Historical Gose Recipes Part 1
From the book Cervisia Goslariensi (1735) which is by the way nearly impossible to find via google …
I got the following Recipe:
The beer from goslar is prepared as following:
The malt is weighed and thrown and well sieved that it is clear, after that clear water water will be added. After the malt is dry or damp and therefore is lauter malt a sample needs to be send to the to the brewing office in order to check it.
To beginn with the 4 pans (which are more like brew kettles) are filled with hot water. On every pan there is added some milled grain. From these, two will be added to the mash tun (mast bütte) together with 2/3 of the malt. After adding it is thoroughly mixed through by a lot of people with long sticks (the action is called krücken).
While mashing another pan will be filled and heated. The lauter tun (say butte) will be prepared by adding round sticks (barten) with small spacing in between. Over the sticks a layer of straw is added. The mash is transfered to the lauter tun (2/3 of the malt and 2 pans full of water). After that rest of the malt is mashed with the remaining 2 pans of water.
After the second mashing is complete, the wort is transfered to the pan.
This is done by using big basket sieves which are used to get the clear wort. After lautering that way the hops are added to the pan and this is boiled for two hours. After boiling it will be filtered through sieves and transfered via chutes into the cellar. This brew is called the Hopf Krug and some of it is distributed in certain proportions into the vessels. This Hopf Krug is the spice and the salt of the beer. The rest of it is kept in special vessels, it is added when a beer needs to be improved.
The second mash will also be lautered with baskets, cooked for two hours and transfered to the cellar, this one is called the Allerlei Krug. Not everything is used in the allerlei krug the rest that is left will be used for the Vier Pfannenbier. For that the wooden peg is loosened and the clear wort is filtered through the straw and the wooden logs. All this flows in a big sandstone vessel (Werth Stein) that lies under the lauter tun. The wort is then transfered into one pan till it full and is then cooked again for two hours after that it is transfered into the cellar into open vessels. This is called the Beste Krug.
Now the 4 Pfannen Bier is prepared. The rest that is left in the lauter tun is put into the Werth Stein and because of the fat and the mud it rowns slowly. Mash is then added from the Mash tun so 2 pans can be filled. All this is not so strong as the Beste Krug. There are some hops added about one Himpte and it is cooked for two hours. After that this and the rest from the allerley krug is transfered into the cellar into open vessels.
Once again 2 pans of water will be heated and some malt will be added. When they are both hot they will be distributed to the mash and lautertun and mixed. After mixing they rest will be transfered to the lautertun and then lautered into the Werth Stein and added into the pan. Then it will be boiled for one hour. This is called der letzte Werth.
In the end cold water is added to lauter tun and mixed through, the pan is filled and cooked. this is the hüppie which is also transfered into the cellar.
All the beeres are mixed in order of their strength and then left to ferment. Depending of the temperature of the cellar and which season it is the beer starts fermenting by its own in 12 to 24 hours.
Also it needs to be mentioned that the Allerlei Krug ages the best. If you open the bottle and there is a loud bang like it came from the pistol that is a good sign.
I found 4 recipes for the Goslarsche Gose and this is the first one. Interesting aspects in this one are that the malt is sieved and thrown in order to remove dust and other impurities. The general overview of the brewing vessels:
- 4 Pans or better known as brew kettles
- Mash tun called Maisch Butte (Butte is a german word for a wooden vessel)
- Lauter tun called Sey Butte (filter bed is made out of wooden logs and straw)
- Vessel for collecting lautered wort (Werth Stein – A sandstone vessel which is dug into the ground)
- Fermentation Vessels are open and placed in the cellar
A lot of different qualities of Gose (Beste Krug etc.). Another quite interesting fact is that it was fermenting quite quickly for a spontaneous fermentation which leads to the suspicion that there where yeast and bacteria present in the cellar or in the wooden fermentation vessels.
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