beers of conviction

The description of A Better Burden on the menu at Narrow Path Brewing outside of Cincinnati lists the ingredients, then two words: Forest & Farm.

“Those words are my attempt to help the ones tasting the beer to envision and place themselves within a setting,” Narrow Path owner/brewer Chad Powers explained. “That description is a hopeful reminder to folks that this beer has true origins in our natural world and that the resulting liquid is as much an offering from the land as it is from the brewer.”

A Better Burden is on my “Best in 2023” list in the current issue of Craft Beer & Brewing magazine. I expect you understand that means it was one of the beers I enjoyed most from a universe of choices I had not tasted previously. Otherwise, the “best” list would be scattered with well known, and deserving, beers such at Rochefort 8. Nine of the 10 beers described were new to me; the exception being Urban Chestnut Stammtisch. (The collection of contributors’ lists is also available in podcast form.)

I’m writing about A Better Burden because 70 words in the magazine did not seem like enough about this combination of smoke and cedar that I find sublime, and many other people may not. A Better Burden is a collaboration between Narrow Path and Nine Giant Brewing, and Powers and Mike Albarella have brewed it together at Narrow Path the past three years.

They had both read ”Historical Brewing Techniques” by Lars Marius Garshol right when the book became available. They wrote the initial recipe together and have subtly changed it each year. The base malt and the alder wood smoked malt come from Sugar Creek Malt Co. in Indiana. “We knew that Caleb (Michalke) had built a Såinnhus, and we wanted to use ingredients that were as local as possible and that were produced as traditionally as possible,” Powers said.

They chose his Stjørdal malt knowing it would be the most polarizing ingredient in the grain bill. Smoke is particularly assertive in this batch.

Powers harvests the cedar every year from the same hillside across the river in Kentucky. “A good friend of mine is an ecologist at Eastern Kentucky University, and he oversees several conservancies across the state,” Powers said. The friend plants seeds while Powers cuts off the ends of branches. “I like to do it when the weather is cool and brisk but also when there’s enough sun to feel some warmth on my face.”

The first year they fermented the beer with a commercially available Voss kveik strain. The last two years we’ve used strains that were not, until recently, commercially available. Caleb Ochs-Naderer, now the program chair of the brewing science program at Cincinnati State, was brewing at Nine Giant when they brewed the beer the second and third time.

He has been a long-time kveik fan/evangelist, and traveled to a homebrew gathering in Norway several years ago. He brought back a catalog of dried kveik that he stored in his freezer. “We selected a strain called Stalljen because it was described as saison-like without any phenolic notes. We rehydrated the yeast from their dried flaked state and fermented in the upper 80s to low 90s,” Powers said.

“I think the thing I love most about the beer is that it certainly makes me feel something, often several things. The time and effort spent harvesting the cedar with my friend realigns my heart to a deeper connection and purpose in brewing.

“I can feel the sun on my face as I’m reaching to trim a branch in the cool autumn air. I can feel the wind on my face as I give thanks to the grove of trees that play such an important part in the entire experience. Something in me awakens each time I sip.”

(Nine Giant often takes names of beers from song lyrics. Powers was looking through Nordic and Viking poems/chants and found a translation of Hávamál that had the phrase “a better burden” in it. “That idea and the specific turn of phrase resonated with me.”)

Piney River Brewing in the early days (before expansion)

As I wrote Thursday, the recipes I’ve posted while thinking about Learn to Homebrew Day might look a little scary to a beginner. I would not call the recipe for Sweet Potato Ale that Piney River Brewing in Missouri contributed to “Brewing Local” easy, but it is so inviting it seduces you into think it might be.

Piney River Brewing first brewed Sweet Potato Ale in 2012. “We were looking for a fall seasonal beer to brew that was not another pumpkin beer. “People in the Ozarks are well known for taking something from the field or forest and transforming it into something more,” co-founder Brian Devine said. Garden plots are common in the Ozarks, and sweet potatoes often end up at the Thanksgiving table in the form of a casserole or a pie. “We used sweet potato pie as our inspiration for this beer because it is our preferred field pie in the fall,” he said.

The sweet potatoes are roasted with skin on, then peeled and mashed before they are added to the mash. Devine does not expect them to increase the gravity of the wort. “After the roasting process, we normally cool the potatoes overnight and allow the sugars and the juices to continue running out of the potatoes,” he said. “The sugars in the potatoes vary drastically every year, so I try to leave the juices out as much as possible to maintain consistency. This process leaves me with roasted sweet potato flavor and color the sweet potatoes add to the beer.”

Original Gravity: 1.056 (13.5°P)
Final Gravity: 1.010 (2.5°P)
IBU: 20-22
ABV: 6%

Into the mash:
95% Domestic 2-row pale ale malt
5% Caramunich 1
10 pounds of Roasted Sweet Potato per barrel

Mash at 152°F (67°C).

Hops: Bravo, 15% AA, 60 minutes (20-22 IBU)
Other additions: Add nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla at flameout at a 2:1:1 ratio.
Yeast: Fermentis SO4.
Fermentation: Ferment at 66-68°F (19-20°C)

Today’s recipe for Learn to Homebrew Day comes from “For the Love of Hops.” I picked it to remind readers that IPAs are not the only beers that may showcase hops. An added bonus is that I get to include a photo of open fermentation at G. Schneider & Sohn in Kelheim, Germany.

When Schneider released Mein Nelson Sauvin in 2011, brewmaster Hans-Peter Drexel called it the culmination of more than 10 years of brewing experiences.

“I had a crucial experience in the year 2000 when I visited the U.S. for the first time. I found pale ales and IPAs with funky and refreshing notes of citrus and grapefruit,” he said. American brewers explained Cascade hops contributed those aroma and flavors, and shortly thereafter Drexler began experiments using imported Cascade hops and Schneider’s yeast.

He remembered a story brewery owner Georg Schneider VI (who, like his ancestors, is a diploma brewer) told about a special Oktoberfest wheat beer style brewed with a large amount of hops at the Schneider Weisse brewery between 1920 and 1930. The story was, they brewed it at the end of the wheat beer brewing season in April or May. To keep the beer in good condition and safe from infection they used all the hops that remained in their cellars. That beer was called Wiesen Edel Weisse.

Drexler’s experiments with Cascade culminated in Georg Schneider’s Wiesen Edel Weisse, a new version of the wheat beer of the 1920s, with 14 °P, 6.2% ABV, and between 25 and 30 IBU. He described it as “a small revolution on the wheat beer market,” because it had about twice as many bitterness units as any other wheat beer.

“The second step of inspiration happened few years later in 2007 … (when) Garrett Oliver from the Brooklyn Brewery and I launched Hopfenweisse,” he said. “I am sure it was definitely the first dry-hopped wheat beer in Germany, with 40 to 50 IBU.” They used Saphir, at the time quite new, for dry hopping.

Drexler next tweaked the recipes for two standards at Schneider. “The idea was to get more freshness and drinkability to these beers. They should taste funky and balanced. It is not only the hops which works in that way. The malty character and the spiciness or fruitiness show the direction to a balanced and funky taste.”

He replaced Hallertau Tradition and Magnum in Blonde Weisse with 100 percent Saphir and added a bit of Cascade (late hop addition) to Kristall. “The results were amazing,” he said.

That set the stage for Mein Nelson Sauvin. “The idea was to build a bridge from characteristic traditional wheat beer flavors to the wine aroma. (For that) I found Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand and yeast from Belgium combined with local wheat and barley malt,” he said. It was the first time Schneider used any yeast other than its own.

“In Germany we have a saying: Tradition does not mean keeping the ashes but carrying on the fire,” Drexler said. “In that sense hops could help to continue the Bavarian tradition of brewing wheat beer.”

Previously: A wit beer recipe ~ A Belgian-style dubbel recipe

Mein Nelson Sauvin

Original gravity: 1.069 (16.8 °P)
Final gravity: 1.013 (3.3 °P)
IBU: 29
ABV: 7.3%

Grain bill:
60% local variety Hermann (6 EBC) wheat malt
20% local variety Marthe (6 EBC) barley malt
20% Urmalz (Munich-style 25 EBC) barley malt

Mashing:
One decoction, targeting high attenuation

Hops:
Hallertau Tradition, 50 minutes (8 IBU)
Nelson Sauvin, 15 minutes (15 IBU)
Nelson Sauvin, 0 minutes (6 IBU)

Boiling: 60 minutes

Yeast: 3 L/hL Schneider yeast from propagation tank. 0.5 L/hL Belgian yeast

Fermentation: 7 days, beginning at 16°C (61°F), allow to rise to 22°C (72°F), reduce to 12°C (54° F)

Bottling: Refermentation in the bottle, using speise (unfermented wort). 3.3 volumes CO₂ (6.5 g/L)

“Learn to Homebrew Day” began as “Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day” in 1999. One year shortly after that the Dukes of Ale of Albuquerque, the homebrew club I was a member of, hosted an event at a local brewery that most accurately could have been called “Here Are Some Ways to Make Beer at Home.”

Several club members set up their brewing systems in the parking lot and we invited – by sending out a press release that got published or read on air – people interested in learning about homebrewing to hang out. I’m not sure how much teaching or learning about the nuts and bolts of brewing went on, but we probably managed some demystifying.

I mention this because yesterday I posted a recipe from “Brew Like a Monk” for Learn to Homebrew Day, and today I have one from “Brewing With Wheat.” Were a person to decide to start homebrewing, particularly without some instruction, these are not starter recipes. The ones Friday and Saturday also won’t be.

It is good to review the basics in a book such as Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” or John Palmer’s “How to Brew” and to have one of those books on hand while brewing. For those who want to begin on a smaller scale (less equipment, less time), I suggest “Speed Brewing: Techniques and Recipes for Fast-Fermenting Beers, Ciders, Meads, and More.”

I’m not sure it is possible to count the number of witbiers that Jean-Francois Gravel of Dieu du Ciel! In Montreal has created. This is a recipe he generously provided for “Brewing With Wheat.”

“To me, wheat has a very delicate, bready flavor with some acidity or refreshing tartness. I think the barley has more pronounced grain flavor and a sweeter perception,” he said. “If you eat raw wheat and malted grain, you will see the difference of texture right away, because the malted wheat is more crumbly and easy to crush. But the flavor difference between unmalted and malted wheat is very subtle. The malted wheat will have a bit more . . . malted flavor.”

When Gravel talked about “coriander punch” he was describing impact, not the “coriander soup” that can make white beer unpleasant. However, he admitted to his affection for the spice. “I have to say that I love coriander seeds, so I use a lot. I followed the guidelines from brewing books for my first versions and increased it slowly until I had the coriander punch I like.”

Original Gravity: 1.054 (13.5 °P)
Final Gravity: 1.013 (3.3 °P)
Alcohol by Volume: 5.5%
IBU: 14

Grain Bill:
Pale two-row 50%
Malted wheat 20%
Pregelatinized (torrified or flaked) wheat 30%
Rice hulls as needed

Mashing:
Mash at a ratio of 3.1 L/kg of grist (0.4 gallons per pound)
Mash in at 124°F (51°C) for 15 minutes
Saccharification at 145°F (63°C) for 30 minutes
Saccharification at 154°F (68°C) for 30 minutes
Mash out at 169 to 172°F (76 to 78°C)

For single step hold at 145°F (63°C) for 45 to 60 minutes. Sparge with very hot water, 176 to 180°F (80-82°C) to increase the temperature of the mash up to 158 to 169°F (70 to 76°C). Then run the sparge with 169 to 172°F (76 to 78°C) water until the end

Hops: Mt. Hood, 60 minutes (14 IBU)
Spices: Fresh ground coriander 0.75g to 1.25g/L
Orange peel 0.5 g/L

Boil: 60 minutes
Yeast: White Labs WLP400 or WLP410 or Wyeast 3943 or 3944
Fermentation: 5 to 6 days at 73°F (23°C). Drop temperature to 50°F (10°C) for 24 hours, then 32°F (0°C). Lager 10 to 15 days.
Bottling: Refermentation in the bottle