Showing posts with label hops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hops. Show all posts

Saturday, 18 May 2024

Brewing Traditional English Ale Without Hops: A Step-by-Step Guide

Many years ago I read in a book that ales in old England were not brewed with hops to add bitterness or flavour. Brewers used herbs, instead. The use of hops was an innovation of Dutch master brewers.

I thought it would be an interesting idea to experiment with home brewing beer with various herbs. Because I had no idea about what I was doing the experiment failed.

However, I am older and, hopefully, wiser and as a result I am now able to share with you a recipe for the types of ales that our ancestors would have drunk before hops came onto the scene. Now, I'm a fan of hoppy ales, but why not try something a little different? So please read on.

Brewing ale is a time-honoured tradition in England, dating back many centuries. Before the widespread use of hops, brewers relied on various herbs and spices to balance the sweetness of malt and add unique flavours to their ales. These brews, known as "gruit ales," offer a fascinating glimpse into the history of beer. Here's how you can make your own traditional English ale without hops at home.

Ingredients

Malt: Pale malt (4 kg) and a small amount of crystal malt (500 g) for added sweetness and colour.

Gruit Herbs: A mix of herbs such as yarrow (30 g), sweet gale (30 g), and mugwort (20 g). Adjust quantities based on your taste preferences.

Water: 20 litres of clean, filtered water.

Yeast: Traditional ale yeast, such as an English ale yeast (Wyeast 1098 or Safale S-04).

Equipment

A large brewing kettle (30 litres)

Fermenter (25 litres)

Airlock

Siphoning tube

Sanitising solution

A large spoon or paddle

Thermometer

Hydrometer (optional, for measuring specific gravity)

Method

Step 1: Preparation

Sanitise all your equipment thoroughly. Cleanliness is crucial to avoid contamination and ensure a successful brew.

Crush the malt if it isn't already pre-crushed. This helps in extracting fermentable sugars.

Step 2: Mashing

Heat 15 litres of water to around 72°C in your brewing kettle.

Add the crushed pale and crystal malt to the water, stirring well to avoid clumps. The temperature should stabilise around 66°C.

Maintain this temperature for 60 minutes. This process, called mashing, converts the malt’s starches into fermentable sugars.

Step 3: Lautering and Sparging

After mashing, separate the liquid wort from the spent grains. This can be done using a strainer or a specialised lautering setup.

Sparge the grains by pouring an additional 5 litres of hot water (around 77°C) over them to extract as much sugar as possible.

Step 4: Boiling and Adding Gruit

Bring the wort to a boil. Once boiling, add your gruit herbs. These herbs will provide the bitterness and unique flavours that hops typically would.

Add yarrow and sweet gale at the start of the 60-minute boil.

Add mugwort in the last 10 minutes of the boil to retain more of its delicate flavours.

Step 5: Cooling and Fermentation

After the boil, cool the wort rapidly to around 20°C. This can be done using an immersion chiller or by placing the kettle in a bath of ice water.

Transfer the cooled wort to a sanitised fermenter. Ensure you aerate the wort by splashing it around a bit as you transfer.

Pitch the yeast into the wort and seal the fermenter with an airlock.

Step 6: Fermentation

Allow the wort to ferment in a dark, cool place at around 18-22°C. Fermentation should take about one to two weeks. You’ll know it’s complete when bubbling in the airlock slows down or stops.

Optionally, use a hydrometer to check that the specific gravity has stabilised, indicating fermentation is complete.

Step 7: Bottling

Once fermentation is complete, siphon the beer into bottles, adding a small amount of priming sugar (approximately 5 grams per litre) to each bottle for carbonation.

Seal the bottles and store them at room temperature for two weeks to allow carbonation to develop.

Step 8: Enjoy

After carbonation, chill your bottles and enjoy your homemade traditional English ale. Notice the complex, earthy flavours imparted by the gruit herbs, offering a delightful journey back to the early days of brewing.

Final Thoughts

Brewing ale without hops not only connects you with a rich brewing heritage but also opens up a world of flavour possibilities. Experiment with different herbs and spices to create a brew that’s uniquely yours. Cheers to embracing the past and enjoying the timeless art of brewing!

Tuesday, 27 February 2024

The Institute of Brewing and Distilling launches its first Dry Hopping short course

This new and important course gives brewers the knowledge and techniques essential for producing exceptional dry hopped beers.

The Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), which is the most widely recognised provider of technical education in the brewing industry, has launched a brand new self-assessed and on demand technical course, Dry Hopping.

The Dry Hopping course is the latest in a hugely popular series of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) short courses for brewers. 

It is aimed at brewers working in breweries of all sizes who want to produce consistently excellent dry hopped beers but for a modest cost.

The course provides essential knowledge and best practices for dry hopping at a commercial scale. It introduces the hop and explains how the hop makes it from the bine to the beer. 

It provides an in-depth review of the current knowledge of dry hop flavour and the methods and technologies that can be used to optimise this in beer. It also explains the other effects of dry hopping and how to manage them in the brewery and beyond.

This course has been developed in collaboration with top brewers, brewing consultants, hop suppliers and manufacturers of dry hopping equipment. The dry hopping experts who have contributed are:

Daniel Gooderham – Head Brewer of Adnams PLC

Ben Wood – Technical Brewer of Thornbridge Brewery

James Conery – Manager of Innovation Sierra Nevada Brewing

James Garstang –Head brewer of Forest Road Brewing

Jean-Marie Rock – Former Brewmaster, Brasserie Orval

The Dry Hopping course provides the same technical excellence found in all IBD qualifications, with the benefit of not needing to sit a formal exam.

The course includes a downloadable PDF with technical information such as:

A summary of the key points from the course

Descriptors and flavour thresholds of hundreds of hop flavour compounds

Key calculations for dry hopping

A review of the technology options for dry hopping

The course features text, videos, animations, quizzes, and games to help enhance learning. At the end of the course, learners receive a Certificate of Completion.

On this announcement, Stuart Howe, Technical and Development Manager, explains: “This is the first course ever that provides in-depth scientific and technical information about dry hopping. It is written in collaboration with experts in the field and with the rigor and accuracy that you expect from the IBD. 

"If you want to understand how to dry hop effectively and efficiently or are looking to upgrade your dry hopping process, then this is the course for you!”

FACTFILE: The Institute of Brewing & Distilling was originally launched as The Laboratory Club in 1886. From its inception, its mission has been to provide excellence in technical education for professional brewers and distillers and associated suppliers.

With four levels of globally recognised qualifications, the IBD caters for all types of professionals with a passion for brewing and distilling. 

A very impressive 100,000+ industry professionals have received their technical education with the IBD. 

The IBD is a global institution with over 3,000 members throughout 90 countries. Every year, around 4,000 professionals take their qualifications providing transformational outcomes both for individuals and their businesses.

Ibd.org.uk