Intro: Not sure if anyone is interested, but I brewed a raw ale based on Terje’s
process (larsblog [http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/342.html]) Well, I tried to.
The main issues were that I don’t have access to Terje’s Hornindal kveik, so I
used WL Opshaug kviek. I also don’t have access to juniper branches (and I
didn’t add bitterness because I didn’t want to boil a hop tea inside around my
cats; one of whom is 21). Method: Pilsner (4 kg) was mashed BIAB at ~75 C for
two hours with about 10 L strike and half a lemon for acidity ( I figure the
juniper infusion decreases the pH a bit, not having a pH metre, the half lemon
was a guess). 24 g of Cascade was added at the end of the mash, 60 C, as a
microbe inhibitor (some flavor remained). The wort was made up to 15 L and OG
was approximately 1.058 (1.045 at 50 C). The kveik was pitched at ~30 C and
unfortunately (as it’s winter here) made it down to 20 C over the next day. It
was left to ferment for 3 days (20 C, FG 1.035) and was top harvested at 48
hours. Bottles were left for a day to carbonate and then refrigerated. Thoughts:
As you can imagine this beer is pretty yeast forward, being 100% base malt and
dry hopped. The texture is good, fair bit of diacetyl, and it’s quite sweet. You
know there is hops in the beer, but it’s definitely not one of the major
flavors. All in all, not exactly what I was expecting (more of a clean, dry
beer). But I’m interested in trying again at the appropriate temperature. Has
anyone else tried to follow Terje’s process? I imagine having Hornindal and
juniper branches would be a game changer. UPDATE 0: I did a little
experimenting, I bottled half of the batch 3 / 4 days after pitching and the
other half 6 / 7 days after pitching. Lars and other raw ale brewers recommend
bottling after 3 days and refrigerating. After my little experiment I can
definitely agree, the batch that fermented out was thin, had no diacetyl, and
tasted of alcohol. Altogether not great. Next batch I’m going to try to use
potassium metabisulfate to prevent further fermentation as I do not have enough
fridge space for a 14 L batch and it’s too much effort to do a smaller batch. I
will update with that info
This batch didn’t go too well, it ferments in two days and I got my very first migrane on bottling day so it was 72 hours untill I bottled and it was very dry (OG 1.056 to FG 1.005) when I expected it to be sweet (FG 1.014) so I really overdid the hops and it has a little astringent taste.
That said it’s, like, 7% and bitter, astringent, but interesting and very drinkable