Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1272 -- American Ale II
Yeast Starter: YES
Batch Size (Gallons): 4
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 14
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 13
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21
Tasting Notes: See Below

I've posted about this brew before but I felt that I should put it in the recipe database after I found out it won 1st Place in Category 23 and 2nd Place in "Best in Show" at the local Brew Basin Brew-Off competition this weekend.

This is not a traditional Sahti. I've refrained from using Finnish bread yeast and multiple-rest mash. I've also added a tiny amount of hops to make it actual beer.



The Recipe:

5# US 2-row
2# Rye Malt
1# Munich Malt
0.75# Crystal 120L

0.5oz Cascade (6.9%) 60min
0.25oz Juniper Berries 60min
0.25oz Juniper Berries 15min
0.25oz Grains of Paradise 5min

1.5L starter of Wyeast 1272 Am. Ale II



The Process:

- Go to the hills and collect a backpack full of juniper branches

- Boil the majority of the branches with some berries in cheese cloth in your mash liquor... 15-30 minutes is sufficient (VERY IMPORTANT)

- Dough-in with the juniper liquor, mash 60min @ 154* F

- Take a couple extra branches and push them down onto the manifold so you lauter through fresh branches as tradition dictates

- Sparge with juniper liquor

- Follow 60 min boil schedule



Brewing Notes and Advice:

- This year I didn't do salt additions and just let the juniper liquor chemistry dictate the balance. It seemed to work out well.

- If you're collecting juniper be sure you know whether or not they're sprayed with pesticides. Best bet is to get it from the wild.



Tasting Notes:

Appearance: There is no way this guy is going to clear out considering all of the sappy, barky goodness the juniper added to the water. But the orange-brown hue is a nice color.

Aroma: Intense aroma of juniper but with plenty of malty, nutty, breadiness to accompany (man I love Wyeast 1272.) Zero hop aroma.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, no bite from alcohol or CO2 since it's supposed to be low-carb.

Taste: Initially as you're sipping you get the blast of juniper aroma, but then as soon as you take a sip you get a good amount of spiciness from the rye malt and grains of paradise. At mid-palate there is a fantastic chewy malt flavor. And finally, you're refreshed with a bit of juniper at the end. Not at all like drinking a Christmas tree (like people associate with gin and other juniper stuff.)