Beer Connoisseur article on traditional Lithuanian brewing. No-boil + hop tea?

[sumbrewindude]

I did the boil mostly because of the hay. I have no idea what's been hanging out in/on/under it for the last 6mo's, and I'm pretty sure something stuck it's snout in it. Rather than end up stuck on the toilet for a half hour, I figured the 15min boil was worth it to at least give the icky-nasties a good sucker punch.

And if I'm boiling for 15min, why not make "tea" in a hop bag, if you dig what I'm saying.

Either way, I'm going to brew this again and possibly change up a few things like the yeast/etc. I'm not sure I'll do the bread again, as I'm not sure what it actually added to the mash - part of that may be due to the fact that I made the bread prior to doughing in vs pulling/draining and then baking. That actually might have a different effect, especially with caramelizing the sugars that have already been leeched from the grains.

Hmmm.

And lacto. More than likely will pitch some kind of lacto next time.

 

[hammis]

I agree with the boil, i did the same to sterilize as well as concentrate the wort. Lacto would be super cool. The small batch of Flemish yeast I did fermented out but the Brett/Pedio/Lacto portion doesn't seem to have done anything yet (no pellicle sp?). Thoughts?

 

[sumbrewindude]

What yeast did you pitch? I'm assuming it was a combo yeast like Roeselare 3763 or something. I would have expected to see something within 3 weeks/month.

I want to try a saison yeast next, probably the Belgian strain from Wyeast (3724), or for an off the wall, pitch a spoonful or two of plain greek yogurt. I remember someone else doing it on here and it ended in a beautiful disaster.

Man, now you've got me wanting to brew again. Thanks Hammis....

 

[sumbrewindude]

Bringing this back to the top -

Exciting day - other than the torrential rain and the backyard becoming a pond/swamp.

Bottling day for the Keptinis! Honestly had no idea what to expect on this one - fermenting S04 at 78F (according to the product sheet that's on the extreme end, and I was guarenteed some esters from it), a 15miin boil on AG, two fist-fulls of alfafa in the mash-tun, a full oz of Warrior hops, a third of the grain being mashed bread.... success or sucks-ass.

Bottled it all up with the Domino sugar cube trick (really, this is now becoming my favorite way to bottle, thanks Rave808!) and tasted a sample at the end. Its really weird, but in that exciting/different way not the "oh crap it's a dumper" way. Definite esters, but fruity. Strong rye bite, with an upfront calm bitter from the Warrior, and finishes slightly caramelly sweet, 6.5% according to the calc. Can't wait to get this carbed up and try one then - there are definitely somethings I want to change (sub Bravo in for the Warrior, change up the yeast to a Belgian Saison), but believe it or not this will be brewed again.

It's wild.

Check back in 2 weeks for updates, and hopefully photos... seriously, where did the stupid camera cord go....

 

[sumbrewindude]

Snuck a bottle and tried it early.

Carb was still a little low, but overall it was fine. Drank cold it's got a ton of fusel alcohol flavors, more than likely from the hot S04 ferment. A little disappointed on that front. Once it warms up to room temp the fusel taste hides into this pepper/rye/fruit ester thing and it's crazy easy to drink. Way better warm than cold. Can't taste the "tea" from the alfalfa anymore, the rye is way more prominent. Also the hops went from a slight citrus to a just a blah bittering. Color is beautiful, the small head was great for an undercarbed 6.5ABV beer.

It's not bad at all, but I definitely see some room for improvement, hoping to see how it is when it ages up a little.

I'll be making more. it's just too much fun.

 

[VonSchmitt]

Gentlemen, I found a video about Alus

 

[marsav]

What a pleasant surprise to see this thread alive, and all the experiments you guys are trying. And @VonSchmitt such a great find of the video. It's published recently, I wonder if I should go and try finding those brewers in Rokiškis..

A couple of interesting points regarding the life of Keptinis:

- there's a new effort of commercial Keptinis by Dundulis brewery - they collaborate with a famous local bread bakery Biržų Duona to bake the rye malt breads! The beer is called Kurko Keptinis, here are some photos from the process: http://dundulio.lt/blog/archives/1486

- on a side note, they also made a one-off stone beer brew, another nearly forgotten Lithuanian farmhouse tradition, photos here: http://dundulio.lt/blog/archives/1589)

- yeasts from as many as 5 Lithuanian farmhouse brewers were recently sent to a specialised yeast research facility in UK. The last brewer (whose sample is still on the way), is ok with commercialising his yeast. If this works out it could become available from some US yeast producers similarly as the new Norwegian farmhouse yeast Kveik. If you can get your hands on Kveik, I'm pretty sure you can use it in Lithuanian farmhouse beer recipes. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Finland are pretty close to each other geographically and there's quite some similarities in their brewing traditions.

 

[unclebrazzie]

Gah! What a treasure-trove of obscure information this is! Thanks y'all!

I came here after reading this.

I'm definitely going to try my hand at some of this.

About the bread: way I understand it, this looks like rustic way of performing a decoction mash. Remove some of the mash grains, heat them (in this case quite extremely so, as the video shows), and return them to the mash.
The whay the straw stopper thing works is much clearer now, too. Sometimes, you really need to see things to truly understand them.

Also: I believe the no-boil really is necessary. Boiling brings out the hot break, and from what I've pooled together now, a vital part in appreciating these kind of rural ales is precisely the heavy protein content.

I've a friend from Ukraine (I know, not the same as Lithuania but probably comparable where beer is concerned) who's promised to get me some authentic kvass recipes from his grandparents. Let's see how they compare to Keptinis

 

[cxvgjcgyj]

marsav, would you happen to have a mash dough bread recipe?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Something I need to try...

 

[Schlenkerla]

Kupiskenu Keptinis - Lithuanian Baked Beer.

In a very nice 1-Liter Swing Top!

Has a nice carmel and bready taste....nice. Not much in hop flavor.

http://m.aukstaitijosbravorai.lt/?url=http://www.aukstaitijosbravorai.lt/bravorai-ekupiskio.html

View attachment 1488688846970.jpg

 

[JKaranka]

I'll be visiting Vilnius next week for a few days. Any good places to visit to try these?

 

[scsjohn]

I'll be visiting Vilnius next week for a few days. Any good places to visit to try these?

Anyone still working on this or try Omega yeast Jovaru™ Lithuanian Farmhouse?