Gruit beer recipe

[Brewer #460039]

I wanna recreate a medieval Gruitbeer before beer became hopped. I wrote this recipe using modern day brewing philosophies. In medieval times they probably made a sugar extract from the grains and diluted this before fermentation. It also contained a large part of oats and malted wheat. A short boil was needed to get rid of off flavors but not really necessary since there was no alfa acids from hops to isomerize.

To recreate a modern variant I made this recipe. What do you think about it. The herbs are put in a cheesecloth satchet and boiled for 10 minutes. The same satchel is also steeped in the fermentation tank for the duration of the fermentation.

 

[Donoroto]

I wanna recreate a medieval Gruitbeer before beer became hopped. I wrote this recipe using modern day brewing philosophies. In medieval times they probably made a sugar extract from the grains and diluted this before fermentation. It also contained a large part of oats and malted wheat. A short boil was needed to get rid of off flavors but not really necessary since there was no alfa acids from hops to isomerize.

To recreate a modern variant I made this recipe. What do you think about it. The herbs are put in a cheesecloth satchet and boiled for 10 minutes. The same satchel is also steeped in the fermentation tank for the duration of the fermentation.

View attachment 32314

Keep in mind why they made gruit: the water wasn’t safe. They weren’t brewed so much for flavor, and were always low abv since this was all they would drink. A 6.5% would make one quite unproductive…

This recipe looks ok. I’m not convinced you need five decoctions though. I’m not familiar with those herbs, so I can’t offer much there. At 76C, you might be a bit hot, meaning you perhaps won’t see 1.015, but higher. It looks to be drinkable.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

 

[dmtaylor]

I love gruit ale, it is my favorite thing to brew and drink. I have made about 5 different recipes so far and want to brew it more often. I'm impressed by your recipe, and the amounts of herbs you are adding seem to be spot-on. In my experience most people tend to use about 3-4 times as much herbs as they really need, but your recipe looks great with no ingredient changes necessary as far as I can tell. I like your idea to boil the herbs in a bag and then keep the boiled bag in the fermenter. The decoction and/or mash steps are overly complex in my opinion and probably a waste of time, when compared with a good long single infusion for 90-120 minutes at ~67 C. And with 50% oats, be sure to use a LOT of rice hulls (~1 kg) or you'll never get much wort out of the mash tun, no matter whether you do a protein rest or anything else to try to thin it -- this is going to be an extremely thick mash. Other than those ideas.... I think you are going to love this gruit beer. Enjoy.

 

[Brewer #460039]

Keep in mind why they made gruit: the water wasn’t safe. They weren’t brewed so much for flavor, and were always low abv since this was all they would drink. A 6.5% would make one quite unproductive…

This recipe looks ok. I’m not convinced you need five decoctions though. I’m not familiar with those herbs, so I can’t offer much there. At 76C, you might be a bit hot, meaning you perhaps won’t see 1.015, but higher. It looks to be drinkable.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

The Gruitbeers where actually quite high in ABV. Thats the reason why they used Extracts in the grainbill. They were extract brewers. The decoction is to give it a more traditional feel. Its a bit complex i guess.


1; 20 minute rest between 64-61 C,
2; 45 minute rest between 69-61 C,
3; 30 min rest between 72-67 C.

4; mashout at 76 C
5 raising the temp for the sparge.

Seemed allright to me. Covers all the amylases. Offcourse I would be testing with iodine. I could also do it at one temp. Using the leftover boiling wort to keep the temp stable in the mash tun.

I love gruit ale, it is my favorite thing to brew and drink. I have made about 5 different recipes so far and want to brew it more often. I'm impressed by your recipe, and the amounts of herbs you are adding seem to be spot-on. In my experience most people tend to use about 3-4 times as much herbs as they really need, but your recipe looks great with no ingredient changes necessary as far as I can tell. I like your idea to boil the herbs in a bag and then keep the boiled bag in the fermenter. The decoction and/or mash steps are overly complex in my opinion and probably a waste of time, when compared with a good long single infusion for 90-120 minutes at ~67 C. And with 50% oats, be sure to use a LOT of rice hulls (~1 kg) or you'll never get much wort out of the mash tun, no matter whether you do a protein rest or anything else to try to thin it -- this is going to be an extremely thick mash. Other than those ideas.... I think you are going to love this gruit beer. Enjoy.

Yeah. It might become porridge. I should use more water in the mash. 5 L water/ kg grain might be a little low.

 

[Donoroto]

The Gruitbeers where actually quite high in ABV. Thats the reason why they used Extracts in the grainbill. They were extract brewers. The decoction is to give it a more traditional feel. Its a bit complex i guess.


1; 20 minute rest between 64-61 C,
2; 45 minute rest between 69-61 C,
3; 30 min rest between 72-67 C.

4; mashout at 76 C
5 raising the temp for the sparge.

Seemed allright to me. Covers all the amylases. Offcourse I would be testing with iodine. I could also do it at one temp. Using the leftover boiling wort to keep the temp stable in the mash tun.



Yeah. It might become porridge. I should use more water in the mash. 5 L water/ kg grain might be a little low.

Ah, good to know.

When I make certain beers, I use a step mash. It takes longer, byt the beer is more like I want it. I had tried a single step, but it was not as good.

Go ahead as planned, perhaps with the rice hulls though. It certainly will come out good.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Since they didnt know what yeast was back then, wouldn't you want to use something with some bret in it?

 

[dmtaylor]

Since they didnt know what yeast was back then, wouldn't you want to use something with some bret in it?

Not a bad idea!

 

[Brewer #460039]

Or do a slow cooling after sparging and leave the wort to the open for a spontaneous fermentation. Like how Lambics are made.