Raw Ales

This was a presentation given by Peter Gale in the September 2020 LAB meeting

Transcript

1. No Boil Raw Ales
2. Origins Stones from the fire (rare by 18th century) Metal kettles replaced Stones still used today - brewers like the stone flavour Hops only around for last 500 years so not used before this historically Finnish Sahti dates back to the 1360s Sahti - ABV 7-11%. Carbonation will be very low; Due to high protein levels, body will have a thick & tacky mouthfeel; High alcohol warmth possible.
3. Today Raw ale brewed today in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia. Not boiling the wort is normal for sahti, pretty common in gotlandsdricke, and used to be normal for Berliner Weisse. It was also common in many dead farmhouse ales. Today it’s normal for koduõlu. In the northern part of western Norway, the brewers make kornøl. In northern Lithuania, people brew kaimiškas.
4. Sterilisation vs Pasteurisation But if you keep your mash at 153 °F (67 °C) for an hour, you have basically Pasteurised it. A temperature of 145 °F (63 °C) for 30 minutes, or 162 °F (72 °C) for 15 seconds is considered enough for milk products (pathogen removal only) DMS? DMS doesn’t form until the wort reaches 175-180F so if you don’t go above this you don’t get DMS. Hop tea can be used to ensure the hops are isomerised
5. Hops and Bitterness However you can get some isomerisation and IBUs by putting hops in your mash. By using high alpha varieties and in large quantities you can achieve an IBU level that is ok for a number of styles. You’d probably have trouble getting to IBU levels required for a double IPA with this method, but for Belgian/ farmhouse styles 10-15 IBU could be ok. Another option is adding hops in your strike and sparge water.
6. Flavour Usually boiling the wort makes a whole range of other reactions happen, too. Proteins coagulate, so they usually drop out of the beer. In raw ale, this doesn’t happen. It just means that raw ale gets a recognisably different flavour profile from boiled beer.
7. Styles Suited to Raw New England IPA. Soft and juicy mouthfeel, not boiling the wort contributes to that through the protein that helps fill out and smoothen the body. The effect is not too different from using oats or wheat in the grist. The relatively subtle raw ale flavour, will be overwhelmed by the hops. Saison. In a dry saison with European aroma hops the protein will fill out the body nicely, and the grainy, green flavours from the raw wort will blend in nicely with the funky saison yeast aroma.
8. Sanitisation is key Don’t shorten the mash, because you need the time to make sure everything is pasteurised. Remember there is no cold-side, so you really have to sanitise the mashtun, filter, “juniper branches”, and everything that’s used during mash and lautering. Raw ale brewers are extremely careful with sanitisation.
9. Recipes from blogs and articles Spruce beer Sahti kornøl koduõlu
10. Thanks to Lars Thanks to Lars Marius Garshol as most of this is from his articles and blogs