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