For my first noble attempt at homebrewing, I was inspired by the topic "13th - 16th Century Grainbills by Town (reference)" ~ viewtopic.php?t=57975 posted by Seymour. I decided to do something a little un-ordinary for my first brew, so I put something together containing 42% barley, 29% wheat, and 29% oats, using the reference as a rough guide. All hops used were graciously donated by Seymour and ABInbev. Recipe is for 4 U.S. Gallons. All measurements are sans metric, sorry.
Fermentables
%......lb...oz...type
42%...3...5.....Weyermann Munich Type I
29%...2...4.....Rolled Oats
13%...1...0.....Wheat, Bulgur
10%...0...12....Briess White Wheat Malt
6%.....0...8.....Red Winter Wheat
Hops
usage......time......oz.....type..............aa....ibu
first wort..60 min....¾....Cluster ~ leaf....6.0 » 14.7
first wort..60 min....¼....Hallertau ~ leaf..3.0 » 2.4
boil.........15 min....¾....Cluster ~ leaf....6.0 » 7.3
boil.........15 min....¼....Hallertau ~ leaf..3.0 » 1.2
post-boil...0 min.....1 ½..Hallertau ~ leaf..3.0 » 0.0
Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast (primary)...1.065 to 1.012
Red Star Cote des Blancs (secondary)..1.012 to 1.005...OOPS!
Stats
Brewed 13/4/2013
25.6 IBU...5.6% ABV (7.0% actual)...1.056 OG...82% Measured Efficiency
1.25 qts/lb strike water
4+ hour multi-step mash. 60 min. boil.
Kettle chilled slowly in ice bath and by addition of 1 gallon pre-boiled refrigerator-temp water.
I guess my high efficiency - even with 48% unmalted grains - was a result of my extremely long, multi-step glucan/protein/amylase rests. Fortunately, the Munich and White Wheat Malt appeared to have enough diastatic power to pull off the 82% efficiency given enough time. I mashed in my 5 gal. anodized aluminum boil kettle on the stove, maintaining constant, even temperatures with occasional, gradual heating while stirring. I didn't quite plan on it taking THAT long to mash, but I took my time and gradually increased the temp of my 5 gal. kettle from 110-155 F. Sparged at 170 F through a metal-screen colander. Sticky mash not evident as a result of long glucan/protein rest and 170 F sparge water.
I know the beer isn't particularly "authentic" to any particular beer type, style, recipe, or era, but I wanted to experiment a bit while using what I had on hand/what I could get a hold of for cheap or free (thanks again for the hops Seymour!). Again, the goal was to try to create something vaguely similar to what a mildly hopped, 16th century, barley/wheat/oat beer might have tasted like. Yeah, there's no smoked malt, and it's not fermented in oak casks, but I figured that it must still taste something like a beer might have tasted a few hundred years ago. That's what I'm telling myself at least.
3 weeks in, the beer still looks pretty cloudy, which I'm not surprised by with the high amount of unmalted oats and wheat and the semi-fine grind (yeah, I grinded all of the grain, as carefully as possible, in an electric coffee grinder!). Sure, some of the husks got chopped to pieces, but only 42% of the grain even had husks on it, so I don't suspect tannins will be a major problem. I also forget to throw in the Irish Moss, and the post-boil cooldown period took about 40 minutes, so I assume that might be contributing to my haze as well. I couldn't care one way or the other though in this experimental brew...the haze seems appropriate. Had a great day, and boy did it turn into a FULL day.
I look forward to your comments, and I'll be sure to post some updates once things progress a little further. Cheers!
