Beer history · English
Michael Combrune
Argued in print for systematic temperature measurement in brewing in the 1760s — the first step toward a mash schedule that could be communicated.
Credited with
Introducing the thermometer to brewing.
What the record supports
Wrote about it at length, which is a weaker but better-evidenced claim. Combrune published on the use of the thermometer in brewing in the 1760s and argued for systematic temperature measurement in a trade that relied on judgement. Whether he was the first brewer to use one is not established and probably not knowable; being the first to write it down is what the record supports, and the two are routinely conflated.
Why it matters
The beginning of brewing as something that can be written down and taught rather than only apprenticed. Temperature had always been controlled; what Combrune argued for was controlling it in numbers.
A useful case for how attribution works in this subject. Combrune is credited with an introduction; what he demonstrably did was publish. BeerHQ records the second and notes the first is a convention.
The technology
Connected
Last reviewed 2026-08-29.