boiling, and worts of 100 lbs. in one and a half hour strengthen 15 lbs. So that the brewer can easily judge of the amount of boiling required by the use of the saccharomcter. The worts, after a quarter of an hour, are run into the hop back, and then spread on the coolers, where they remain twelve hours; during this time they lose one-eighth of their bulk by evaporation. The worts being cooled to 53°, one barrel of wort is run into the gyle, and 6 gallons of yeast added, and thoroughly mixed; the remaining wort is then added. In Scotland, the temperature for commencing the fermentation is about 52.5°, in England 62.5°. In twenty-four hours the first stage ends, the surface being characterized on the edges by a white circle, and irregular patches of white breaking through, and soon being covered with froth. The head of froth is beat down, and the process continued for twenty-four hours more. In eight days the heat has increased 10°. The brewer judges of the period to stop the fermentation by the saccharometer, which indicates the amount of sugar which has been converted into alcohol. The next process is cleansing. In Edinburgh the ale is run finished from the gyle into the casks in which it is sold. In Alloa and Stirling it is run into butts, from which it is racked into casks, a pint of fillings or prepared wort being put at the same time into each."
"Cyclopaedia of chemistry with its applications to mineralogy, physiology and the arts" by Robert Dundas Thomson, 1854, pages 26 - 27.

Did you see it? In the first paragraph it's said that mashing only lasts half an hour in Scotland. In the second, that it takes three hours. I suppose it depends what you mean by mashing. Brewing records usually differentiate between "mashing" and "standing". The former is when the grains and water are being actively mixed. The latter, when the grains and water are left to, well, stand before the wort is run off. Mashing was rarely longer than 20 or 30 minutes, standing about two hours.

The great attention paid to sparging is because of its Scottish origin. Though by the time of this text, the 1850's, the practice had spread to England.

Let's turn our attention to the Ale breing brewed. Just 20 barrels from 80 bushels implies a gravity of 40 lbs per barrel, or 1108º. A hefty beer, then. Not sure which saccharometer the author used. 72 lbs per barrel doesn't tally with any of the scales I know.

The hopping instructions are nice and precise: one hour boil, half the hops added at the start the rest after half an hour. That's fairly typical. Most books describe two or three hop additions. A hopping rate of 4 lbs a barrel sounds like a lot. But this is a monster of a beer. That rate corresponds well with the one used in William Younger's 120/- Ales of 1858. That was 1108º and had 3.89 lbs of hops per barrel.

How does that hopping rate compare with that of similar English beers? Is it far less as we've been led to believe? Er, no. Whitbread XXX from 1850 had an OG of 1098º and 3.5 lbs hops per barrel. In 1869, Barclay Perkins XXX was 1093 and had 4.98 lbs hops per barrel. This Scottish Ale falls nicely between the two.

No refrigerators are mentioned in the cooling process. This is about the period when they were coming into use.

Then there's the pitching temperature. A clear distinction is made between English and Scottish practice, the latter being pitch 10º cooler at 52.5º F. That tallies with what's usually said about Scottish fermentations - that they were cool and slow. Do Younger's brewing records agree? Not completely. In 1851 they pitched at between 55º and 58º F, depending on the strength of the wort. The fermentation temperature peaked at 69º to 70º F.

What about English brewers? The Whitbread XXX of 1850 was pitched at 60º F and rose to 76º F. 1869  Barclay Perkins XXX was exactly the same - pitched at 60º F and rose to 76º F.

From this limited evidence, it appears that Scottish beers were fermented cooler, but not by 10º F. More like 5º F.

Beating down the head. What an odd thing to do. But William Younger did. There's a column  in their brewing records with the heading "Heats and Beats in Guile" Very poetic.

You can see why I'm having motivational challenges with regard to the much longer text describing the Scottish system of brewing. It's ten or twenty times the length of this one. Maybe next week.

Sparging 1920 - 1939

As you read this, I'll be clicking away in the archives. Unless those hippies close Stansted again. In which case I might be trying to make my way from Glasgow to London.

Today there's more from "Brewing Science & Practice" by H. Lloyd Hind, published in 1940. Sparging. What a great word. I wonder what its etymology is? Zythophile will probably know.



Sparging
The object of sparging was to wash out as much of the remaining extract as possible after the wort had been run off at the end of mashing. Care had to be taken not to extract substances contained in the grains which might have a negative effect on the clarity or stability of the finished beer.

The water used for sparging was usually 168 to 170º F. Sometimes the process began with water at a slightly cooler temperature, 167ºF, which was gradually raised to 170ºF. It was important that the sparge water was distributed evenly over the surface of the mash and that it was able to percolate through all of it. If channels formed in the mash, not all the grains would be properly washed by the sparge water. The amount of sparge water used was restricted so that the total quantity used for mashing and sparging was no more than 6.5 or 7 barrels per quarter of malt.

Often the taps were opened as sparging began. The wort was run off at the same rate as sparge water was added. This kept the level or wort in the mash constant and prevented suction which might draw sediment into the wort. Sparging ceased when the gravity of the wort running off had fallen to 1002-1003º. Wort at lower gravities was of little value and could cause problems with clarity and stability. In some breweries such very dilute worts were used as "returns", that is in place of water in a subsequent brewing.

A "dead mash occurred" when the grains had become so compacted that the wort would not run off. The reason for a "dead mash" could be:

1. standing too long
2. running off the wort too quickly
3. sparging too fast
4. "steely" (hard) malt
5. too deep a mash tun

A dead mash could be loosened by rotating the mashing rakes a couple of times or by a quick, strong underlet.

Whitbread and Barclay Perkins both sparged twice, once after each underlet. The second sparge was usually at a lower temperature than the first. Both breweries sparged at a wider range of temperatures than those indicated by Hind, varying from a low of 155º F to a high of 174º F.


Whitbread had basically 4 sparging regimes:

- Pale Ales (IPA, PA)
- Milds (LA, X)
- Strong Ales (DB, KK)
- Porter and Stout (P, LS, ES)


Barclay Perkins practice was somewhat different. The first sparge was almost always at 170º F, except in the case of the Strong Ale KKKK and BBS Stout. Unlike Whitbread, the second sparge was coldest for Pale Ales (PA, IPA) than for Milds (XX, X, A). Most of the Porters and Stouts (TT, BS, OMS) had no sparge after the first underlet. IBS Export, Russian Stout, had a mashing scheme different to all the other beers, inclusing a very cool second sparge.

Mashing 1880 - 1914

Here's some more about mashing. In particular, the method where the temperature of the mash is raised part of the way through.

My source today is, I believe, a bit more reliable than Faulkner. It's "Principles & Practice of Brewing" by Walter J. Sykes & Arthur R. Ling, published in 1907. I like it anyway. If only because it has one of the first mentions of brettanomyces in a brewing manual (it was only discovered in 1904).

I've not looked at the theoretical part of the book yet. Maybe they'll prove to be as misguided as Faulkner. They are at least talking about different kinds of dextrin.



Mashing
In well-equipped breweries, water for mashing was heated in the hot-liquor back. Usual practice was to boil the water the evening before before brewing for 15 minutes. It cooled overnight and needed to be reheated to get to the correct mashing temperature. Boiling ensured that the water was sterile. Most water contained chalk, which precipitated out when boiled, taking with it any organic matter in the water to the bottom of the back. To stop this getting into the mash, the opening through which the water was drawn off was always a few inches above the bottom.

If the water was hardened with gypsum or other salts, it was added while the water was being boiled.

The mash tun was warmed with hot water or steam before mashing started.

The initial temperature, that is the temperature of the mash after the grain had been mixed together, varied depending on the variety of malt being used and the type of beer required. Initial heats varied between 145º F and 145º F. The striking heat, that is the temperature of the water before it was mixed with the malt, was determined by taking into account a number of factors, such as the temperature of the malt and the volume of water per quarter of malt. Brewing manuals contained tables to allow brewers to easily calculate the necessary striking heat.

"Beers intended for storage are, as a rule, brewed from pale malts. These are mashed at a somewhat higher degree of temperature than high-dried malts, for we require, in this class of beers, a fairly large quantity of those dextrins which ferment very slowly, and which, since they provide for a long, slow, continued fermentation, keep the ale (through the period of its storage) charged with gas. High-dried malts are mashed at a somewhat lower temperature, since the beers produced from them are quickly consumed, and here we require a wort which contains large quantities and of those maltodextrins which give fulness and sweetness to the beer. Between these two types of beer, which may be seen as extremes, there are many other intermediate ones that are brewed to suit the particular wants of different neighbourhoods."

As most malt contained more than enough diastase, a temperature high enough to destroy some of it was used. If all the diastase remained active, too much maltose would be produced, resulting in a thin-bodied beer.

Despite all the theory, experience still played a big part. "A delicate appreciation of the right initial heat to be employed with different malts to produce different beers of the required character is only to be obtained by actual experience and is one of those things for which hard and fast rules cannot be laid down."

If the mash tun was fitted with a Steel's masher, hot water, at the correct striking heat, was run through it into the mash tun until it just covered the false bottom. Then grist and water were put through the masher which mixed them together and pushed them into the tun. Brewers learned to be able judge if the proportions were right by observing consistency of the stream as it tumbled into the tun. If it were not quite right, the flow of grain and water could be adjusted accordingly. The Steel's masher was very efficient as it heated the grain uniformly. Which is doubtless one of the reasons it is still in use today.

If the tun had an internal rake masher, the procedure was somewhat different. First a little more water than actually required for the mash, at a slightly higher temperature than the striking heat, was run into the mash tun. When the tun had warmed up, the taps were opened to flush the spend pipes. If the water were still too hot, the masher was switched on and after a few revolutions it would have cooled to the right temperature. The tun was closed and the grain dropped quickly into the water. The rakes were kept turning as the malt was being added at a little less than on revolution per minute. After all the malt had been added, the rakes were kept turning for a further 15 minutes until the grain and water had mixed to an even constituency. The disadvantage of this method was that not all the grain was heated to the same temperature, as it was with an external masher.

The total amount of water needed to brew a beer of a certain gravity was calculated taking into account the water that would be absorbed by the malt (28 to 30 gallons per quarter) and the hops (53 gallons per 100 pounds) and would be lost through evaporation during the boil, cooling and fermentation (around 30%). The amount of water used in the mash was between 1.5 and 2.5 barrels per quarter of malt. As the total amount of water was constant, the thicker the mash, the more water could be used when sparging. A thick mash and generous sparge was the best way of getting the greatest extract from the grain.

After the mash had stood for about 15 minutes, more water, at a temperature 10º to 12º F higher than the striking heat, was added via the underlet. If the tun had a rake masher, this was given 4 revolutions to mix the new water evenly through the mash. In tuns with an external masher, the water was added very slowly so that it could gradually spread through the mash.

There were two reasons for raising the temperature of the mash: to produce a greater proportion of higher maltodextrins; to compensate for poor quality malt. When doing the former, the temperature of the mash was raised to 158º F or more in order to check diastatic activity. The time standing was also usually reduced to just an hour. When compensating for poor malt, the initial heat was very low - 140º to 145º F. After half an hour, the temperature of the mash was gradually raised to 155º F and then left to stand until all the starch had been converted. The mash could be heated either by adding extra water through the underlet or by the use of a heating device within the mash tune, such as a steam coil.

The mash was left to stand until all the starch had been converted. Samples of wort were taken at regular intervals and tested with iodine. As soon as no starch was detected, the taps were opened and the wort run off.

Some breweries still performed a second mash. Around half the brew length was drawn from the first mash and sparge, then a further 1.5 barrels of water per quarter were added to the grains in the mash tun. It was left to stand for 1.5 hours, after which the wort was drawn off and a second sparge performed. While some brewers though this method gave a better yield, many considered it a waste of time. In rare cases, even a third mash was performed.

There's a good example in the Fuller's 1910 brewing log of a mash heated by means of the underlet.

March 14th 1910 Fuller's AK
Ingredients: 27 qtrs pale malt, 2 qtrs flaked maize, 7 qtrs sugar
65 barrels water @ 164º F; initial heat 150º F; mashed 1 hour, stood 25 minutes
15 barrels via underlet @ 175º F; raised temperature of mash to 155º F; stood 80 minutes
sparged with 114 barrels of water at 168º F and 165º F


Using 2.25 barrels of water per quarter of grain, this was a relatively thin mash.
The mashing scheme was quite different for their darker beers:


August 10th 1910 Fuller's Brown Stout and Porter
Ingredients: 35.5 qtrs pale malt, 7 qtrs brown malt, 3.5 qtrs black malt, 2 qtrs flaked maize, 24 qtrs sugar
103 barrels water @ 155º F; initial heat 146º F; mashed 1 hour, stood 20 minutes
15 barrels via underlet @ 175º F; raised temperature of mash to 150º F; stood 100 minutes
sparged with 199 barrels of water at 170º F and 180º F


The initial heat was 4º F lower than for the AK and the mash was left to stand for 20 minutes longer. The temperature of the sparging water was, however, a good it higher.

Scotch Ale 1815-1850

Back to book extracts. I have a feeling that the 1815-1850 chapter will need some serious editing. It's currently almost 25% of the total book. And I want to add more to it. There are just too many sources for the period.

Scotch Ale. A topic I've already covered several times. But what the hell, there's still plenty to discuss. In the first half of the 19th century, there were significant differences in the way Scottish and English brewers worked. What were they? Try reading the text below.


Scotch Ale

Scotch Ales in the 1820's
Price__OG______FG______ABV
£4__1080-86____1032-35__6,625
£5__1090-95____1036-39__7
£6__1100-1108__1040-44__7,75
£7__1110-1116___1045-47__8,375
£8__1120-1125___1048-50__9,25
Source:
"Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 117


Scotch Ales in the 1840's
Price__OG______FG______ABV
£3__1080-86____1032-35__6,625
£4__1090-95____1036-39__7
£5__1100-1108__1040-44__7,75
£6__1110-1116___1045-47__8,375
£7__1120-1125___1048-50__9,25
Source:
"Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 117


The Scottish system of brewing
The main difference with England was that Scottish brewers mashed just once. One and a half to one and three quarter barrels of water were used per quarter of malt. The striking heat was between 175º and 185º F. Mashing took about 45 minutes, follwed by a period of standing between 2 and 3 hours. After this time the first wort was run off and the goods sparged with hot water.

For strong Ales, of over 1100, between 4 and 10 pounds of hops per quarter were used. In winter the average was about 6 pounds, in summer 8 pounds. (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 149.) That's a little less than in England, where stronger Ales had 8 to 10 pounds of hops per quarter.

Roberts described how he hopped Ales when brewing.

OG________season___hops/qtr__1st addition__2nd addition____length of boil
1095-1100__Jan-Mar__10 lbs____4 lbs, 0 mins__6 lbs, 20 mins__60 mins
1085-1090__Jan-Mar__8 lbs_____4 lbs, 0 mins__4 lbs, 15 mins__60 mins
1070-1080__Jan-Mar__7 lbs_____2 lbs, 0 mins__5 lbs, 15 mins__60 mins
Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, pages 89-90

When a Table Beer was made with the weaker runnings, the hops from the strong Ale were re-used, being boiled 2 to 3 hours. (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 91.)

Yeast was pitched 53º F in winter, 51º F in summer. Around 2 pounds of yeast per barrel was pitched. During fermentation, the temperature of the wort increased by 12º to 15º F. (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 149.)

"Scottish brewers make no use of isinglass for finings; nor do I believe they have any occasion to employ such agents as flour and salt in order to stimulate fermentation ." (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 150.)

Roberts gives an example of a £5 (100/-) Ale. Twenty quarters of malt were added to 32 barrels of water at 180º F. It was mashed with oars for 45 minutes then covered and left to stand for 2 hours 45 minutes. The tap was opened to run off the wort and at the same time sparging began with 32 barrels of water at 190º F. The wort run off was at 148º F. After 3.5 hours 48 barrels of wort at 1083º had been collected and the tap was closed. Another 15 barrels of water were sparged to make Table Beer. (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, pages 149-150.)

160 pounds of East Kent hops were added to the wort in the copper and boiled briskly for 90 minutes. After cooling, 36 barrels of wort at 1103.5 were put into the gyle tun. It was pitched at a temperature of 50º F with 8.5 gallons of yeast. The wort remained in the tun for 13 days, the temperature rising to 63º F. It was then let down into the square at a gravity of 1043 and left there for 24 hours before cleansing into hogsheads. (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 150.) By my calculation, that's about 8% ABV and 58% apparent attenuation.

10 barrels of Table Beer with a gravity of 1040º were also produced. (Source: "Scottish Ale Brewer", WH Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, page 151.)

There are a couple of major differences between the method Roberts describes and the practice in English breweries. There was just a single mash, as opposed to three or four. The volume of the water used to sparge was much greater. The yeast was pitched colder, 50º F rather than 60º F, which was more typical in England. The fermentation, at two weeks, was much longer. In England it rarely lasted even as long as seven days. From the mention of moving the wort from a tun to a square, it sounds as if Roberts was employing the dropping system of fermentation.