Hi! And welcome back to The White Dog! Pull up a seat--I think there's some room on the bench over there...
Today's brew was the third iteration of a medieval German beer. I'm basing recipes, to the extent I can, off of Johan Coler's Economics text, from about 1500 C.E., and probably from the Berlin area.
Version one was based on a comment that Coler made prior to the actual recipe portion: "If barley is too expensive, use rye for half of the grains." So, the grain bill was 50% rye, 50% Vienna malt. I'm going with Tettnang for the hops, because that's the "most period" thing I could find in a leaf hop. (Here at the Brewery, we like pellet hops, for most "modern" brewing--there's less liquid lost in the kettle.) And an Alt and Kolsch blend for the yeast. The result was light-colored, but as cloudy as can be--rather like a roiled up Hefeweizen. All in all, it's not bad; I just need to be able to serve it cold.
Version two changed to all barley; rather than Vienna malt, I moved to Munich; a last-minute decision led me to Dark Munich malt. I stayed with Tettnang hops (I've got near 2 pounds of them still, even after today's brewing). Again with the yeast blend. I think that the start of fermentation was too warm, though--it was July, after all--and the yeast got a bit ester-y. Still, it came out a nice brown; once I get the keg pressure settled, I think it'll be a nice, malt-forward German ale.
Today, I went with "regular" Munich malt--twelve and a half pounds (down from the fourteen pound grain bills previously). I doubled up the Tettnang, going from two ounces all for a 60-minute boil, to an ounce of first-wort, two and a half more for 60 minutes, and a half for the last fifteen. This puts the bittering-to-gravity ratio at about 3:5, more or less; I think it'll have a nice balance. The color going into the kettle was a lovely copper, but it may have darkened during the boil. For yeast, I'm going with an American Ale--it's clean, and can deal with the slightly warmer temperatures I've had in the cellar, without going crazy.
Did I follow the recipe on these? Well, not exactly... Coler calls for a decoction mash (which I did, on the first one). He also has you boiling the hops in half the wort, and adding the rest later (unboiled)--which I haven't done on any of them, yet. Version 3 is probably the most "modern" of the lot; Version 2 would probably be the most recognizable to Coler. Version 1 I tried to be "period" the most, but it was the first run-through. (Yes, yes--brewing is largely the same process, no matter the ingredients--but somehow, it makes a difference.)
My purpose for brewing these is to have something to serve at Battle on the Bay, in late September. Some good friends are being made Baron and Baroness of a neighboring barony (where I used to live); I'll be talking about Coler's brewing process in a class, and would like to have something at least similar to be able to serve.
In other news, plans are afoot for a new Oracle (aka, "Beer Cart," aka "the first physical and portable version of The White Dog"). I likely won't have it ready for the same event, but I'm optimistic that it will make its public debut in Spring of 2018...
I've also tracked down a possible supplier of "large-enough" quantities of Bere barley--if things work out, I'll be able to get enough for malting, plus enough for a sizable planting of it. (With home-malted barley, I'll probably have to go into decoctions--"under-modified" malt, and all.)
So, have a pint, and stick around for the next cask to get tapped!
