Homebrew Recipe
Stadtmumme (Second Runnings)
- Method:
- All Grain
- Style:
- Specialty: Historical Beer
- Boil Time:
- 75 min.
- Batch Size:
- 5 gal.
- Boil Size:
- 7 gal.
- Efficiency:
- 65
- Rating:
- Source:
- Brew Your Own
- Source Notes:
- November 2019, Vol. 25, No. 7 page 76. Part of "Extinct German Styles" brew special. Braunschweiger (Brunswick) Mumme. There are two versions of this ale, a super-strong one, called segelschiff-mumme (sailing ship mumme), and a very light one, called stadtmumme (city mumme). The ship mumme was an old seafarers' beer. It was transported from the brew houses of Brunswick to several ports of the Hanseatic League, including Bremen and Hamburg. From there, trading ketches would take the beer to all four corners of the world. According to many sources, mumme was a very syrupy, super-high-gravity, fairly low alcohol, highly shelf-stable brew with a huge residual sweetness. Ship mumme was in demand not only as a trading commodity, but also as a nutritious, caloric beverage that was consumed by sailors on long sea voyages. According to an Economic Encyclopedia published by Johann Georg Krunitz in 1775, ship mumme has an "excellent, sweet taste, and a deep brown, beautiful color...[and] is the best, because it keeps well on the water...without offense or ruin." The ship mumme's high original gravity was apparently the result of stopping lautering relatively early on and then boiling the wort for an extra-long time. Perhaps, surprisingly, this high-gravity sailors' tipple had a fairly low alcohol content of only 2.5-4.5% ABV in spite of an excess supply of fermentable sugars for the yeast to metabolize. Unbeknownst to the brewers of yore, the best explanation for this phenomenon might be a stuck fermentation resulting from the premature depletion of nitrogen sources, such as free amino nitrogen (FAN). In a heavy mumme wort, it is not inconceivable that the yeasts of yesteryear used up all available nitrogen during a turbulent primary fermentation, but then shut down their metabolism, leaving the finished beer with an unusually high viscosity. It seems impossible, however, to fully replicate these aspects of the brew with modern malts and modern yeasts, which just keep on working and producing more alcohol. The city mumme was much less viscous then the ship mumme. It was consumed by the good burghers of Brunswick. We can only surmise that it was made from the second, weaker runnings of the mumme mash after the separation of the heavier first runnings that were destined for the Hanseatic traders and sailors, as was done with the test brew. The color of the stadtmumme is much lighter, but in most sensory aspects it resembles its mighty cousin segelschiffmumme, but in a restrained fashion. The bouquet and the upfront taste are reminiscent of sweet, creamy caramel and apple pie. These notes give way to a brief but distinct sensation of hop bitterness, which fades relatively quickly. This ale is surprisingly substantial and complex on the palate considering that it is a mere second-runnings brew.
- Notes:
- Follow the mash steps for the segelschiffmumme (first runnings) and then continue lautering and sparging the same mash into a separate kettle, until the OG is about 1.043. Boil this wort for 75 minutes; and finish the brew in the usual fashion through heat-exchanging and fermenting it.
Brew Numbers
| OG | FG | ABV | SRM | IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.043 | 1.005 | 4.8 | 7 | 40 |
Yeast
| Name | Lab | Product |
|---|---|---|
| SafAle | Fermentis | US-05 |
| Notes: Or any strong attenuating ale yeast. | ||