Kaimiskas/Lithuanian Farmhouse brewing

[Andres Falconer]

This is my first post - delighted to be here!

I'm brewing my first attempt at a more or less authentic Lithuanian Farmhouse or Kaimiskas beer, and wonder if any of you have tried and what have been your results. The only post I found on this topic dates from 2012, and since then the interest in traditional farmhouse methods has gone through the roof, so I'd like to learn from your experience.

This summer, I had the opportunity to visit the legendary Jovaru brewery and spend an afternoon with Aldona Udriene. My wife is Lithuanian and we usually spend summers there. This really inspired me to try her traditional approach. Basically, its no-boil, hop tea-infused, short (3 day) and hot (84F) primary fermentation in an open tub, followed by racking into secondary for a couple of weeks and usually kegging, since the product is consumed fresh, most commonly in bars and pubs.

Back in the States, I got myself a pack of Omega Jovaru, 10 lbs of Pilsen malt and whatever leftovers caramel malts I had. I also brought back some whole wild hops from Lithuania. They are not supposed to be particularly good (so they say there), but I thought it would add to the authenticity, and I happened to have them. For 5 gallons, I got an OG of nearly 1070. It's the start of day 3 and fermentation has been going strong. I plan to bottle and prime for additional carbonation, as traditional farmhouses tend to be very flat, but that's a concession I'm making.

This coming weekend I may try another batch - with the a new pack of Jovaru and Lithuanian wild hops. What would you advise doing different/experimenting with? I'm curious to learn about the experience of other farmhouse/kveik brewers.

 

[Joshuah57]

Welcome to the forum! I myself don't have any experience with farmhouse brews. I am fascinated with the process though. I definitely hope to brew a farmhouse style in the next couple months. I find that there is good reasons these old traditions stay alive. It's unfortunate that I couldn't try one like yours, but I am sure it will be quite tasty. Brew on!!

 

[OldDogBrewing]

Never made kveik or other farmhouse beer a part from belgian ones, which I love to brew

Something I like and I think it's traditional is adding some unmalted grains as in the past people didn't had so well modified malt at the ready like we do and probably they were using what they had, if one year they had more rye, they used some raw rye, maybe next season they had a surplus of wheat and so on

I don't use any dark malt either as I feel they didn't use them traditionally, but something I'm trying to do is being able to brew with direct fire, that's something traditionally used in different farmhouse beers across Europe, maybe next year I will get a new kettle and make something simple to try direct fire brewing, if you have that possiblity, maybe you should try

 

[Andres Falconer]

Welcome to the forum! I myself don't have any experience with farmhouse brews. I am fascinated with the process though. I definitely hope to brew a farmhouse style in the next couple months. I find that there is good reasons these old traditions stay alive. It's unfortunate that I couldn't try one like yours, but I am sure it will be quite tasty. Brew on!!

So far so good. It bubbled for three days at 84F and, as expected, it quieted down. I racked it and stored it in a cool room. I'm at about 1020 now and expect it to go much lower. I also harvested the yeast for next weekend's brew.

 

[Andres Falconer]

Never made kveik or other farmhouse beer a part from belgian ones, which I love to brew

Something I like and I think it's traditional is adding some unmalted grains as in the past people didn't had so well modified malt at the ready like we do and probably they were using what they had, if one year they had more rye, they used some raw rye, maybe next season they had a surplus of wheat and so on

I don't use any dark malt either as I feel they didn't use them traditionally, but something I'm trying to do is being able to brew with direct fire, that's something traditionally used in different farmhouse beers across Europe, maybe next year I will get a new kettle and make something simple to try direct fire brewing, if you have that possiblity, maybe you should try

Next week's farmhouse brew will have some of whatever grain is left over in the back of my drawers, along with a base malt. That may include some rye, wheat or even oats. Some Lithuanian beers also use peas. I'm not quite ready to go there...

 

[OldDogBrewing]

Next week's farmhouse brew will have some of whatever grain is left over in the back of my drawers, along with a base malt. That may include some rye, wheat or even oats. Some Lithuanian beers also use peas. I'm not quite ready to go there...

Not sure about peas too hahaha but throwing in what you have around it's the right spirit

 

[Andres Falconer]

Not sure about peas too hahaha but throwing in what you have around it's the right spirit

I've tried beer brewed with peas. It was... just alright.

 

[Andres Falconer]

Update: the beer is excellent, and the taste is quite similar to the authentic Lithuanian raw beers I've tried. Bottle carbonation certainly improved it, for my taste, compared to what they drink there. My next experiment with the yeast might be something closer to a Belgian, with candi sugar added. I think it might suit the yeast profile. The faster hot fermentation is also a big plus for me...

 

[OldDogBrewing]

Update: the beer is excellent, and the taste is quite similar to the authentic Lithuanian raw beers I've tried. Bottle carbonation certainly improved it, for my taste, compared to what they drink there. My next experiment with the yeast might be something closer to a Belgian, with candi sugar added. I think it might suit the yeast profile. The faster hot fermentation is also a big plus for me...

I've been doing some raw beers to, the first one was awful, too much raw grain as I basically did my house saison but without boil, it tasted like porridge with black pepper notes from the saison yeast.
Today I brewed a raw Hornindal style (without the juniper as I don't have acces to it) with Tomasgard Kveik, I think living in southern europe, this kind of farmhouse yeast and methods, can be really useful

I find really interesting the Lithuanian baked beer, keptinis I think it's called, but it seems to be hard to replicate without an appropriate oven

 

[Andres Falconer]

I intend to travel again to Lithuania and look forward to trying a real keptinis. It's a fascinating concept, somewhat akin to gira/kvass which I enjoy making with toasted rye bread, but which uses a different kind of starter culture.

 

[Sammy86]

This is my first post - delighted to be here!

I'm brewing my first attempt at a more or less authentic Lithuanian Farmhouse or Kaimiskas beer, and wonder if any of you have tried and what have been your results. The only post I found on this topic dates from 2012, and since then the interest in traditional farmhouse methods has gone through the roof, so I'd like to learn from your experience.

This summer, I had the opportunity to visit the legendary Jovaru brewery and spend an afternoon with Aldona Udriene. My wife is Lithuanian and we usually spend summers there. This really inspired me to try her traditional approach. Basically, its no-boil, hop tea-infused, short (3 day) and hot (84F) primary fermentation in an open tub, followed by racking into secondary for a couple of weeks and usually kegging, since the product is consumed fresh, most commonly in bars and pubs.

Back in the States, I got myself a pack of Omega Jovaru, 10 lbs of Pilsen malt and whatever leftovers caramel malts I had. I also brought back some whole wild hops from Lithuania. They are not supposed to be particularly good (so they say there), but I thought it would add to the authenticity, and I happened to have them. For 5 gallons, I got an OG of nearly 1070. It's the start of day 3 and fermentation has been going strong. I plan to bottle and prime for additional carbonation, as traditional farmhouses tend to be very flat, but that's a concession I'm making.

This coming weekend I may try another batch - with the a new pack of Jovaru and Lithuanian wild hops. What would you advise doing different/experimenting with? I'm curious to learn about the experience of other farmhouse/kveik brewers.

First, welcome to HBT! You've sparked my interest as 2 of my maternal great grandparents are both Lithuanian! I went down the rabbit whole and started researching the beer of the homeland! Very interesting stuff!

 

[Andres Falconer]

Indeed interesting stuff. I travel to Lithuania regularly, as my wife is originally from there and only somewhat recently I started to learn about the uniqueness of their beer culture. Now, every trip includes brewery visits, when possible.