Lambic Base (cantillon)

A Scaled-Down Mash Schedule from Cantillon Brewery

The following is a homebrew-scale version of the Cantillon Brewery’s (Brussels, Belgium) turbid mash schedule. Based on the information presented in Martin Lodahl’s article, the Cantillon Brewery gets about 33–34 points/lb/gallon. The Cantillon grist is composed of 34% raw wheat and 66% malted barley. The recipe is scaled down here to yield 5 gallons of wort with an original gravity of 1.048 (11.86 °P), or 5 x 48 = 240 points. If we assume we will get 30 points/lb/gallon, then 240 ÷ 30 = 8 lb of grain. The barley malt fraction is 66% of 8 lb, or 5.3 lb of malt, leaving the remaining fraction of raw wheat at 2.7 lb.

The Cantillon schedule calls for mashing 1,300 kg of grain into 850 L of water (2,860 lb grain into 900 quarts water), or 3.2 lb grain/qt water, or 0.3 qt water/lb grain. Our 8 lb of grain therefore requires 8 x 0.3 quarts, or 2.4 quarts of water.

Procedure

In all of the following steps, the temperature and water additions were taken directly from the Cantillon schedule as published and scaled accordingly.

1)    In kettle #1, combine water (about 2.4 quarts) at 144 °F (62 °C) and the crushed grain to achieve a temperature of 113 °F (45 °C). Mix the grain and water thoroughly and allow it to rest at 113 °F for 10 minutes. This amount of water is just enough to wet all of the grain and flour. The mash needs to be stirred well to make sure that all the grain is wetted and that no clumps of flour are present. Total time for this step is about 20 minutes, including the temperature rest.<br />

2)    Next, add enough boiling water (212 °F [100 °C]) to the mash to bring the temperature to 136 °F (58 °C). Do this over the course of 5 minutes, making sure to mix thoroughly. It will take about 3.5 quarts of boiling water to raise the mash temperature to 136 °F, and you will end up with a very soupy mash with plenty of excess liquid. Allow the mash to rest for 5 minutes at this temperature. Remove about 1 quart of liquid from the mash, add it to kettle #2, and heat to 176 °F (80 °C). The liquid taken off should have the appearance of milk. Once heated it will clear up and large particles of hot break will form.<br />

3)    Add more boiling water to the mash over the course of 10 minutes to bring the temperature to 150 °F (65 °C), again with constant mixing. It will take about 5 quarts to achieve this temperature. Allow the mash to rest for 30 minutes at 150 °F (65 °C). At this point, the mash will be very soupy and the liquid much less milky in appearance.<br />

4)    Remove 4 quarts of liquid from kettle #1 and add it to kettle #2, which will put it up to 5 quarts. Continue to heat kettle #2 to maintain a temperature of 176 °F (80 °C). The liquid removed from kettle #1 will be very cloudy, but not quite as milky as the liquid previously removed in step 2.<br />

5)    Add more boiling water to kettle #1 to bring the temperature to 162 °F (72 °C) and allow it to remain at that temperature for 20 minutes. Again, it will take about 5 quarts of water to reach the rest temperature. The mash should be very thin and soupy with a great deal of small particulate matter in the liquid portion.<br />

6)    After the 20-minute rest, run off the liquid from kettle #1 and bring to a boil in a third kettle. Add enough of the liquid from kettle #2, at 176 °F (80 °C), back into the mash in kettle #1 to bring the mash to a temperature of about 167 °F (75 °C). Allow the mash to rest at that temperature for 20 minutes. If any liquid is left in kettle #2, it can be added to the previously collected runoff in kettle #3.<br />

7)    After 20 minutes, recirculate the wort in kettle #1 to clarify it, and begin sparging with 185 °F (85 °C) water. Sparge until the gravity of the runoff has dropped to less than 1.008 (2.06 °P). Boil the wort, now in kettle #3, until the volume is reduced to about 5 gallons.<br />

8)    As the wort begins to boil, hop with about 4 oz of aged hops. The combined water additions and sparging should add up to about 9 gallons of wort. Total boiling time to reduce this volume to 5 gallons will depend on your equipment and methods. At the beginning of the boil, the wort will be cloudy and full of large flocculent break material. As the boil proceeds, the wort should clarify as the proteins continue to coagulate and the starch solubilizes. After boiling, the wort can be cooled using your method of choice. This method of mashing does not seem to yield the large amount of break that a typical all-malt infusion mash would yield. As stated elsewhere, however, your results may vary depending on your equipment and technique.