Recipe: Nordic American Fusion Farmhouse Ale (Vandregær)

A few days ago I brewed my Vandregær beer. This project is all about finding a Danish yeast and exploring the flavor such a unique terroir brings to beer. I am sure most brewers will seek to brew beers that highlight the delicate nuances of this brand new culture. Elegant beers designed to put this yeast center stage so it can be properly discussed and dissected by the educated pallettes of the flavor enlightened. I decided to do the opposite...meaning I put a shit load of hops in it. I called in a German panzer division to bring the bitterness in the form of the high alpha herkules. Then I brought the rain with a massive drone strike of big ignorant handfuls of American C hops. The results should be like having honey boo boo to Noma for dinner. A fusion of aggressive Americana and subtle nordic flavors.

Grist

4.5 kg Pale Ale (castle)

1 kg Vienna (weyerman)

1 kg Belgian Wheat (castle)

.25 kg Cara blond (castle)

.25 Cara Gold (castle)

Mash

21 liters of water in the mash tun @ 71 C Mashed in and got to a perfect 65 C Held for 1 hour 1st runnings 14 L @ 1.080 2nd runnings 12 L @1.036 3rd runnings 12 L @ 1.018 38 L in boil kettle. Pre-boil gravity 1.048

Boil

22 grams herkules 14% alpha @ 60 min

20 grams Cascade [2014] 7.5% alpha @ 5 min.

20 grams centennial [2013] 10% alpha @ 5 min.

20 grams Chinook [2014] 12% alpha @ 5 min.

27 grams Centennial [2013] 8% alpha @ 0 min.

35 grams cascade [2012] unknown alpha @ 0 min.

Fermentation

Racked and split about 22 liters of wort into two glass fermenters. (may possible dry hop one or do something else different) Aerated each half with 1 minute of pure oxygen Had 200 ml of very thick Vandregær slurry from Indslev's fermenters Pitched 100 ml into each half (probably a touch overpitch but better safe then sorry when we don't know the exact cell count)

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The Brewday Video

Just a little note. The audio is strangely a microsecond out of sync. It's only really apparent when I am talking to the camera, but it annoys me and if it annoys you I just want to apologize