The Home Brewer s Guide to Vintage Beer

Transcription

1 The Home Brewer s Guide to Vintage Beer Brewing up the Past Ron Pattinson, Beer Historian/Author Paul Langlie, Brewers United for Real Potables

2 Introduction Always wondered what beer tasted like in the past Discovered the recipes still existed Wanted to get the beers brewed Fullers, De Molen & Pretty Things, Devil s Backbone Time to pass on the information to home brewers Collaborated with BURP to test recipes

3 Brewing Partnership BURP Community-building Activity Solicited teams to brew selected recipes provided by Ron 6 teams composed of experienced and novice brewers Notes & experiences shared via listserv Culminated in Ron s book event for 100+ participants at 3 Stars in DC featuring brewing teams and their beers Coordinated a second event with club teams from the Free State Homebrew Club Guild at MD Homebrew George Hummel & Nancy Rigberg at Home Sweet Homebrew in Philly pulled together a similar event in collaboration with their local clubs and Yards Brewing

4 BURP Brewers & 3 Stars Showcased Ron s Vintage Brews 1910 Fullers AK Style - Special (Best) Bitter Brewer - Robert Stevens OG 1.049; FG 1.009; ABV 5.3% IBU s - 49; SRM Under Younger XP Style Scottish Pale Ale Brewers Bob & Deborah Sholtes OG 1.054; FG 1.012; ABV 5.4% IBU s - 102; SRM Whitbread DB Style Brown Ale Brewers Wendy Aaronson & Bill Ridgely OG 1.052; FG 1.014; ABV 5.0% IBU s 50; SRM Barclay Perkins XLK Style English Pale Ale Brewer Steve Marler OG 1.052; FG 1.009; ABV 5.6% IBU s 60; SRM Truman Imperial Style Imperial Stout Brewers Howard & Emily Michelsen, Nathan Caldwell, Terri Fischer, Dan Rozman OG 1.084; FG 1.025; ABV 7.8% IBU s - 100; SRM Barclay Perkins EI Style Porter Brewers Paul & Jamie Langlie, Gordon Goeke, Jim Core OG 1.054; FG 1.014; ABV 5.3% IBU s - 70; SRM 30

5 Deciphering the Past Fascinated by Porter: What was it like? How was it brewed? When did it disappear? How did it relate to Stout? Existing books gave contradictory answers Went back to primary records Huge collection of brewing records in archives

6 Reading Brewing Records Brewing records provide: Data on brewing techniques & ingredients Recipes for home & professional brewers Not too difficult to read with practice Every brewery s records slightly different Brewing text books help understanding logs Handwriting can be challenging

7 Barclay Perkins EI (India Porter)

8 Barclay Perkins EI mashing Mashes malts Barrels liquor Strike heat Tap heat

9 Barclay Perkins EI gyling Three worts blended 734 barrels in total Weird unit of gravity Combined worts Or 19.6 lbs/barrel Or º

10 Filling in the Blanks Some information always there: Ingredients OG Mashing temperatures Other information rarely available: Hop additions Water treatment Dry hopping details

11 Scaling Down Original recipes on a huge scale Malts in quarters: pale 336 lbs Brown/amber 250 lbs Sugar 224 lbs Hops: lbs per barrel/7 Qtrs malt lbs % 110 Sussex pale malt % 70 Herts. brown malt % 40 new Herts. brown malt % 220 total %

12 Scaling Recipes for Home Use Ron used BeerSmith software to scale vintage brewery recipes BURPERS used it to adjust Ron s recipes for American grain and hops, as well as the efficiency of their brewing equipment BURP brewers also substituted available American supplies for some of the original British ingredients

13 Brewing Barclay Perkins EI

14 Ingredients - Malt Fewer types of malt in 19 th century: Pale malt White malt Amber malt Brown malt Black malt Crystal malt Mild malt

15 Ingredients Hops Introduced to Britain in late 14 th century Used as preservative and for flavour Often used old hops After 1850 couldn t grow enough in Britain Imported hops from every country that grew them

16 English Hops Goldings around since 18 th century Fuggles from the 1870 s Farnham Whitebine highly valued Last bines grubbed up in 1929 Mathon variety is essentially the same New varieties in 20 th century: Brewer s Gold (1919), Bramling Cross (1927), and Northern Brewer (1934)

17 North American Hops After 1840 considerable quantities used Initially Clusters from New York State After % of hops from the USA Later hops mostly from West Coast British brewers didn t like the flavour Mostly used as early kettle additions Often used quite old

18 Continental Hops German and Czech hops considered best Used Saaz, Hallertauer and Spalt as aroma or dry hops Belgian hops cheap and low quality Hops from Alsace before and after 1870 Other types: Burgundy, Altmark (North Germany), Styrian (Austria/Yugoslavia)

19 Invert sugar: Sugar Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4: No. 1 palest, No. 4 darkest No. 1, SRM, No. 2, SRM, No. 3, SRM, No. 4, SRM Proprietary sugars: A mix of invert and caramel Meant for specific types of beer Sugar used for colouring

20 BURP Brewers Sugar Experience 1933 Whitbread DB Called for 20% No. 3 invert sugar Brewers decided to forgo lengthy sugar preparation Substituted Steen s 100% Pure Cane Syrup used today for making pralines Since recipe already contained 20% caramelized sugar, they compromised and used caramel malt (mix of 60 L & 80 L) to achieve 23 SRM color

21 Adjuncts Pre unmalted grain illegal Corn most popular adjunct, usually flaked Rice sometimes used, could be expensive Flaked oats used in Stout Flaked barley used during WW II to save energy

22 Water During 19 th century became aware of minerals The impact of water can be overestimated Breweries put in areas with Burton-like water Detailed chemical analysis of brewing water Lead to water treatment Burtonisation Water treatment common on 20 th century Water for different styles treated differently

23 Yeast Multiple strains 2, 3 or more Repitched from earlier brews Using other brewer s yeast common in Scotland Brettanomyces in pitching yeast or in equipment British brewers reluctant to adopt pure yeast cultures

24 Brewing Techniques - Mashing Multiple mashes at different temperatures Number of mashes reduced By 1900 single mash In Scotland single infusion + sparge

25 Multiple Mashes In or 4 mashes and no sparge Higher temp with each mash After 1850 just 2 mashes and 2 sparges Worts hopped & boiled apart Gyles later blended to produce one or multiple beers

26 Other Mashing Methods Single infusion and sparge Standard in Scotland from 1800 In regional English breweries after 1850 Underlet mashing Mash, after 30 mins hotter water added via underlet Finished with a sparge Common in London from 1870 to 1970

27 Parti-gyling Each wort not for a different beer Worts boiled separately Blended to produce beers of different strengths Some of each wort in every beer Very efficient and gave total control over OG

28 Boiling Worts boiled minutes Later worts boiled longer Sugar in weaker worts Hops divided across worts Several hop additions Porter domed copper Pale Ale open copper

29 Fermentation Two phases to fermentation: Primary fermentation Cleansing Variation in cleansing Burton unions Pontoes Yorkshire square Dropping system

30 Pontoes

31 Burton Unions

32 Yorkshire Square

33 Many beer still aged Ageing Brett secondary fermentation Fell out of fashion after 1850 Could last for years After WW I just a few Pale Ales, Stouts and Strong Ales aged

34 Questions?