In the spirit of making crazy ass **** lately, I've decided to revisit an old idea of making a sahti style of beer. Comments and suggestions are encouraged as I might change things if I can source(forage?) some juniper branches/twigs.
All grain brew(a must here) mashed at 148 for a highly fermentable wort.
7lbs 2-row
2lbs Honey(added a few days into fermentation maybe 8oz at a time)
1.5lbs White wheat
1.5lbs Rye Malt
1lb Flaked Oats
1oz coriander
1oz grains of paradise
4oz?! juniper berries
Possible substitutions there might be going with unmalted wheat and/or oats. And then a decoction, as I'm sure early malts were not all that well modified.
So we would be looking at something like 1.076 for a 5gallon beer with 75% eff, but in the tradition of sahti, I'm not going to be boiling this at all. So the OG will be lower... Mash, sparge, collect, cool and pitch. As such, I'm planning on having some sort of funk going on and it's damn cold here right now, so there won't be as many nasties in the air, but at the very least I would expect some lactobacillus to take hold for a little bit. As for other yeast, I'm pretty sure I'll use a baker's yeast for this, but a german hefe fermented on the high side(75+) seems appropriate as well.
I'll be adding some amount of juniper berries to the mash, I haven't decided on how much yet, but from what I've read thus far it should probably be a fair amount. I'm thinking about 4oz smashed up and thrown in the mash. Also as I said above if I can find some juniper twigs, I'll throw those in below my false bottom as to simulate using them to filter the wort through the mash. This is supposed to also add a slight resiny flavor that the berries alone won't.
As for the coriander and seeds of paradise, I thought they would compliment this overall taste well, along with the whole spicing this thing trend. Some star anise(very subtle) might also be appropriate... not sure on that one yet though. Everything of coarse thrown in the mash.
I've seen smoked and even possibly peated malt would be appropriate, but as I don't like the flavor either of these lend, nor do I think they will blend well with everything else going on, I'm not going to use them.
I'll have a carboy opening up in about a week so I'll be tweaking with ideas until then. But this will be brewed.
Here's some of the stuff I referenced in case anyone cares:
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000794.html
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/148
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/forget-whiskey-gin-ale-72356/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/traditional-nordic-style-beer-69483/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti
http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/flemishredale.shtml
All grain brew(a must here) mashed at 148 for a highly fermentable wort.
7lbs 2-row
2lbs Honey(added a few days into fermentation maybe 8oz at a time)
1.5lbs White wheat
1.5lbs Rye Malt
1lb Flaked Oats
1oz coriander
1oz grains of paradise
4oz?! juniper berries
Possible substitutions there might be going with unmalted wheat and/or oats. And then a decoction, as I'm sure early malts were not all that well modified.
So we would be looking at something like 1.076 for a 5gallon beer with 75% eff, but in the tradition of sahti, I'm not going to be boiling this at all. So the OG will be lower... Mash, sparge, collect, cool and pitch. As such, I'm planning on having some sort of funk going on and it's damn cold here right now, so there won't be as many nasties in the air, but at the very least I would expect some lactobacillus to take hold for a little bit. As for other yeast, I'm pretty sure I'll use a baker's yeast for this, but a german hefe fermented on the high side(75+) seems appropriate as well.
I'll be adding some amount of juniper berries to the mash, I haven't decided on how much yet, but from what I've read thus far it should probably be a fair amount. I'm thinking about 4oz smashed up and thrown in the mash. Also as I said above if I can find some juniper twigs, I'll throw those in below my false bottom as to simulate using them to filter the wort through the mash. This is supposed to also add a slight resiny flavor that the berries alone won't.
As for the coriander and seeds of paradise, I thought they would compliment this overall taste well, along with the whole spicing this thing trend. Some star anise(very subtle) might also be appropriate... not sure on that one yet though. Everything of coarse thrown in the mash.
I've seen smoked and even possibly peated malt would be appropriate, but as I don't like the flavor either of these lend, nor do I think they will blend well with everything else going on, I'm not going to use them.
I'll have a carboy opening up in about a week so I'll be tweaking with ideas until then. But this will be brewed.
Here's some of the stuff I referenced in case anyone cares:
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000794.html
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/148
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/forget-whiskey-gin-ale-72356/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/traditional-nordic-style-beer-69483/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti
http://www2.parc.com/emdl/members/apte/flemishredale.shtml
