Bere Barley.. news update :D

[NickK]

Just received and email.. I shall be getting a sample in the post

Bere Barley is as close to a 5000 year old variety possible. Grown on the Isle of Islay and used in Bruichladdich whisky - to whom I have to thank!
I'll be creating a thread on this - covering all aspects from recipe, brewing through to the finished opened bottles but at the moment I'm grinning from ear to ear (much to the amusement of my work colleagues - who gets pleasure out of just some grain?).

For more information about Bere Barley, Bruichladdich have a great introduction here

This is going to be a great adventure worthy of a Saga

[delboy]

Nice one, I suppose with something this unmodified a stepped decoction mash would be the way to go.

[stevezx7r]

Nice, this could be an interesting one. Do you have any ideas of recipes etc? Are the grains crushed?

You'll have to get some "old" hops to go with those grains, or maybe a load of thyme or tobacco

[NickK]

Nice, this could be an interesting one. Do you have any ideas of recipes etc? Are the grains crushed?

You'll have to get some "old" hops to go with those grains, or maybe a load of thyme or tobacco

Hops came in relatively late and even then they were only used as a preservative until the Britons were persuaded that hops made a more refreshing beer! Although you're right if I am to hop it then that's the next stage. Before that they used heather, flowers (elderberry for example) and a lambic fermentation process. The beer had to be drunk in one or two days.

The idea I have is to create something that can be bottled and uses modern yeast (to me this is a lesser risk). I'll research the time lines for yeast and look for a very early strain. (Although I'd be tempted to run with WYeast liquid yeast).

No Tobacco - apart from not smoking, I have chilli plants in the house and Tobacco can carry the Tobacco Mosaic virus which would decimate my young Dorset Naga, Jalapenos and Scotch Bonnets.

edit: Asked WYeast what their oldest strain (genetically) of Yeast is.. will also ask WLabs too.

[NickK]

Nice one, I suppose with something this unmodified a stepped decoction mash would be the way to go.

Good suggestion. In terms of favours I was thinking Highland Honey, heather and elderberry perhaps using a very low AA Hop (I don't have the time to age dry the hops to remove the AA and give the characteristic old-hop taste).. but I may just skip the hops.

I think a dry run using GP as a base, Honey, heather, elderberry juice and one of the WYeast Lambic yeast strains (sort of risk free lambic!).

The Bere barley should give enough fermentable sugars to not need much Honey so the amount of honey can be kept inline with other ingredients.

I don't know the size of sample (I originally asked for 3-5Kg) but I hope to get a good ABV with the batch split equally between keg and bottles. If it's 1Kg then I'll brew that - I'm just happy being able to adventure into interesting territory!

[mysterio]

I have aged hops if you need some. I've had them ageing in my loft for a couple years now.

Very good idea doing a dry run first - resist the temptation to overcomplicate it and throw to many flavours in, let the malt do the talking

[NickK]

I have aged hops if you need some. I've had them ageing in my loft for a couple years now.

Very good idea doing a dry run first - resist the temptation to overcomplicate it and throw to many flavours in, let the malt do the talking

I may take you up on that - I think I'll get the dry run out of the way first.

The only thing with lambic is that to truely get the right flavours you need to leave it for months even years and let the different yeast strains do their work in sequence (one's byproducts feed into the next yeast strain as food). I need todo more reading on that and see what's realistically achievable with cultivated pure strain lambic yeast(s).

[HG]

sounds like it could be a long term project

[NickK]

Hehe - very true, unfortunately I don't think it would last that long

I arrived back from a business trip to find that a package is waiting for me.. I pick it up tomorrrow but I have the feeling that it's a package of grain - feels like christmas!