RyePA / Sahti Partigyle, apt. all-grain style (PICS)

[Reno_eNVy]

Or: How to get 9 gallons of beer from a stove-top.

I've been wanting to trying brewing an odd beer lately and SWMBO's recent discovery of how awesome rye beers can be gave me the window of opportunity. We decided to go with a RyePA from the first runnings and Finnish Sahti from the second (sparge) runnings.

And this is all done from an apartment on a stove-top. It's made possible by being 5000+ feet in elevation; water boils at 202*F here!

Notes:
- Only got 4.5 gallons from the first runnings (little over 7 gallons strike water) so the RyePA got a bit of top-up water... first time doing that in a while.
- Juniper branches and berries for the sahti were picked by me and SWMBO from the snowy hills surrounding Reno.
- Went with US-05 for the sahti instead of the traditional baker's yeast (US-05 for RyePA also)
- Went with single-infusion partigyle instead of (incredibly complicated) traditional sahti mash schedule

GRAIN BILL
12.50 lb US 2-Row (75.76%)
1.50 lb Rye Malt (9.09%)
1.25 lb Crystal 120L (7.58%)
1.25 lb Munich Malt (7.58%)

RyePA: just under 5 gallons at 1.050
Sahti: just under 4 gallons at 1.042

MASH

RyePA
- 28QT of 165*F strike-water (154*F step, 90 minutes)
- No Mash-Out
- Drain

Sahti
- About 2.5 gallons of water boiled with juniper branches (for roughly 30 minutes) then cooled to 170*F and added to MLT; ~4 gallons regular water at 170*F also added
- Drain after sitting 30 minutes



BOIL

RyePA
0.50 oz Columbus 14% (60 min)
0.50 oz Northern Brewer 9% (60 min)
0.25 oz Columbus 14% (45 min)
0.25 oz Northern Brewer 9% (45 min)
0.75 oz Northern Brewer 9% (30 min)
0.75 oz Cascade 5.5% (30 min)
0.50 oz Cascade 5.5% (15 min)
0.50 oz Northern Brewer 9% (15 min)
0.50 oz Northern Brewer 9% (0 min)
0.50 oz Cascade 5.5% (0 min)


Sahti
0.30 oz Northern Brewer 9% (60 min)
0.25 oz Crushed Juniper berries (60 min)
0.25 oz Crushed Juniper berries (15 min)
0.25 oz Grains of Paradise (15 min)

Grain bill ready to go! Mmmm.... Bohemiaaa...

Adding the rice-hulls (it's nice insurance)

90 minute rest... taaaasty looking

Our awesome high-tech insulation for our awesome high-tech cooler MLT

First runnings

Boiling the Juniper branches for the sahti. This was going while the first runnings were draining and subsequently being put on heat. The kitchen smelled soooo good!

Stove-top brewing that really works! From left to right: Sahti, RyePA top-up water (back), RyePA

RyePA hop additions (this could have been a really nice photo on a real camera) Left to right: 60, 45, 30, 15, flameout

Weighing out fresh Juniper berries

Ground grains of paradise... smells great!

 

[MeatyPortion]

Awesome pix and a great idea. Let us know how everything turns out.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Awesome pix and a great idea. Let us know how everything turns out.

Thanks! My camera phone did a decent job

Brewday was Saturday the 5th so they're already a little bit along. They'll probably get 2-3 weeks before they hit the kegs.

 

[cricky101]

Awesome pics! I've got the same Killian's shot glasses and use them for the same thing!

 

[Bithead]

Subscribed. A ryePA is on my to brew list & I'm drinking (not at the moment, that's Belhaven Scottish Ale) a juniper pale ale that could have used a little more juniper berry. I did a 2.5 gal test batch with .25 oz crushed juniper berries, centennial bittering & cascade aroma/flavor hops...subtle but tasty. Neither hops nor juniper too far front but juniper dominates. I'm interested to know how both brews turn out.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

UPDATE:

Sahti -- kegged this last night, FG at 1.012... so that puts it at 4%, nice session beer. As for flavor and aroma... holy juniper, Batman! By no means is it bad (quite the contrary, actually) but I was figuring only boiling half of the sahti sparge water with juniper branches would give it a more subdued flavor/aroma. The malt compliments it nicely and there is almost zero hop presence; the spiciness imparted by the rye and grains of paradise pairs perfectly with the piney/sappy/earthy juniper profile. I can't wait until this is cold and carbed!


RyePA -- Dry hopped this one with about an ounce of Northern Brewer 4 days ago, will probably end up kegging in a day or two. Pre-dry-hop tasting was excellent; great bitterness, nice blast of hop aroma and flavor with the hops going very well together. It's been at what I'm assuming will be it's FG for a week now at 1.010, so roughly 5.2%.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

UPDATE FINALLY!

Wow, these both turned out spectacular. Both of them ended up being shockingly better than I expected.

Sahti -- The juniper has definitely mellowed but it is still the prominent flavor. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. It was a wild guess as to the amount of juniper branches to boil and it ended up working! Decent malt-sweetness of unfermentables in the initial and finishing tastes and the combination of spiciness from the rye, grains of paradise and juniper was absolutely perfect. Zero hop presence. Beer is looking to be perpetually hazy (see pic) but that seems pretty appropriate to me. I'd definitely recommend trying this one if you have juniper in your area.

RyePA -- Best bitter beer SWMBO and I have ever put together. With the initial taste the bitterness is crisp and clean and as you let the beer spread over your palate there's a delightful combination of resiny, earthy hops that finishes with a hint of the citrusy flavor synonymous with cascade all wrapped in malty goodness accented with a dash of spice from the rye.

Beautiful lacing

I'm seriously considering entering both brews into competitions this summer. I just wonder if the tannins from the juniper branches will evolve into something interesting, much in the same way you get vanillin from aging oaked beers.

 

[Bithead]

Looks great. Enjoy!