2015-04-25, Norbrygg hjemmebryggerhelg, Bergen

Lars Marius Garshol, larsga@garshol.priv.no, @larsga

Maltøl

01

Viking era beer

We have documentary evidence that

the vikings brewed beer

for example the Gulating law

There's much more evidence from the

following centuries

archaeological finds

laws on hop growing

references in other writing

So when did this tradition of brewing

on the farms end?

This is where an ethnographic survey

indicates farmhouse brewing was alive

in Norway in 1840. Gray dots indicate

unclear answers. Note that there was

probably more...

184018501860187018801890190019101920193019401950

The situation today

Brewing never stopped

came very close to dying in

some places, then revived

It really is the same type of

brewing, which has gone on

continuously for centuries

Equipment, process, and so on

is all unrelated to modern home

brewing

Maltøl - the world's oldest style?

People often say these beers have been brewed the same way since the Iron Age

that's not true at all

we know there have been many changes

but there has been a continuous evolution since the Iron Age; that part is true

Some of the main changes are

the introduction of hops

the introduction of metal kettles (and phasing out of stones)

started boiling the wort (some places)

started reusing yeast

probably changes in the use of herbs

...

Maltøl?

The definition of beer is "made from malts," so why

"malt beer"?

In Norway "øl" used to mean simply "fermented drink"

there was sirupsøl, einebærøl, maltøl, bjørkesevjeøl, ...

Maltøl meant "the fermented drink from malts"

later, it came to mean "traditional homebrew" as opposed to

commercial beer and modern homebrew

Only in Norway?

Similar forms of brewing

have survived elsewhere,

too

Sahti is one example

Gotlandsdricka another

There are remnants in

Georgia and Russia, too

Quite possibly other places

Most interesting: Lithuania

01

Brewing maltøl

01

A generic maltøl

• I attended a course in maltøl brewing

• held in Sogndal by Vestlandsforsking

• A climate scientist at the institute is a

farmhouse brewer

• he's from Oslo, but was taught how to brew

for his wedding in Sogndal 20 years ago

• he'd offered to teach his colleagues, and me

• I'm starting with this one, because it's

the easiest one to brew

• no ingredients you can't get hold of

01

A word of caution

Farmhouse brewing is different

None of the usual rules apply any

more

Most modern equipment is typically a

garden hose and a thermometer...

Usually, hardly any measurements

No carbonation

No named styles

Everyone makes one single beer

01

The brewery

The ingredients*

One big garbage bag of juniper branches

50kg Munich malts, 20 kg pale ale malts, 4 kg crystal malts, 0.3kg

chocolate malts

Safale ale yeast (brewer didn't know which)

270 grams of hops (probably noble hops)

80% at start of boil

15% 15 minutes before the end

5% 5 minutes before the end

* for 150 liters of wort

01

01

The mashing

Heat juniper infusion to 80C

Pour onto mash while stirring

Right amount of water when the

fork can no longer stand

Mash should reach 72C

Then cover up, and leave it for

two hours

01

The runnings

Mash transferred into "rostabidnet"

(filter tun)

Then run off very slowly into a steel

bucket

stream the thickness of a woolen thread

First bucket poured back on

Every bucket drawn off is replaced by

a bucket of infusion

Stop when sweetness goes out of the

wort

The boil

Boil for an hour

over a wooden fire

Very likely the direct wood fire contributes flavour

it certainly contributes colour

01

Straining

Strain out hops from the boil

Probably also removes some

gunk from the juniper

01

The cooling

The result

Probably around 8% ABV

hop IBU computed to be around 7

unknown quantity of juniper bitterness must be added to this

Interesting flavour

roasty oily banana with major juniper character

juniper not rough, but clean and clear

hardly any CO2

Overall I would say a very good beer

The process

01

Brewing Vossaøl

Some things stay the same

We still only measure temperature (no OG/IBU...)

We're still using juniper infusion, rather than water

Copper kettle, wood fire, mashing in tubs, running off

from "rostabidnet" etc etc all exactly the same

But we're making a totally different beer

because the ingredients are different

01

Quick recipe

For 150 liters of beer

50kg of pilsner malts

250g hops in the mash

200g hops 15 min before end of

boil

Juniper infusion, obviously

Ferment with Voss kveik

01

Last year's brew

Only the dregs were left in the

serving tank

still, Sigmund let us have a taste

Aroma of juniper, orange peel,

Christmas spice

what the hell?

how do you get that from pilsner

malts and noble hops?

01

Sigmund sieving the infusion.

01

Why you need a sieve

Mashing

Heat infusion to 80C

Stir carefully in tubs

start at about 69C

Add to rostabidnet

metal grating at bottom, juniper branches over

Sigmund covers it up, then insulates (see photo)

then leave for 6 hours

Next: the runnings, exactly as before

The boil

Takes 4 hours

boils away 50% of wort

Strong wood fire onto bottom of copper all the way

turns the colour from pale yellow to deep red/brown

Use sieve to remove protein scum

this is called "the headache" in Voss

01

Sigmund's yeast

01

Pitching

• Wondered why Sigmund

insulated the fermenter

• "So it will stay warm enough,"

he says

• "How warm do you pitch?"

• "39-40C," he says

• His brother pitches at 43-44C

01

Yeast ring

01

10:09

01

14:35

01

The end result

01

Vossaøl

• I've tasted four

• Sigmund's

• One from Smalahovetunet

• One from Svein Rivenes

• Voss Bryggeri Vossaøl 1814

• All similar in flavour

• orange peel/Christmas spice

• one of the most aromatic yeasts there are

• Really makes you wonder what the other

kveik strains are like!

01

Sigmund's kveik

• Pure brewer's yeast

• no bacteria

• Consists of three very similar

strains

• Svein Rivenes's kveik was also

analyzed

• consisted of five strains

• very similar to Sigmund's, but not the

same

01

Vossaøl can be reproduced with modern gear

Requires juniper and Voss kveik

Gas heating is better than electric

Takes a long time to brew

01

The effect of the boil

01

Oppdal

01

Waiting for the beer

01

The brewer

• Harald Storli

• Beer has been brewed on the

farm since at least the 17th

century

• They've deliberately preserved

the old way of doing it

• He's taught his daughter-in-law

how to make it

• so that it won't die out

01

Såinnhus Norwegian barley

3 days in a sack in the brook

Torn apart by hand

Dried on slate shelves

Drying for 2-3 days

Removes shoots and tendrils

01

The kettle

• Boil juniper for infusion

• 36kg of ground malts, then pour

boiling infusion on it

• pour until mashing fork will no longer stand

• cover with blanket, leave 3.5-4 hours

• Transfer mash to "stetta", start

runoff

• false bottom and juniper branches in

bottom for sieving

01

Mashing

• Clean mashtun, transfer run off

wort back with ladle

• Take off 12 buckets of wort

• First and last bucket are boiled with

hops in the kettle

• pharmacy hops

• Cool as best you can

• Squeeze Idun bread yeast onto

juniper branches, stick in mashtun

Fermentation

Once the yeast has come loose from branches, primary fermentation

is over

takes 16-24 hours

Transfer to wooden casks

add 2 tablespoons of sugar pr 50 liters of wort

After two days of secondary, put bung into cask, seal with wheat

flour

Enjoy within 3 weeks

01

Kveik, part 2

Other kveiks

Stranda

only one strain survived

possibly genetically similar to Voss

Muri gård, Olden (WLP 6788)

two nearly identical strains

Hornindal

had bacteria in it

8 different strains, some of them not related to one another

Is it really pre-Pasteur yeast?

Consists of multiple, related strains

Strains from the same place are similar, but not the

same

Aroma is unlike all other yeast

Pitch temperature of 40C...

Taking care of the yeast

Collect after (or during) fermentation

keep slurry in glasses, or dry it

dried yeast keeps for years, can even be frozen

Before using, taste it

if it tastes bad, throw it away, and get new

brewers will get new yeast from brewers who make good beer

Thus, breeding of good yeast

01

Honndalsøl

• Got a bottle via a contact

• Absolutely blown away by the

flavour

• better than the top-tier Belgians we were

tasting at the same time

• Soft, smooth, mellow flavour

• fruit, mushrooms, umami

• really, really unusual

• Decided to try to brew it

01

Boiling juniper infusion

01

Recipe

• 50% Maris Otter pale, 50% pils

• 0.333kg malts per liter beer

• 2.2g noble hops per liter beer

• first-wort hopping

• Boil juniper infusion

• let it cool a little (to ~80C)

• then mash with juniper branches

• Cool to 30C, pitch the yeast

Process

01

01

Baking yeast

01

Results

Overall: surprisingly big differences

Stranda: lemon, a little acid, nuts, grain and straw

Idun Blå: pear, more fruit, oil, peas. Kind of slack

Hornindal with bacteria: amazing, like nothing else. Fruit, milky caramel,

honey. Very difficult to describe. Soft, soft, soft.

Hornindal without bacteria: surprisingly different. Thinner. Citrus. Much

less flavour.

Muri: earthy on the nose, fruity in the mouth. Burnt rubber. Thin.

01

The world of

yesterday

Photo removed, as it was copyrighted

http://digitaltmuseum.no/011013407004/gallery

The tasks of the brewer

Sow, tend, and harvest the barley

Separate barley from weeds, thresh it, then sort it by quality

Produce malts

Pick and dry the hops

Repair, tend, and clean wooden brewing vessels

Brew

01

Types of beer

• Maltøl

• the main beer, from the first runnings

• Spissøl

• small beer, from later runnings

• an everyday drink in eastern Norway

• Rostdrikke

• even weaker beer

• not clear how common it was

Superstitions

Sacrifice wort to the spirit of the fireplace (årevetten)

Use steel to frighten away evil spirits

particularly when fermenting

Yeast scream to wake the yeast (gjærkauk)

Quiet while the beer is fermenting

Strict rules about the naming of things

Beer for every occasion

Festarøl: to mark betrothal

Barnsøl: to mark a birth

Gravøl: to mark a burial

Frelsarøl: at the freeing of a slave

Juleøl: to mark Yule

Kjøpskål: to mark a sale

...

SambæringsølGulatingsloven påbød bøndene å gå sammen 3 og 3 om

å brygge øl

Skulle gjøres til allehelgensaften

En kristen skikk i Gulatingsloven

Olav Tryggvason kristnet den ca ~1000

Eilert Sundt fant restene av disse skikkene på Møre 1850

Kulturhistorisk museum, UiO, C32781

Hornet er fra Telemark

01

Drinking guilds

Associations of prominent men

Written rules of association

Annual fee to be a member

Primary function: annual beer party

And mutual assurance

Became very powerful

Abolished with reformation

The decline of home brewing

Because of religious or anti-drink campaigning

Because beer got competitors

liquor, coffee, milk, juice, ...

Because it was too much work

Because buying your drink was more fashionable

Oppskåka

The racking after primary fermentation

Also the traditional party for neighbours held at this

time

First glass goes down immediately, second glass can

go slower

Rituals around feedback to the brewer

01

Stjørdalsøl

01

Såinnhus

Built by Roar Sandodden

Creator of Alstadberger

First commercial Norwegian maltøl

01

Inside

• Local barley from neighbours

• Soak for two days

• change water twice

• Grow in growing frame 4-5 days

• stir thoroughly 3x per day

• Dry as shown in photo

• alder wood, chopped fine

01

01

Recipe

• 60% own malts

• rest is Maris Otter pale malts and crystal malts

• Hops: Admiral and Saaz

• Yeast: London Ale III

• No juniper!

• he used to use it, but dropped it

• Decoction mash

• take out some of the mash, heat it, pour back

• Boils the wort

• however, many people in Stjørdalen still brew raw ale

01

Morten Granås

Såinnhus, just like Roar

Uses only own malts

Uses juniper

Uses Cascade hops

Idun bread yeast

3-3.5 kg malts per liter of wort

Other regions

Hardanger

Poorly researched so far

have made contact with a couple of brewers, but no visits so far

Seems very similar to Voss

pale malts

long boils

kveik

juniper infusion boiled for 2-3 hours, until it turns brown

Sogn

Aurland has/used to have raw ale brewers

Flåm has brewers, too

Much brewing around Sogndal

Vik still has brewers, but probably no kveik

Jølster has still has brewers

Other places, too, but not properly researched yet

Nordfjord/Stryn/Hornindal is another raw ale area

kveik definitely lives there

Sunnmøre

Raw ale seems to have been the norm

Now modernized in many places, but far from all

Some smoked ales

Kveik is still alive

More research needed

Telemark

Very poorly researched

there are brewers several places

Step mash, starting with overnight cold mash

mashing for many hours

Normal to add sugar for strength

Wort is boiled

Is there kveik? Unknown

The seven tastes of beer

(Telemark)

1. Beer flavour

2. Malt flavour

3. Hop flavour

4. Sweet flavour

5. Smoke flavour

6. Juniper flavour

7. Mersmak

If you keep the beer for too long,

you'll get the eighth flavour:

gniarsmak

Use of herbs

Hops and juniper dominate totally

hops mainly to avoid infection

juniper provides most bitterness and flavour

Herbs very rarely used 1850-1950

may have been more common before that

St John's Wort (perikum), yarrow (pors), Achillea (ryllik)

carraway (karve) seems like it was still in use

Where can you buy it?

Places selling maltøl

Granås Gård, Hegra, near Trondheim

Places serving maltøl

Smalahovetunet, Voss

Holo Gardstun, Flåm (sometimes)

Storli Gard, near Oppdal (sometimes)

Commercial versions

Alstadberger

Voss Vossaøl (one small batch)

Let me say that again

One of the most interesting families of beer styles on earth

Unlike anything else

at a time when people all over the world are seeking interesting beers

The only place on earth you can buy it is a farm outside

Trondheim

in plastic PET bottles

when the farmer is home

01

Conclusion

Traditional brewing has survived

Looks very odd with modern eyes

but these people make good beer

centuries of trial-and-failure actually works

Brewers make only one style

don't have biochemical knowledge to play around

traditionally only had their own ingredients, so no choice

Tradition under threat

Seen as old-fashioned, weird, uncool

many places it's being replaced by modern brewing

Voss and Stjørdalen are the main holdouts

Internationally

Estonia has seen an upswing

Finnish sahti is safe

Gotlandsdricka seems well entrenched

Lithuanian tradition is strong, but dying

Norwegian ingredients

Malts

several projects to bring back Norwegian barley types for malts

much to be gained from Norwegian malting methods

Hops

played such a minor role in the beer, that we shouldn't hope for too much

Yeast

very, very, very interesting. NTNU project interesting

Juniper and herbs definitely interesting

Help!

Do you know a farmhouse brewer?

Do you know someone who has kveik?

Do you have old recipes or written documentation?

Please let me know!

01

That's it!

Thank you for listening

If you found it interesting, my

blog has much more http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/beer/

See also my book about

Lithuanian beer traditions http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/lithuania

n-beer-guide/

Recipes and more info

The Kaupanger beer: http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/267.html

Brewing the Voss beer in Voss:

http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/291.html

Brewing the Voss beer at home:

http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/302.html

Raw ale at Storli: http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/297.html

Alstadberger: http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/298.html