Brew Notes: Smoked Maltøl

I wanted to brew something off the beaten track to showcase an amazing yeast strain and celebrate the weird, wonderful world of Nordic farmhouse beers. Traditionally, these were brewed in huge copper kettles for hours, using farm-smoked malt and juniper branches. These beers were enjoyed fresh and often uncarbonated. 

Unfortunately, I do not have access to juniper branches. The Chinese Juniper is supposedly available as an ornamental plant in Singapore, but I’m really not willing to take chances without an expert helping to identify it. 

A bit about the yeast - this is a remarkable yeast from Lithuania, first brought to attention by Lars Garshol and cultured through generations by Julius Simonaitis. Very fortuitously, I was sent a sample of it by fellow brewer and kveik enthusiast DeWayne Schaff in the US. It is reported to have lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in it, though it is not known if this was present in the original culture as used in Lithuania, or simply a contamination by homebrewers. Nonetheless, I’m not going after a tart beer, so for this brew I hopped rather assertively to inhibit LAB. The aim was to create a malt-forward, smoky and rustic farmhouse beer with a deep copper color. 

Batch size: 21L

Boil time: 60mins 

OG 1.063

FG 1.015

Bitterness 27 IBU

Alcohol 6.3% ABV

Mash temp 67C x 60 mins

Grain Bill:

Maris Otter Malt 17%

Pilsner Malt 61%

Wheat Malt 9%

Smoked Malt 9%

Flaked Rye 4% 

Hops:

Chinook 14g @ 60mins

Chinook 14g @ 15mins

Yeast & Fermentation:

Kveik (Simonaitis) @ 30C

Tasting notes:

Deep reddish-copper, fair head retention and lacing. Very obvious smoke presence and sweet maltiness. Low carbonation, contributing to a substantial mouthfeel. The beer is sweet, with fruity esters and phenolic notes. A unique dimension of umami was present - it’s almost like diluted Marmite! 

I’m not sure where the umami came from - most likely the Simonaitis kveik yeast, and highlighted by the smoke and sweetness. Apparent attenuation was surprisingly low (72% AA) for this beer even though mash temperature was not that high. This apparent attenuation was repeated and found to be similar in a Forced Ferment Test done recently. The experience of other brewers suggest that Simonaitis kveik attenuated well into 80-90% AA. The kveik yeast was pitched from a third-gen yeast cake - it went through a high IBU Saison first, then a Double IPA before that. I’m not sure if this had stressed and mutated the yeast, or if I had unwittingly selected for highly-flocculent populations of the yeast. I will be restarting a new generation of this yeast from a slant and frozen culture just to see. 

This is not the most easy-drinking of beers. Mrs Wife refuses to have anything to do with it, citing a feeling of drinking liquid bacon/barbecue sauce. If I were to brew this again, I’d make the following tweaks:

• Mash lower at 65C for a thinner body
• Use a more subtle smoked malt instead (maybe apple-smoked malt) but at the same % 
• Get rid of the rye - it’s plenty complex already, and the rye spice is completely overwhelmed. 
• Increase the % of Maris Otter to accentuate a more breast/biscuity malt profile (here I’m imagining a farmhouse ale brewed with leftover stale bread, almost like a kvass!) 
• Add a small quantity of dried juniper berries