Sahti

Last year New Belgium put out a limited edition Sahti in 22 oz bombers which according to a tour guide at the brewery, the Sahti would be a "one and done beer." Having never had a Sahti but having read about the style I was excited to try the New Belgium offering. I enjoyed the beer and picked up the rye in the grain bill but search as I might I could not find even a hint of juniper. This got me to thinking that I could make a Sahti inspired beer that actually tasted of juniper. In all fairness to New Belgium I did find the beer very drinkable and it has been months since I last tried a bottle. Sahti is a Finnish drink that is traditionally lautered through juniper boughs and is commonly associated with rye in modern times. Historically, Sahti was brewed before rye was introduced to Scandinavia and also before hops (Mosher 2004). Basically, for a modern beer I think we are looking for a lightly hopped, juniper scented beer with a rye character.

I can't quite remember how I formulated the grain bill for this recipe but a quick check in Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher shows similarity--at least with the amount of pilsner malt, although it looks like I made up the rest. I do recall agonizing a bit over whether or not to use the traditional bread yeast and decided on an ale yeast instead, figuring I would rather have 5 gallons of something drinkable than of possible nastiness. I went with Wyeast 3068, Weihenstephan, mostly because it was in the fridge waiting to be used in a Roggenbier that never happened.



My Sahti next to New Belgium bottle



To make certain the juniper character came through, I added the stuff everywhere I could fit it into the process. I cut juniper boughs from the backyard, I believe it is Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), the leaves, bark, and berries of which, was used by native tribes of the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest in healing teas. I turned the strike and sparge water into a tea by heating the water with juniper boughs and berries and also put boughs in my mash tun. I then filtered through the boughs while taking runnings. Finally, I added juniper berries to the boil.

In the end I think there is room to cut back on the juniper infusion and for the sake of simplicity, if I were to do this again I would go the route of a juniper tea for strike water, a single infusion mash at 150 or so, and berries for the length of the boil. Or one could go traditional and lauter entirely through juniper boughs, not boil the wort, and use bread yeast.



Making Juniper Tea for Strike Water



Sahti Recipe:

Specifics: 

Original Gravity 1.071

Terminal Gravity 1.018

Anticipated SRM 19.38

ABV 7%

IBU 8.5

60 minute boil

Grain:

9 lbs. Pilsner

2 lbs. Rye Malt

1lbs. Rye Crystal

1lbs. Carawheat

.5 lbs. Biscuit

.5 lbs. Oat Malt

.5 lbs. Honey Malt

Hops:

.5 oz French Strisselpalt (2% AA) at 60 min
.5 oz French Srisselspalt at flameout

Yeast:
Weihenstephan Wyeast 3068

Extras:
Arm load of fresh Juniper boughs containing as many berries as possible
-Use some to make tea from strike water, sparge water.
-Add some to mash tun
-Let runnings filter through more boughs in strainer as they flow into boil pot.

2 oz Juniper berries, crushed at 60 minutes

Notes:
I don't recall my mash schedule and it could be as complicated as you wish to make it. I think one would be fine with a sach rest at 150 F, or so. Drew 7 gallons of wort and boiled one hour, collecting 5.25 gallons.

Tasting Notes:
Appears a deep amber with a slightly tan head. Smells strongly of Juniper and tastes strongly of Juniper. This beer is polarizing and people either love it or hate it. I think it's quite good and would love to compare it to a Sahti other than New Belgium's. The beer is many months old now and the Juniper flavor/aroma, surprisingly, has not dissipated.