Tuesday 10 April 2018

Kilning Lager malt

A classic post today. Basically just a series of tables. You know how I love me a good table or two

"Kilning.
The finishing temperature (in the malt) for the three types of malt employed in lager brewing vary as under:—


Pale  140° to 178° F.
Medium  196° to 207° F.
Dark  201° to 212° F.

Particulars of treatment on the kilns:—

For pale and medium malts 12 hours on upper (drying) floor.

12 hours on lower (curing) floors.


Loaded 6 A.M. and 6 P.M. . . . 24 hours in all.

Pale. Medium.
Turnings. Hour. Temperature in air, º F. Turnings. Hour. Temperature in air, º F.
1 8 100 1 7 113
2 9 106 2 8 118
3 10 113 3 9 125
4 11 122 4 10 128
5 12 131 5 11 131
6 1 136 6 12 145
7 2 145 7 1 156
8 3 156 }  8 2 167
9 4 156 }* 9 3 180 }    
10 5 150 }  10 4 180 } **



11 5 180 }    
* In malt, from 3 to 5.30, 167° F. ** In malt, from 3 to 5.30, 203° F.
Note.— Mechanical turners are almost universally employed on both floors.

Dark Malt.
24 hours on upper (drying) floor.
24 hours on lower (curing) floor.

The analyses of the various malts yield the following results:—

Time. Temperature in air (curing). ºF.
Loaded at 7 a.m.—
to 10 a.m. 113
11 A.M. to 2 P.M. 122
3 P.M. to 8 P.M. 133
9 p.m. to midnight 145
at 1 a.m 154
2 A.M 167
3 A.M 180
from 3 A.M. to 6 A.M. 212 in malt. (Thausing).

Windisch, on the other hand, gives the following average composition of these three classes:—

Highest kiln heat in malt. Pale, 166-178° F. (56-65° R.) Medium, 189-212° F. (70-80° R.) Dark, 223-246° F. (85-95° R.)
Colour of the corn Pale Pale Yellowish.
Colour of the flour White Yellowish Yellow.
Taste and smell Mildly aromatic Aromatic Strongly aromatic.
Moisture 5.5 p.c. 4 p.c. 3 p.c.
Extract of the malt 73 p.c. 73 p.c. 73 p.c.
Extract of the dry substance 77 p.c. 76 p.c. 75 p.c.
Maltose in extract 74-76 p.c. 70-74 p.c. 66—68 p.c.
Apparent attenuation, Frohborg yeast 73-75 p.c. 70-72 p.c. 65-67 p.c.
Apparent attenuation, Saaz yeast 64 p.c. 61 p.c. 56 p.c.
Acidity (as lactic acid) 0.6 p.c. 0.8 p.c. 1.0 p.c.
Saccharification period 10-15 mins. 20 mins. 30 mins.
Colour of an 8 per cent, wort Pale yellow Full yellow Gold yellow to brownish.
Expressed in N/100 iodine solution 1-1.5 cc. 3-4 c.c. 6-8 c.c.

Journal of the Institute of Brewing, vol. XVII, 1920, page 492.
By pale, medium and dark, I assume that they mean pils, pale Munich and dark Munich. Obviously, these aren;t the only three malts used in Lager brewing. They're the three base malt. Roasted malt was also used in very dark beers.

3 comments:

Andreas Krennmair said...

In the Windisch table, I believe that's meant to say "Saaz yeast", not "Sum yeast".

Ron Pattinson said...

Andreas,

well spotter. Now fixed.

Ed said...

Two floor kilns I see. I wonder what the air moisture content was? When making munich malts nowadays moist air is recirculated to some extent to increase Maillard reactions and the colour and flavour they bring.