The prefix Alt means old, old style or old-fashioned, and is used to imply that the item is created in the original or old-time way. Unfortunately, there is not enough detailed information to know that we have really brewed the Salvator of the 1780s, the Ainpoeckisches Pier of 1614, or the Einbecker Bier of the 1300s.
The difficulty in producing old-fashioned beers is that the techniques used are unclear; the actual barley, hops, and wheat strains are unknown and unavailable; the yeasts are unobtainable; and the accompanying microflora indeterminate. Furthermore, peoples’ tastes change. What was “pleasant acidity” in the middle ages may be rather sour today. In total, the task seems pretty daunting.
We know that hard-won brewing gains were considered trade secrets passed on only through apprenticeship, never written down where prying eyes might find them. I have read accounts of the Einbecker brewmaster who moved south to Munich which imply that he was a traitor to his city.
Therefore the style descriptions provided are very rough. I have added question marks to parameters that can only be estimated. All of the numbers are broad ranges, reflecting that none of these measurements were available to brewers in these times, so even if they had wanted to communicate them to others, they would have been unable to do so in an objective fashion.
Since we cannot compare our results directly, technique may not matter much. The grist would have been stone ground, rather coarsely; a Corona-type flour mill set rather loosely may be a good approximation. Sometimes the false bottom in the mash/lauter tun was created by
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placing straw in the vessel (which would have been constructed of wood) and then adding the mash on top of it. Some older brewing texts suggest a mashing protocol of alternating boiling and blood temperature water, with drainings in between. This is sometimes distinguished with the first one or two runnings being used for the highest quality beer, and subsequent runnings used for one or two lesser beers.19
MITTELALTER EINBECKER BIER
Original Gravity: 1.060-1.070 (15-17.5 °Plato)Final Gravity: 1.020-1.025 (5-6.25 °Plato)
Apparent Degree of Attenuation: 65-70 percent Real Degree of Attenuation: 52-56 percent
Alcohol Content: 4.0-4.5 percent w/v (5-5.7 percent v/v) pH: 3.0-3.5 (?)
Bitterness: 40-60 IBU (?)
Color: 10-14 °SRM (25-35 °EBC) (?)
This beer was made from a grist of one-third wheat malt and two-third barley malt, using the palest malts available. Most beer of the time was very dark brown or black, because there was little control over the malting and kilning process. The color here indicated is a bit darker than modern English Pale Ales, which although they are amber in color, got that name because they were the palest beers of their time. I've added some more color since we are looking back several more centuries.
The yeast used was wild, but selected; barrels that produced bad beer were destroyed, and good ones reused.13 It was undoubtedly a mixed culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other Saccharomyces species, probably including Brettanomyces species and bacteria. In such
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circumstances, the yeast would be very under-attenuating by modern standards, and the resulting beer would have much more body and sweetness than a beer of today. (More information on mixed cultures is available in Guinard's Lambic.)24
Modern mashing and lautering techniques were unknown, so it is likely that a great deal of unreduced starch and protein was carried over into the boil and subsequent fermentation. This would produce higher gravities, but would not add to the sweetness of the beer.
The beer was only produced during the cold part of the year, and was consumed within a few months of the end of fermentation, so some of the more fastidious Organisms would not have had a chance to work. This, along with the testimony of Tabernaemontanus, leads to the conclusion that the beer had a noticeable, but not strong, acidity.
Einbeck is situated at the headwaters of the tributaries of the Leine river and surrounded by mountains. Its water is very soft snow melt. This water does not travel very far, and it is all above ground, so we can assume that it would not pick up any mineral hardness.25 Thus the water may be similar in character to that of Pilsen.
Hops are no longer grown in the region, but we can assume that they were low alpha varieties. (They were all low alpha varieties in the past, before modern intensive breeding programs were undertaken). We cannot tell how the hops were handled, or what drying techniques — if any — were used. Because it was not yet understood what part of the hop flower was important to brewing, the female plants would not have been segregated, and the resulting hops would have had an even lower alpha acid rating because of the additional
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weight of the hop seeds. The effective alpha acid levels must have been very low indeed.
Since Einbeck often falls below freezing during the winter and all beer was brewed from fall through spring, the implication is that the hops would have been relatively fresh. The hopping rate must have been very high to counter the sweetness of the under-attenuated beer, and also to keep the
non-Saccharomyces organisms at bay. (This might work out
to approximately 4 to 5.5 ounces of a modern 3 percent alpha acid variety per five-gallon batch.)
AINPOECKISCHIES PIER
Original Gravity: 1.060-1.070 (15-17.5 °Plato) Final Gravity: 1.020-1.025 (5-6.25 °Plato)Apparent Degree of Attenuation: 62-68 percent Real Degree of Attenuation: 50-55 percent
Alcohol Content: 4.2-4.7 percent w/v (5.2-5.9 percent v/v) pH: 3.4-3.8 (?)
Bitterness: 25-40 IBUs (?)
Color: 15-25°SRM (40-65 °EBC) (?)
This Bock beer was produced by the Hofbräuhaus München after they obtained the secrets of brewing used in Einbeck.
The beer was made from an all-barley malt mash, as the Reinheitsgebot had already long been the law of the land. To complicate things further, although the brewmaster from the North would have wanted to specify pale malts, that would not have proven feasible. The water in the Isar River that flows through Munich is a chalky green color, and contains a lot of carbonates — at least 150 mg/L, while 50 mg/L is often quoted as an upper limit for mashes of
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pale malts.22 It would not have been possible to obtain conversion and the relatively clear beer that the Duke required with that combination. The Munich brewers already knew that, and had overcome the problem with the use of acidifying darker malts.
Munich is also not in the center of a hop growing region, although there is a lot of hop cultivation done to the north around the town of Spalt, to the northeast in the Hallertau region just beyond Nürnberg near Hersbruck, and to the west around the town of Tettnang near the Bodensee (Lake Constance). The overland distances involved would have made hops a more precious ingredient, and the prodigious hopping rate would have been cut back. Also the Munich brewmasters knew that a lower rate produced a more balanced beer with their darker malts and reduced the harsh character that the carbonates in the water elicited from the hops.
As this beer was brewed for local, and therefore quicker consumption with less handling involved, there must have been an even smaller chance for the competing organisms to gain a foothold. Thus, this beer was probably less acidic than its northern cousin.
SANKT-VATER-BER
Original Gravity: 1.075-1.085 (18-20.5 °Plato) Final Gravity: 1.030-1.035 (7.5-9 °Plato)Apparent Degree of Attenuation: 60-65 percent Real Degree of Attenuation: 48-52 percent
Alcohol Content: 4.5-5.5 percent w/v (5.6-6.9 percent v/v) pH: 3.6-4.2 (?)
Bitterness: 25-35 IBUs (?)
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This beer was originally brewed by the brothers of Saint Francis from the Italian city of Paula for their own consumption during times of fasting. It was intended as a nutrient substitute for solid food. As such, the goal was not high alcohol, at least no higher than necessary to preserve the beer through the fast periods, but instead to carry over as much food value as possible.
This beer did not have a long shelf life. It was prepared for a known, fixed time, and only enough to carry through was made. It was drunk relatively fresh, rather than having a significant lagering period, and had a lower hopping rate. This gave the beer an even sweeter finish, producing a very satiating effect — just the thing required by the monks.