Raw Ale / No Boil

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
No boil session stout, super clean, nice roasty profile, 1.010 FG, 3%. Guessing the no boil helps with the fuller body too.

IMG_20160407_194556.jpg
 
I tried mine today. I'm very happy with it :) It's clean tasting with a bit of bitterness from the roasted malt, which balances nicely with the chocolate/molasses flavour of the hops.
It has been fermenting for nearly 4 weeks: I took a gravity reading last Thursday, which was 3 weeks, and it was at 1.013. I'm glad I didn't go ahead and bottle as it is now down to 1.008! (Predicted was 1.009 so it should be done). I'm going to check again on Thursday, if it is the same I'll bottle.
 
I'm going to try this this weekend as time has always been one of the big barriers for me. I've pretty stocked up on IPA, but was tempted to try another style. Just curious as to what other folks have tried, Belgian or Hefeweizen?

Seems like the bittering is the trickiest part here. For those of you who are doing a side boil with the hops, how are you calculating IBUs?
 
Nice! I've done session IPA, stout, and sour wheat. I'm thinking if someone is good to do this and make a bigger beer, one alternative is iso-alpha extract for bittering. Please get any updates from your experience on the thread too!
 
I'm kegging my 3rd no-boil beer this evening when I get home from work. So far they have all been sours, and I've been very happy with this technique.

Beer 1: Gose with Orange/Lime - Heated to 180F, added coriander and sea salt at flame out. Chilled to 100F, drained to fermenter, pitched pure Lacto strain and soured for 48 hours. Dropped temp to 58F and pitched WLP029 Kolsch yeast. Fermented for 7 days, then dry hopped with orange & lime zest and Nelso & Kohatu hops for 5 days. Cold crashed and fined with gelatin. Kegged with orange and lime juice.

Beer 2: Golden Sour - Heated to 180F, then chilled to 100F. Chilled to 100F, drained to fermenter, pitched pure Lacto strain and soured for 48 hours. Dropped temp to 66F and pitched Conan yeast. Fermented for 7 days, then dry hopped with Citra and Mosaic hops for 5 days. Cold crashed and fined with gelatin, then kegged.

Beer 3: Yuzu Berliner Weisse - Heated to 180F, then chilled to 100F. Chilled to 100F, drained to fermenter, pitched pure Lacto strain and soured for 48 hours. Dropped temp to 58F and pitched WLP029 Kolsch yeast. Fermented for 7 days, then cold crashed and fined with gelatin, then kegged with Yuzu juice.

I'm planning a no-boil tart saison coming up soon, where I do want some IBUs present, but don't want them to interfere with my lacto strain. My plan there was to pull a small amount of wort from the mash tun, set aside to boil with hops, and then blend that back in after the lacto fermentation, but before I start my sacc fermentation, something like:

Take 1.25 gallons of wort from above and bring to boil for 30 minutes with the following hops additions:

30 mins: 14g Sorachi Ace
10 mins: 21g Sorachi Ace + 28g Tettanger
0 mins: 28g Tettanger

- Chill as usual and strain hops as you collect wort into clean vessel for storage

- Final IBU ~25

I basically setup a 1 gallon recipe to figure out my IBUs which came to 145.5, and then divided that by 6, figuring I would pitch the 1 gallon into 5 gallons of 0 IBU wort to dilute.

If anyone would like specific recipes for any of those or more details, just let me know. Happy to share!
 
I'm running a RIMS system, and was wondering if people adding the hops and whirlfloc to the mash or a kettle post mash? It would be super convenient to throw the hops in there, does anyone think there is a downside to doing this? The only thing I could think of is that the hop oils could bind with the grain?
 
I do a small mash hop addition, but I wouldn't rely on that too provide any actual "hoppiness" to the finished beer unless you do other additions, because the spent grains act as a filter for hop oils. I add WF after the pasteurization rest. Good luck!
 
Made a no boil no hop sour brown ale. It's very sour. I'll probably bottle half for some super sour action, and use the rest to blend other sour that need more PUNCH.
 
Saw this thread a while ago and it's probably the most interesting thread I've read on here.

I did my first no boil brew day recently to use up some grain and hops before moving home. Just a gallon brew, forgive the metric stuff, forget some of my calculations and forgot to write them down.

Grains:-

1.5kg Pilsner Malt
Crystal 80L
Carapils
Carafa Special III
Polenta Flour (don't ask)
Blood Orange Zest (because why tf not)

60 min mash at around 65C
Mashout to 78C

Hop Tea in cafetiere with 15g Cascade, left to stand for 20 mins, added after mashout

Irish Moss and 14g Cascade added straight after mashout as well

Hopstand for 20 mins(ish)

Chilled in the sink with running cold water, thought it would be important to pitch ASAP (I usually no chill)

OG was 1.054 I think.

Whole pack of Gervin GV12 yeast (Nottm?), with yeast nutrient, rehydrated and with a spoon of icing sugar to wake it up. This took off like a rocket, glad I fit a blow off tube.

15g Warrior dry hop after 3 days, I usually use it as a bittering hop but thought I'd see what a dry hop would do.

So this is now at almost 6 days in the fermenter, the aroma is definitely different to that of a boiled ale. I'm going to transfer it to secondary soon to see if I can get some clarity, might experiment with some gelatin as I've not done that before (usually don't care). I took a little taste with a dropper yesterday, it tastes mostly fine but with a very slight acidic tang. Could however just be a tinge of the roasted note you get from the Carafa.

Will report back when it's done bottle conditioning.
 
Cool! I wonder if that different note you are getting is the orange zest? Nothing in the rest of it should be affected by the no boil imo. Let us know how it comes out!
 
Racked it onto some gelatin on Friday night to get some of the proteins out, no room in the fridge so it's going to be slightly below room temperature. Will probably bottle towards the end of the week.
 
Had a pro brewer friend with a really sophisticated saison palate try my mango no boil no chill saison, and he said there was obvious DMS in it. The beer was 100% golden promise, and although I attributed the flavor to the mango, there definitely could be an issue with potentially less modified malts that may still be developed with older practices. I also covered the beer a minute after reaching my pasteurization rest, so another culprit could be that DMS that may leave the wort during no chill was reabsorbed by keeping the lid on (or SMM in this malt was turned into DMS after the no chill part started). Either way I say proceed with some caution if using Golden Promise and both no boil and no chill.
 
FWIW - my no boil golden sour took 1st place in the American Sour Ale category, as well as Best of Show, at this year's Walk on the Wild Side competition. :rockin:

Figured I would share the recipe here in case others wanted to give it a shot:

45% 2-Row
45% Maris Otter
5% CaraFoam
5% Acidulated

One hour mash @ 150F, single batch sparge @ 170F. Collected runnings to kettle and heated to 180F. Added WhirlFloc and then whirlpooled/chilled down to 100F.

Drained to fermenter and pitched 6 Swanson's L Plantarum capsules and allowed it to sour for 48 hours. During that time it dropped from 100F to 82F and went from a pH of 5.27 to 3.38.

Then I dropped the temp to 66F and pitched a 2L starter of Conan yeast. Ramped temp 2 degrees per day - 66, 68, 70, 72. Held @ 72F for 3 more days for a total of 7 days primary fermentation.

Dropped the temp to 65F and dry-hoped with 100g each of Mosaic and Citra for 5 days.

Cold crashed @ 33F for 2 days prior to kegging. Slow-carbed to 2.4 volumes.

Starting pH: 5.27
Finishing pH: 3.20
SG: 1.051
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5%

Have my 4th no-boil planned for next weekend, and I will definitely keep brewing these types of beers! :ban:
 
My first no boil (sour brown ale) needs to get bottled. I turned a year old in February and is extra sour. I'll probably bottle half and use the other half for blending.
 
ECY 20 bug county.

It was down to 1.002 in a couple weeks, but I left it to sit regardless.

Here's the brew log to date. I actually have a much better picture of my last taste test when I was going to bottle it (in April) but never did. I've been very unmotivated in getting it into bottles.

Edit: I should link the dumb thing If i say I linked it. http://hivemindmead.com/no-boil-sour-brown-ale-beer/ .

13423761_10157058460630174_3975029677450132541_n.jpg
 
Hey, thanks for posting that. I'd not heard of people using no boil in conjunction with long aging sour blends. Will read through your blog post about it and would love to hear back the results once you've got it packaged.
 
Thanks for sharing! I picked up some Plantarum capsules and I think I'm gonna brew it this weekend or next. Am I reading correctly that there are no kettle hops in this?

EDIT: Did you aerate/oxygenate before adding the conan?

FWIW - my no boil golden sour took 1st place in the American Sour Ale category, as well as Best of Show, at this year's Walk on the Wild Side competition. :rockin:

Figured I would share the recipe here in case others wanted to give it a shot:

45% 2-Row
45% Maris Otter
5% CaraFoam
5% Acidulated

One hour mash @ 150F, single batch sparge @ 170F. Collected runnings to kettle and heated to 180F. Added WhirlFloc and then whirlpooled/chilled down to 100F.

Drained to fermenter and pitched 6 Swanson's L Plantarum capsules and allowed it to sour for 48 hours. During that time it dropped from 100F to 82F and went from a pH of 5.27 to 3.38.

Then I dropped the temp to 66F and pitched a 2L starter of Conan yeast. Ramped temp 2 degrees per day - 66, 68, 70, 72. Held @ 72F for 3 more days for a total of 7 days primary fermentation.

Dropped the temp to 65F and dry-hoped with 100g each of Mosaic and Citra for 5 days.

Cold crashed @ 33F for 2 days prior to kegging. Slow-carbed to 2.4 volumes.

Starting pH: 5.27
Finishing pH: 3.20
SG: 1.051
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5%

Have my 4th no-boil planned for next weekend, and I will definitely keep brewing these types of beers! :ban:
 
Thanks for sharing! I picked up some Plantarum capsules and I think I'm gonna brew it this weekend or next. Am I reading correctly that there are no kettle hops in this?

EDIT: Did you aerate/oxygenate before adding the conan?

Correct, there are no kettle hops, as you don't boil this beer :)

Yes, I used pure O2 for 60 seconds before pitching the Conan.

Please post back with your results; I would love to know what you think!
 
FWIW - my no boil golden sour took 1st place in the American Sour Ale category, as well as Best of Show, at this year's Walk on the Wild Side competition. :rockin:

Figured I would share the recipe here in case others wanted to give it a shot:

45% 2-Row
45% Maris Otter
5% CaraFoam
5% Acidulated

One hour mash @ 150F, single batch sparge @ 170F. Collected runnings to kettle and heated to 180F. Added WhirlFloc and then whirlpooled/chilled down to 100F.

Drained to fermenter and pitched 6 Swanson's L Plantarum capsules and allowed it to sour for 48 hours. During that time it dropped from 100F to 82F and went from a pH of 5.27 to 3.38.

Then I dropped the temp to 66F and pitched a 2L starter of Conan yeast. Ramped temp 2 degrees per day - 66, 68, 70, 72. Held @ 72F for 3 more days for a total of 7 days primary fermentation.

Dropped the temp to 65F and dry-hoped with 100g each of Mosaic and Citra for 5 days.

Cold crashed @ 33F for 2 days prior to kegging. Slow-carbed to 2.4 volumes.

Starting pH: 5.27
Finishing pH: 3.20
SG: 1.051
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5%

Have my 4th no-boil planned for next weekend, and I will definitely keep brewing these types of beers! :ban:

To update, I brewed a twenty gallon batch of this split 4 ways.
Brett trois with 6oz Citra
Brett trois with 6oz Amarillo
Conan with 6oz Citra
Conan with 6oz Amarillo

This was my first sour, and easily my favorite sour I've ever tasted. 3 hour "brew" day, then grain to glass in 2 weeks and I just keeps getting better by the day. Top choices were Conan with Citra and trois with Amarillo, although, my favorite is to mix them together.

Thank you so much for sharing this! It's likely to be my next batch as well!:rockin::tank::mug:
 
To update, I brewed a twenty gallon batch of this split 4 ways.
Brett trois with 6oz Citra
Brett trois with 6oz Amarillo
Conan with 6oz Citra
Conan with 6oz Amarillo

This was my first sour, and easily my favorite sour I've ever tasted. 3 hour "brew" day, then grain to glass in 2 weeks and I just keeps getting better by the day. Top choices were Conan with Citra and trois with Amarillo, although, my favorite is to mix them together.

Thank you so much for sharing this! It's likely to be my next batch as well!:rockin::tank::mug:

Hey, that's really excellent! Thanks for sharing. You're about the 10th or so person that has tried this recipe, and all have reported great success, so it's kind of flattering.

Sine then I've done another no boil that was a Berliner Weisse with peaches. I used Swanson' Fem Flora instead of the pure L. Plantarum pills, and WLP029 for the sacc. Grain bill was 45/45 Pilsner/wheat and 5/5 Carafoam and acidulated. No hops. Same fermentation time but a ramp of 58F>68F this time. Then 2 weeks secondary on 12 lbs of peaches with pectic enzyme, followed by cold crash prior to kegging. My wife says it's her favorite beer ever.

Next up is a no boil dry-hopped apricot sour using the Conan/WLP644 genetic hybrid yeast from Kristoffer Krogerus and the Bootleg Biology Sour Weapon (fast souring Pedio). That one will get 2 weeks on 18 lbs of apricots followed by 2-4 days dry hop of Citra and Amarillo.

Then I'm doing Three Question Marks again but using that Conan/WLP644 hybrid this go around.
 
Haven't tried an actual no boil yet, but I did a short boil Wheat ale and it turned out really nice. I plan to try a no boil for real soon as comparison.
 
Hey, that's really excellent! Thanks for sharing. You're about the 10th or so person that has tried this recipe, and all have reported great success, so it's kind of flattering.

Sine then I've done another no boil that was a Berliner Weisse with peaches. I used Swanson' Fem Flora instead of the pure L. Plantarum pills, and WLP029 for the sacc. Grain bill was 45/45 Pilsner/wheat and 5/5 Carafoam and acidulated. No hops. Same fermentation time but a ramp of 58F>68F this time. Then 2 weeks secondary on 12 lbs of peaches with pectic enzyme, followed by cold crash prior to kegging. My wife says it's her favorite beer ever.

Next up is a no boil dry-hopped apricot sour using the Conan/WLP644 genetic hybrid yeast from Kristoffer Krogerus and the Bootleg Biology Sour Weapon (fast souring Pedio). That one will get 2 weeks on 18 lbs of apricots followed by 2-4 days dry hop of Citra and Amarillo.

Then I'm doing Three Question Marks again but using that Conan/WLP644 hybrid this go around.

:rockin: rock on man! I also want to add that this beer keeps getting better and better. 4 weeks in the keg and it's better now than it was at week 1. This shouldn't happen with an IPA, but by golly it has. This si some kind of super session sour. :fro:
 
The traditional process of raw beer (Northern Europe) includes a hops tea, you can boil the hops as you normally would in the wort but only with water and hops, then add to the wort.
 
I liked my Black Friday Pale ale so much, a recipe I made to drown my sorrows during the inauguration of a man I've long considered utterly contemptible and loathsome, that I decided to try to copy it as a no boil / no chill brew
Total brewing time including crushing grain while the water heated for the mash, and clean up on the other end was 50 minutes of my time with me in attendance. I doughed in and went to work for the afternoon. I don't consider time when I'm not even there part of my brew day.
My procedure was to mash normally, pull the bag, and grab about 3 cups of wort for the decoction boil of the hops. The brew kettle went on the heat and was raised to 170F rather quickly and held there for about 10 minutes, meanwhile the small pot of wort was boiling merrily away with my 3 hop additions, each at 7 minute, and half a whirfloc tablet. The glass fermenter (an ice tea jug) was filled with hot tap water (about 130F) in the meantime. The hop decoction was added back to the wort, the hot water dumped out of the fermenter, and the hot wort dumped into the fermenter and set aside to cool.
Everything washed and put away....... almost nothing. I'll pitch tomorrow AM, or late this evening if the temp is down.....but I doubt it.

You can't do an extract brew this quickly and easily...............


H.W.
 
Regarding the above brew, I woke up at about 3:00 am for some reason and decided to pitch yeast. The appearance of the brew was strange to say the least. The higher density material, grain & hops (future trub) had stratified in about the bottom third of the fermenter. Above that was clear wort filled with what looked like a lot of loose toilet paper floating in it. The strangest looking phenomenon I've seen in a brew.

I pitched cropped yeast.... Safebrew Abbey, from the fridge and by the time I got up at 6:am, it was boiling away merrily. A pretty aggressive yeast.


H.W.
 
Next up is a no boil dry-hopped apricot sour using the Conan/WLP644 genetic hybrid yeast from Kristoffer Krogerus and the Bootleg Biology Sour Weapon (fast souring Pedio). That one will get 2 weeks on 18 lbs of apricots followed by 2-4 days dry hop of Citra and Amarillo.

How did this turn out? I'm planning my first kettle sour, using sour weapon in the kettle then either Conan or H1 to ferment. What was your process exactly when souring with sour weapon?
 
How did this turn out? I'm planning my first kettle sour, using sour weapon in the kettle then either Conan or H1 to ferment. What was your process exactly when souring with sour weapon?

Absolutely amazing. My full post is up on the MTF page here, but here is a cut + paste if you're not a member:

Pedio & The Apricots - my next endeavor in my exploration of quick-turn no-boil sour beers.
This one is a dry hopped golden sour with apricots made with Pediococcus pentosaceus (Jeff Mello's Sour Weapon) and Kristoffer Krogerus's Conan/644 genetic hybrid F1 variant. Here are the details...

6 Gallon Batch
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.005
Starting pH: 5.5
Final pH: 3.45
Grain Bill
50% White Wheat
40% Golden Promise
5% CaraFoam
5% Acidulated

Made a 2L starter of the Sour Weapon 2 days prior to brew day. Used 1.04 OG wort, 4 grams of calcium carbonate (per Jeff's recommendation - Jeff Mello from Bootleg Biology) an airlock, and lowest setting on the stir plate.

On brew day it was my usual one hour mash @ 149F, single batch sparge @ 170F. Collected runnings to kettle and heated to 180F. Added WhirlFloc and then whirlpooled/chilled down to 100F.

Drained to fermenter and pitched 2L starter of the Sour Weapon. Placed fermenter in my chest freezer/ferm chamber with the controls off and allowed temp to free fall. Over 36 hours it dropped from 100F to 83F.

At 20 hours the pH had dropped from 5.5 > 3.57
At 36 hours it had gone down to 3.48, so I dropped the temp to 66F and pitched a 2L starter of the WLP/644 F1 hybrid.

Fermentation schedule was as follows:
Day 1 - 66
Day 2 - 68
Day 3 - 70
Day 4 - 72
Day 5 - 72
Day 6 - 75
Day 7 - 75

Wort was not aerated prior to pitching the Sour Weapon, nor was CO2 applied to the fermenter after pitching it; however, I did aerate with 60 seconds of pure O2 when I pitched the sacc post-souring.

I then transferred it to secondary with 18 lbs of fresh California apricots that I had washed, pitted, halved, frozen, and then thawed, along with 2 tsp of pectic enzyme dissolved in 200ml of water. Allowed it to secondary for 14 days.

It was then racked into a CO2 purged fermenter containing 100 grams each of Citra and Amarillo hops where I let it go at 65F for 5 days. It was then cold crashed for 48 hours at 34F with CO2 attached. I then kegged and carbed to 2.4 volumes.

Not to toot my own horn, but I really can't say enough good things about this beer. It got rave reviews from the house guests all weekend. Really nice mouth puckering sour and then just over the top apricots. Great aroma, mouth feel, and nice head retention too.

14409831_10210656601189964_2164519447907534707_o.jpg
 
@drgonzo2k2 that sounds and look delicious. Hopefully mine comes out half as good. I was thinking a simple bill of 2 row and cara and adding hibiscus for color and flavor and citra for dry hops.
 
Thanks for all of this, sounds like a really cool way to make a unique beer.

Just read through pages 1-19...sorry if I'm asking a question that popped up in the last few pages.


Has anyone done this for a 6% NEIPA? I think the body/mouthfeel/head retention benefits would be awesome in a NEIPA.

My thought is
1. A typical grain bill (2row, oats, honey malt) mash as normal for 60 mins
2. Heat to 190F to do the first whirlpool hop addition for 20 mins.
3. Cool to 160F to do the second whirlpool hop addition for 20 mins.
4. Cool to 70F, pitch, ferment, DH #1, DH #2 etc...

Thanks in advance.
(BTW, I signed up for HBT just for this thread :) )
 
Thanks for all of this, sounds like a really cool way to make a unique beer.

Just read through pages 1-19...sorry if I'm asking a question that popped up in the last few pages.


Has anyone done this for a 6% NEIPA? I think the body/mouthfeel/head retention benefits would be awesome in a NEIPA.

My thought is
1. A typical grain bill (2row, oats, honey malt) mash as normal for 60 mins
2. Heat to 190F to do the first whirlpool hop addition for 20 mins.
3. Cool to 160F to do the second whirlpool hop addition for 20 mins.
4. Cool to 70F, pitch, ferment, DH #1, DH #2 etc...

Thanks in advance.
(BTW, I signed up for HBT just for this thread :) )


I have been brewing New England styles using a RAW Brew for the past 9 months... always comes out fantastic.. One tip is to mash low at 150... this is perfectly suited for the style because the low mash temp gives a nice dry finish that showcases all the late whirlpool additions but the no boil gives the beer wonderful body that you would expect in a 158 mash. it truly is the best of both worlds!!!

I do 4-6 ounces for a 30 minute whirlpool at 170 degrees then chill and ferment as normal.. I do crush a whirlflock and add it at 165...

Cheers
 
.. I do crush a whirlflock and add it at 165...

Cheers

What's the reasoning for the whirlfloc? Is that something you always do? Or because of the raw aspect? I've never used whirlfloc on a NEIPA
 
I'm also reading that a temp above 176F is when DMS starts to form. Does anyone have experience to support/reject that number? I was thinking about raising temp to 190F for hop whirlpool. But maybe sticking to 165F max would be safer to avoid DMS?
 
I'm also reading that a temp above 176F is when DMS starts to form. Does anyone have experience to support/reject that number? I was thinking about raising temp to 190F for hop whirlpool. But maybe sticking to 165F max would be safer to avoid DMS?

yes I also suggest staying below 175 for the same reasons... SMS changes to DMS above 175

as far as whirlflock... I find it helps the with the proteins that do not coagulate during a normal boil.. NEIPA cloudiness comes from the flakes grains in the grist... the whirlflock helps with the standard proteins
 
I'd posted on the SMS>DMS topic with no boil beers in another thread on souring with probiotics.

In general I don't really believe at DMS at the home brew level at any perceivable level with today's highly modified malts.

For no boil beers I'm even less concerned about DMS. SMM, the precursor to DMS starts to decompose to DMS at about 176F. Once it has decomposed you need about 30 minutes of boiling at typical wort pH levels to drive it off.

Since I'm only going to 180 before I kick in the chiller I'm not in the danger zone very long.

If you do boil though, and you're worried about DMS, you should go for at least 30 minutes.

For beers that I boil and also do whirlpool additions my regimen is almost always as follows:

1st whirlpool addition right at flame out, let whirlpool for 30 minutes (let it cool down to whatever it cools down to in that time).

2nd whirlpool addition for 15 mins.

Chill down to pitching temps.

For a no boil NEPA (which is a great idea by the way!) I'd probably heat up to 180, do the first whirlpool, let it cool to whatever, then do the 2nd one.

I don't think you're going to get much out of the hops at 190 - 200 that you'd want for this style of beer.

I think I'll give that a shot on one of my upcoming brews as I just ordered several different yeasts that will work well for NEPA.
 
I have done a few ra ol with kveik strains and had great results.
But have any of you done a raw RIS or big oat meal stout this way?
Cheers
 
Back
Top