My last post was all about the Barley and Scotch Bigg report of 1806 by Thomas, Coventry and Hope and evidence for the link between un-aerated steeps and long germination times, and while I highly recommend reading the report, the type is faded in places and changing all those “f”‘s to “s’s can really slow you down. So here are some condensed notes that I gleaned from the sections on malting and brewing in point form.
Malting:
- Steeped in square chamber for 40-118 hours pg 20, until grain could be crushed end to end between fingers. Avg. moisture content 42.5 %
- Scottish maltsters often steeped longer than English
- Some changed the water once or twice, others not at all
- Drained and rinsed (if warm) to wash off slime.
- Couch – 16″ deep for 26 hours pg 23
- Flooring – Spread gradually over time to a depth of 3-4″
- Turned 2,3,4, or more times per day depending on conditions
- Always kept level thickness to keep temperature even throughout
- Sweating – 96 hours (4 days) after casting a rise of 8-12 degrees F occurs
- During sweating grain becomes wet again for a day or two
- Temperature must be kept in check by turning.
- Temperature of malt at casting 40-50F. (4.4-10C) Temp of barn 40-50F
- Temperature of malt at sweat 50-60. (10-15.5C) Temp. of barn 40-50
- Chitting usually occurs at sweating
- A day after chitting the acrospires appear and grow rapidly
- Acrospires on 8th day after casting will be half the length of grain, growth slows pg 28
- Grown till acrospires almost reach the end 12-20 days
- Avg. temp. of malt 52-60F (11-15.5C) Scottish avg. 56F (13.3) English avg. 59F (15C)
- Kiln depth 3-6 inches. pg 33
- Kilning starts at body temperature (98.6F 37C)
- Kiln temperatures recorded ranged from 140-160-170. highest observed- 186F
- Suspected some maltsters to kiln up to just below boiling for some malts like brown.
- 40-80 hours on kiln
- Pg 33 “Malt may be made brown at a lower temperature for it is not so much the temperature, as the suddenness with which it raised, while the malt is still moist, which alters the colour.”
Brewing:
- Malt mashed 3 hours then drained to underback
- More hot water poured for second mashing
- May even be repeated for a third time
- 8 1/2 gallons to the bushel of malt at 180F
I believe a different sized gallon was used at this time which held 282 cubic inches (instead of 231) which would make the infusion 10.38 u.s. gallons which with 37.5 lbs per bushel of malt, makes the mash thickness 1.11 qt/lb. If the malt temperature was 45 F and the strike water 180F the mash temperature would be 159.5. Rather high, however, we’re dealing with a lot of averages here and I could be wrong about the gallon size. As well the strike water would have lost a few degrees when it was transferred to the mash tun. If the gallons back then are the same as today then our mash temperature would be 156F but our mash thickness would be .91 qt/lb. As you can see below there is quite a variance between brewers as the runnings are from 160 to 140F.
- Sparge water also 180 F pg 46.
- Temperatures from runnings from first sparge ranged from 160-140F
- The quantity drawn off depends upon the strength which the ale is required to possess but is never less than the initial infusion amount
- The quantity of the second wort varies according to the choice of the brewer
- Boiled for an hour or two till it is reduced to the wished for quantity and strength
- Hops 2/3 to 1 lb. added per bushel (37.5 lb) of malt
- Cooled in large shallow square vessel only a few inches deep.
- Cooled to 52 F in Winter and 46 F is Summer
- Drained to fermenting tun
- 1 gallon of yeast added for every 3 barrels of wort “hence fermentation is slow and imperfect”
- Some temperature fluctuations observed during fermentation 44-71F , 55-82F (highest) 52-53F (lowest fluctuation).
- Ready to rack to a hogshead (54 gal. barrel) on 9th or 10th day and allowed more time to clarify
The beers in the table below have an average alcohol content of 10-11% a.b.v.