When I started this blog, I expected one of the focuses to be discussing the scientific brewing literature. The main reasons for this were because my training/background is in science and I enjoy reading the scientific brewing literature. And that these papers are not always open access, so by writing about them I could share a bit of the ideas they discuss for those who don't have access. There was a bit of this discussion in the early days of this blog, but not very much. So now I'm deciding to get back to it with some shorter posts talking about specific texts
To start this off I'll write about an article titled The Beers and Brewing Systems of Northern France written by R.E. Evans in 1905. Articles from this era of British brewing journals are pretty cool in that they are presented as the article, which was read by the author and a board of similar brewing scientists, and then discussed with a questions and answer section which is transcribed after the article. This text (and others from the era are similar) may seem more like a historical document now than a scientific one. This is because rather than an in depth investigation of the impact of some specific process/ingredient/etc., this type of text serves to introduce British brewers and brewing scientists to the way brewing was being carried out in other regions. So in this way this era of UK brewing science is a great resource for the modern Anglophone interested in historic brewing in the UK as well as some bits in non-Anglophone countries.
This text comes at a unique time for French brewing, and a unique time for western European brewing in general. Perhaps Evans knew the full magnitude of this when he wrote it and perhaps not, but it does seem like he has some good awareness of what is going on. Imported lager beer was becoming popular, fueled by recent advances in pure culture and also general advances in the ability to package and distribute beer well, and it was challenging the native beers. Local/regional and traditional breweries, and with them the regional/local/traditional beers that they made, were on their way out. Large scale brewing was growing significantly, and technology was allowing breweries to become this large. Evans acknowledges some of this change when discussing the acidic and vinous Biere de Garde brewed in some areas of Northern France. In Lille, he says that Biere de Garde accounted for 50% of the production in 1900 but by 1905 it was down to only 20%. Most of my following discussion of this text will focus on this Biere de Garde.
To speak further to the looming changes in French brewing WWI, which would greatly change the landscape of brewing in places like the North of France and Belgium, was not so far away. So in these ways the research by Evans captures a unique a moment in French brewing history - an industry in a upheaval with significant social/political/economic changes on the horizon.
Here is a quick write-up of some of the things that stood out to me in this text, focusing mainly on production of Biere de Garde which at the time is presented as an acidic, regional, top fermentation beer:
Regional split:
We see already that France is being split to a good degree regionally in regard to beer. Of course there had been regional beers for a long time and regional differences are not new, but this is a different regional split of 'new' beer and 'old' beer. With the influx of lager beer, some regions such as the north of the country, held out longer. Evans describes 6 counties/regions of France still producing top-fermenting beer (the old type) which contain about 2,355 total breweries, or roughly 85% of the total breweries in the country. These are preferentially clustered in the north of France and they combine for roughly 75% of total French production. Meanwhile the remaining 80 counties/regions, which contain only roughly 400 breweries, account for the remaining roughly 25% of national production estimated by taxes (suggesting that they a produce disproportionately high amount of beer given their number).
The largest top fermentation brewery at the time was in Lille and produced roughly 85,000 Hl. Evans notes that this is generally small relative to English brewing. He also notes that in general beer is not a major drink compared to what he and other English brewers are used to. No big surprises there I suppose.
Biere de Garde:
Part of this text discusses the production and characteristics of Biere de Garde (much of this is in describing the mashing as one of 4 main mashing systems employed in France).Biere de Garde is presented as a beer with a regional following, but generally restricted to that region (and not even universally appreciated there). As discussed above its favor was falling. Evans describes Biere de Garde as purposely allowed to become acidic and as vinous. They acquire this from extended storing/fermentation (vatted 6+ months). Evans lists a representative Biere de Garde as having an OG of 1.041, an FG of 1.001 and an ABV of 5.2%. Hopping rates were on the higher side when compared to other beers and were 1.75 lbs/barrel or more.
The mashing process described for the Biere de Garde of Lille (which Evans terms 'Thick Mashing') falls somewhere between modern decoction mashing and turbid mashing. Below is a schematic of the process which I created with my excellent artistic prowess (and to include an image in this otherwise text-heavy post). The process starts rather thick and cool, similar to turbid mashing and some saison mashes (see the Brasserie a Vapeur post). This is followed by an infusion to bring the temp up to roughly 50 C / 131 F. Immediately following this first infusion, wort is pulled out as in lambic mashing until the grain bed is nearly dry. This is heated in another vessel (a boil kettle will work, or dedicated decoction kettle) for 15-20 min.
The decoction of almost all the liquid has to do something to the enzyme activity. Perhaps the cool mash up until this point has limited extraction from the grain. But this process does differ in important ways from decoction in regard to the relative amount removed and that it is wort and removing it leaves the grain bed rather dry. Following the boiling, as with decoctions, this added back to raise the mash temp into the saccharification range where the mash remains until lautering and sparging. Given the total mash time listed and the steps so far (making some general assumptions for mash in and infusion times), the saccharification rest seems to be on the long end around 90 minutes or maybe a touch more.
Evans asserts that this process is designed to yield as much free (which I presume means fermentable) sugar as possible. This is somewhat contrary to what I expected based on the decoction of so much of the wort and the impact that would have on enzymatic power. The decoction is described as wort, and encompassing basically all of the liquid, so I think I am correct in interpreting that it is not a traditional decoction of both liquid and grain. It is possible that by free sugar Evans meant extract from the mash rather than extract which is fermentable to saccharomyces. Either way, the extraction and preservation of unfermentable carbohydrates might be fitting in a beer that was intended to become acidic.
Edit Nov 2017: When using modern equipment, it is likely that your infusion temperatures will need to be a bit cooler than these ones listed. Thick iron equipment was used in this area at this time, and these sorts of mash tuns can absorb a lot of the heat intended for the grain (see also the note in this similar post about Belgian mashing).
Other thoughts
Some other general parts that I found interesting were the overlap with Belgian systems from around the time that I've seen/heard about. That isn't especially surprising, but I did appreciate the crossover. There was a lot of iron equipment which Evans worried could leach into the beer and cause problems. I've seen (and tasted) the same thing in beers from Brasserie a Vapeur. The iron leaching issue seems to be sorted out now with a Vapeur, but a good amount of old iron equipment remains. Continuing with equipment thoughts, Evans notes that most breweries have two kettles, one main kettle and a second smaller kettle for producing low strength beers (and that this used to be required by law). The mash tun seems surprisingly large for the boil kettles. (the large main boil kettle is 1/2 the capacity of the mash tun). Evans also wrote that nearly every brewery did some malting in house, and this was generally floor malting.
The fermentation system describes seems unreasonably complicated, with beer overflowing vessels, collecting in tubs, and then being added back or not after varying degrees of settling and/or mixing, depending on the beer. This seems somewhat reminiscent of the Burton Union but much less elegant and much more manual. Perhaps those with more familiarity in British brewing could add a bit of insight into how the system here compares.
There were a couple unique beers that received quick mention but a whole lot of details. One of these was a regional beer from Douai which was not boiled and which received high hopping rates. Hops were added at a rate of 2.5-3 lbs per barrel at 194 F / 90 C. Just as the beer reached boiling the heat was cut. Evans describes this beer as destined for casks. He mentions a couple other rather highly hopped beers (one of which was bottled, so it likely had some reasonable shelf stability). This bottled beer, from Cambrai, was mashed on the cooler side (no hotter than 143-149 F / 61.7-65 C). To speak to hopping in general, Evans describes two classes of hops based on origin which were used differently (worse hops for bittering and better for finishing). The Belgian and Northern French hops were not in the finer category...
There's some good info in there about barley origins and malting. It seems that the use of African barley as fairly common. Other mashing procedures (which were more common than the Lille one which I described above) are discussed as well. And there's a bit in there about lower strength standard beers. Evans also includes recipes and processes from some brewers (with more or less detail, depending on the brewer) that might be of interest to folks trying to brew beers inspired by older French brewing and as further insight into the sorts of things the brewers are doing.
There more in the text as well and it's worth a read if this is the sort of thing you are interested in. And look for more discussion brewing articles in the future.
To start this off I'll write about an article titled The Beers and Brewing Systems of Northern France written by R.E. Evans in 1905. Articles from this era of British brewing journals are pretty cool in that they are presented as the article, which was read by the author and a board of similar brewing scientists, and then discussed with a questions and answer section which is transcribed after the article. This text (and others from the era are similar) may seem more like a historical document now than a scientific one. This is because rather than an in depth investigation of the impact of some specific process/ingredient/etc., this type of text serves to introduce British brewers and brewing scientists to the way brewing was being carried out in other regions. So in this way this era of UK brewing science is a great resource for the modern Anglophone interested in historic brewing in the UK as well as some bits in non-Anglophone countries.
This text comes at a unique time for French brewing, and a unique time for western European brewing in general. Perhaps Evans knew the full magnitude of this when he wrote it and perhaps not, but it does seem like he has some good awareness of what is going on. Imported lager beer was becoming popular, fueled by recent advances in pure culture and also general advances in the ability to package and distribute beer well, and it was challenging the native beers. Local/regional and traditional breweries, and with them the regional/local/traditional beers that they made, were on their way out. Large scale brewing was growing significantly, and technology was allowing breweries to become this large. Evans acknowledges some of this change when discussing the acidic and vinous Biere de Garde brewed in some areas of Northern France. In Lille, he says that Biere de Garde accounted for 50% of the production in 1900 but by 1905 it was down to only 20%. Most of my following discussion of this text will focus on this Biere de Garde.
To speak further to the looming changes in French brewing WWI, which would greatly change the landscape of brewing in places like the North of France and Belgium, was not so far away. So in these ways the research by Evans captures a unique a moment in French brewing history - an industry in a upheaval with significant social/political/economic changes on the horizon.
Here is a quick write-up of some of the things that stood out to me in this text, focusing mainly on production of Biere de Garde which at the time is presented as an acidic, regional, top fermentation beer:
Regional split:
We see already that France is being split to a good degree regionally in regard to beer. Of course there had been regional beers for a long time and regional differences are not new, but this is a different regional split of 'new' beer and 'old' beer. With the influx of lager beer, some regions such as the north of the country, held out longer. Evans describes 6 counties/regions of France still producing top-fermenting beer (the old type) which contain about 2,355 total breweries, or roughly 85% of the total breweries in the country. These are preferentially clustered in the north of France and they combine for roughly 75% of total French production. Meanwhile the remaining 80 counties/regions, which contain only roughly 400 breweries, account for the remaining roughly 25% of national production estimated by taxes (suggesting that they a produce disproportionately high amount of beer given their number).
The largest top fermentation brewery at the time was in Lille and produced roughly 85,000 Hl. Evans notes that this is generally small relative to English brewing. He also notes that in general beer is not a major drink compared to what he and other English brewers are used to. No big surprises there I suppose.
Biere de Garde:
Part of this text discusses the production and characteristics of Biere de Garde (much of this is in describing the mashing as one of 4 main mashing systems employed in France).Biere de Garde is presented as a beer with a regional following, but generally restricted to that region (and not even universally appreciated there). As discussed above its favor was falling. Evans describes Biere de Garde as purposely allowed to become acidic and as vinous. They acquire this from extended storing/fermentation (vatted 6+ months). Evans lists a representative Biere de Garde as having an OG of 1.041, an FG of 1.001 and an ABV of 5.2%. Hopping rates were on the higher side when compared to other beers and were 1.75 lbs/barrel or more.
The mashing process described for the Biere de Garde of Lille (which Evans terms 'Thick Mashing') falls somewhere between modern decoction mashing and turbid mashing. Below is a schematic of the process which I created with my excellent artistic prowess (and to include an image in this otherwise text-heavy post). The process starts rather thick and cool, similar to turbid mashing and some saison mashes (see the Brasserie a Vapeur post). This is followed by an infusion to bring the temp up to roughly 50 C / 131 F. Immediately following this first infusion, wort is pulled out as in lambic mashing until the grain bed is nearly dry. This is heated in another vessel (a boil kettle will work, or dedicated decoction kettle) for 15-20 min.
The decoction of almost all the liquid has to do something to the enzyme activity. Perhaps the cool mash up until this point has limited extraction from the grain. But this process does differ in important ways from decoction in regard to the relative amount removed and that it is wort and removing it leaves the grain bed rather dry. Following the boiling, as with decoctions, this added back to raise the mash temp into the saccharification range where the mash remains until lautering and sparging. Given the total mash time listed and the steps so far (making some general assumptions for mash in and infusion times), the saccharification rest seems to be on the long end around 90 minutes or maybe a touch more.
 |
| Biere de Garde 'thick mashing'. |
Evans asserts that this process is designed to yield as much free (which I presume means fermentable) sugar as possible. This is somewhat contrary to what I expected based on the decoction of so much of the wort and the impact that would have on enzymatic power. The decoction is described as wort, and encompassing basically all of the liquid, so I think I am correct in interpreting that it is not a traditional decoction of both liquid and grain. It is possible that by free sugar Evans meant extract from the mash rather than extract which is fermentable to saccharomyces. Either way, the extraction and preservation of unfermentable carbohydrates might be fitting in a beer that was intended to become acidic.
Edit Nov 2017: When using modern equipment, it is likely that your infusion temperatures will need to be a bit cooler than these ones listed. Thick iron equipment was used in this area at this time, and these sorts of mash tuns can absorb a lot of the heat intended for the grain (see also the note in this similar post about Belgian mashing).
Other thoughts
Some other general parts that I found interesting were the overlap with Belgian systems from around the time that I've seen/heard about. That isn't especially surprising, but I did appreciate the crossover. There was a lot of iron equipment which Evans worried could leach into the beer and cause problems. I've seen (and tasted) the same thing in beers from Brasserie a Vapeur. The iron leaching issue seems to be sorted out now with a Vapeur, but a good amount of old iron equipment remains. Continuing with equipment thoughts, Evans notes that most breweries have two kettles, one main kettle and a second smaller kettle for producing low strength beers (and that this used to be required by law). The mash tun seems surprisingly large for the boil kettles. (the large main boil kettle is 1/2 the capacity of the mash tun). Evans also wrote that nearly every brewery did some malting in house, and this was generally floor malting.
The fermentation system describes seems unreasonably complicated, with beer overflowing vessels, collecting in tubs, and then being added back or not after varying degrees of settling and/or mixing, depending on the beer. This seems somewhat reminiscent of the Burton Union but much less elegant and much more manual. Perhaps those with more familiarity in British brewing could add a bit of insight into how the system here compares.
There were a couple unique beers that received quick mention but a whole lot of details. One of these was a regional beer from Douai which was not boiled and which received high hopping rates. Hops were added at a rate of 2.5-3 lbs per barrel at 194 F / 90 C. Just as the beer reached boiling the heat was cut. Evans describes this beer as destined for casks. He mentions a couple other rather highly hopped beers (one of which was bottled, so it likely had some reasonable shelf stability). This bottled beer, from Cambrai, was mashed on the cooler side (no hotter than 143-149 F / 61.7-65 C). To speak to hopping in general, Evans describes two classes of hops based on origin which were used differently (worse hops for bittering and better for finishing). The Belgian and Northern French hops were not in the finer category...
There's some good info in there about barley origins and malting. It seems that the use of African barley as fairly common. Other mashing procedures (which were more common than the Lille one which I described above) are discussed as well. And there's a bit in there about lower strength standard beers. Evans also includes recipes and processes from some brewers (with more or less detail, depending on the brewer) that might be of interest to folks trying to brew beers inspired by older French brewing and as further insight into the sorts of things the brewers are doing.
There more in the text as well and it's worth a read if this is the sort of thing you are interested in. And look for more discussion brewing articles in the future.
