KiljuBrew
Member
You’ll find the recipe towards the bottom if you want to skip the background.
Backstory
I got into home brewing for one reason. To make a tasteless base to mix whatever I want. I wanted it to be cheap, tasteless, relatively fast to brew and totally clear.
I focused my efforts on Kilju. For those of you unfamiliar with this beverage it originated from the Finnish punk scene during their prohibition era. True Kilju is simply sugar, yeast and water, consumed before any clarity and often before fermentation is complete. Basically just a sugar wash. It has a nasty reputation for producing a cloudy gross drink.
However, all along I’ve been convinced that Kilju does not need to be gross and if done right should be as clear as water and virtually tasteless.
So I went on my journey of creating just that.
My first batches were what you would expect. Not great. They often didn’t ferment dry, fermented slowly, got stuck, flavor was hot and the end product was hazy. The primary mistakes in those first few batches were too high of original gravity, lack of nutrients, lack of racking and cold crashing, and too high of fermentation temp.
After tinkering around with my recipe and process for the last four or five batches I think I am very close to what I originally set out to create.
So I thought I would share my recipe and process:
Recipe to make a 1 gallon batch of quality Kilju:
- in a large pot add 1.5 lbs of cane sugar to just enough water to cover the sugar. Bring to boil.
- stir until sugar is totally dissolved.
- reduce heat to a low boil. Add a packet of bakers yeast and a healthy amount of yeast nutrient to boil (I used two teaspoons of north mountain supply as one was not enough). Simmer for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.
- remove from heat add cool water to pot.
- add mixture to carboy and fill the rest of the way with cool water.
- wait til 70-80f to pitch yeast.
- pitch ec1118 yeast.
- cap and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Remove cap to allow fresh air in, recap and shake for 30 more seconds.
- install airlock.
- ferment cool. With our weather I’ve been shooting to stay at or below 70. More on this later.
- starting gravity should be approximately 1.070 and yield approximately 10-11% ABV
- primary fermentation should be complete in 7-10 days.
- final gravity should end up at 0.986 - 0.988
- once primary is complete cold crash for a week.
- rack and cold crash for another week.
- bottle.
- note: I don’t stabilize the brew but I store my bottles in a mini fridge so I am not too concerned about bottle bombs. I also make sure final gravity is 0.990 or lower so I don’t imagine bottle bombs would be much of a risk anyway. If you’re concerned about bottle bombs then stabilize.
Finished product and additional thoughts
It should be as clear as water and not have much if any flavor. Same recipe fermented near 80 will produce a terrible fusel alcohol flavor. Keeping at or below 70 has made a world of a difference. With cooler weather approaching I’ll be running additional batches within the suggested ec1118 fermentation temperature and I fully expect even better results. I also want to play around with different starting PH readings.
There you have it. Hope someone finds this helpful as I scoured the internet for something like this and had to piece it all together.
Any suggestions to make the end result even better? Shoot.
Backstory
I got into home brewing for one reason. To make a tasteless base to mix whatever I want. I wanted it to be cheap, tasteless, relatively fast to brew and totally clear.
I focused my efforts on Kilju. For those of you unfamiliar with this beverage it originated from the Finnish punk scene during their prohibition era. True Kilju is simply sugar, yeast and water, consumed before any clarity and often before fermentation is complete. Basically just a sugar wash. It has a nasty reputation for producing a cloudy gross drink.
However, all along I’ve been convinced that Kilju does not need to be gross and if done right should be as clear as water and virtually tasteless.
So I went on my journey of creating just that.
My first batches were what you would expect. Not great. They often didn’t ferment dry, fermented slowly, got stuck, flavor was hot and the end product was hazy. The primary mistakes in those first few batches were too high of original gravity, lack of nutrients, lack of racking and cold crashing, and too high of fermentation temp.
After tinkering around with my recipe and process for the last four or five batches I think I am very close to what I originally set out to create.
So I thought I would share my recipe and process:
Recipe to make a 1 gallon batch of quality Kilju:
- in a large pot add 1.5 lbs of cane sugar to just enough water to cover the sugar. Bring to boil.
- stir until sugar is totally dissolved.
- reduce heat to a low boil. Add a packet of bakers yeast and a healthy amount of yeast nutrient to boil (I used two teaspoons of north mountain supply as one was not enough). Simmer for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.
- remove from heat add cool water to pot.
- add mixture to carboy and fill the rest of the way with cool water.
- wait til 70-80f to pitch yeast.
- pitch ec1118 yeast.
- cap and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Remove cap to allow fresh air in, recap and shake for 30 more seconds.
- install airlock.
- ferment cool. With our weather I’ve been shooting to stay at or below 70. More on this later.
- starting gravity should be approximately 1.070 and yield approximately 10-11% ABV
- primary fermentation should be complete in 7-10 days.
- final gravity should end up at 0.986 - 0.988
- once primary is complete cold crash for a week.
- rack and cold crash for another week.
- bottle.
- note: I don’t stabilize the brew but I store my bottles in a mini fridge so I am not too concerned about bottle bombs. I also make sure final gravity is 0.990 or lower so I don’t imagine bottle bombs would be much of a risk anyway. If you’re concerned about bottle bombs then stabilize.
Finished product and additional thoughts
It should be as clear as water and not have much if any flavor. Same recipe fermented near 80 will produce a terrible fusel alcohol flavor. Keeping at or below 70 has made a world of a difference. With cooler weather approaching I’ll be running additional batches within the suggested ec1118 fermentation temperature and I fully expect even better results. I also want to play around with different starting PH readings.
There you have it. Hope someone finds this helpful as I scoured the internet for something like this and had to piece it all together.
Any suggestions to make the end result even better? Shoot.
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