The Jester King Craft Brewery is located just west of Austin, Texas in the Hill Country. The brewery produces six year-round beers, five of which are certified USDA Organic, and a range of limited release beers. Recently, the brewery has been experimenting with brewing beers soured by naturally-occurring bacteria they have isolated and cultured.
Gotlandsdricka is an attempt to recreate the farmhouse ale of Gotland, Sweden — a drink believed to have been drunk by the Vikings. Gotlandsdricka is malty and smoky, with some gin-like character from the juniper berries. The homebrew clone recipe is scaled down from owner/brewer Jeffrey Stuffing’s 30-barrel recipe and presented in both English and metric units. (Because this recipe uses loads of smoked malt, an extract adaptation is not feasible.)
The brewery’s Viking Metal beer (see recipe at bottom) is Gotlandsdricka aged in Old Tom gin barrels.
Gotlandsdricka
Jester King Craft Brewery homebrew clone
All-grain (English units)
recipe from owner/brewer Jeffrey Stuffings
DESCRIPTION
Gotland is an island off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea. The traditional farmhouse ale brewed there, Gotlandsdricka, is believed to be descended from and still very similar to the beer the Vikings drank in the Viking Age (800–1100 AD). Viking age beer would not have contained hops, however.
INGREDIENTS (for 5 gallons)
Malt (for an OG of 1.052 at 85% extract efficiency(*1) and an SRM of 6)
3 lb. 14 oz. Weyermann Rauchmalz (beechwood smoked malt)
3 lb 9oz. birchwood smoked Weyermann Organic Pilsner malt (*2)
13 oz. flaked rye
9.4 oz. Weyermann Oak Smoked Wheat malt
(*1) If your extract efficiency is lower, adjust recipe by adding more Weyermann Rauchmalz.
(*2) This malt was smoked locally, by Kevin Glenn. You can either smoke your own malt or replace with more Weyermann Rauchmalz.
Hops and Other Spices (for 27 IBU total)
East Kent Goldings hops (27 IBU)
1.25 oz. (at 5.4% alpha acids), boiled for 60 min
0.20 oz. juniper berries, at whirlpool
0.42 oz. sweet gale, at whirlpool
Yeast (for an FG of 1.003 and an ABV of 6.5%)
Wyeast 3711 French Saision yeast
(make a 1.5-qt. yeast starter)
PROCEDURE
Mash at 154 °F. Boil wort for 60 minutes. Aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 68 °F. Allow temperature to free rise after 48 hours.
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Gotlandsdricka
Jester King Craft Brewery homebrew clone
All-grain (metric units)
recipe from owner/brewer Jeffrey Stuffings
DESCRIPTION
Gotland is an island off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea. The traditional farmhouse ale brewed there, Gotlandsdricka, is believed to be descended from and still very similar to the beer the Vikings drank in the Viking Age (800–1100 AD). Viking age beer would not have contained hops, however.
INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)
Malt (for an OG of 1.052 at 85% extract efficiency (*1) and an SRM of 6)
1.75 kg Weyermann Rauchmalz (beechwood smoked malt)
1.61 kg birchwood smoked Weyermann Organic Pilsner malt (*2)
370 g flaked rye
270 g Weyermann Oak Smoked Wheat malt
(*1) If your extract efficiency is lower, adjust recipe by adding more Weyermann Rauchmalz.
(*2) This malt was smoked locally, by Kevin Glenn. You can either smoke your own malt or replace with more Weyermann Rauchmalz.
Hops and Other Spices (for 27 IBU total)
East Kent Goldings hops (27 IBU)
35 g (at 5.4% alpha acids), boiled for 60 min
5.7 g juniper berries, at whirlpool
12 g sweet gale, at whirlpool
Yeast (for an FG of 1.003 and an ABV of 6.5%)
Wyeast 3711 French Saision yeast
(make a 1.25-L yeast starter)
PROCEDURE
Mash at 68 °C. Boil wort for 60 minutes. Aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 20 °C. Allow temperature to free rise after 48 hours.
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Viking Metal
Jester King Craft Brewery homebrew clone
PROCEDURE
Brew Gotlandsdricka. Inoculate with Brettanomyces and lactic acid producing bacteria and age in a gin barrel. As an alternative to barrel aging, soak oak cubes for 4–7 days in gin. Add about 2.5 oz. (71 g) of oak cubes to the fermenter 3–4 days before bottling.
First and foremost, I’ve been thinking of brewing a gin-inspired juniper saison using 3711 for a little while now, so this post is giving me some good ideas for a starting point.
Second – excellent Amon Amarth reference! \m/ I’m not sure if you’ve seen this before, but here is a youtube clip that actually ties in with your blog a bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mClSA1LZPIs
Their recipe seems unsophisticated, but it makes some sense. Oranges for acidity. Raisins for tannins. Even with the bread yeast, it’s probably decent.
Their new album is awesome, BTW.
To make Viking King, should I add bugs at the same time as 3711 or after 3711 ferments out?
Wait until the beer ferments, then start the souring.
Hi there. I’m all set to brew this. Could you confirm that the sweet gale addition is supposed to be a measurement of dried herbs? If it is intended to be fresh herbs then I don’t want to go overboard with the dry stuff.
Many thanks.
I asked Jeffrey, he said they used dried sweet gale.
Great. I really appreciate it!
Good luck with your Gotlandsdricka!
Chris, would you go for a pedio/brett combination to turn this into viking metal? I’ve never used isolated cultures, only dregs and kombucha to purposely infect brews. I’m unclear whether lacto would sour a beer that’s both hopped and ‘finished’ fermenting.
That’s a good question. I’ll ask Jeffery.
Lactobaccilus, Pediococcus and Brettanomyces can all live under these conditions. If you want to want to sour the beer, I’d get one of the lambic blends from White Labs or Wyeast (or Wyeast’s Roeselare blend), or the individual cultures of your choice, and inoculate the beer. Let it sit for at least 6 months, and let it warm up in the summer (up to 80 °F/27 °C, even). Then, it should be soured and ready to bottle.
Take a specific gravity reading before inoculating and before bottling to see how much the “bugs” moved the FG.
Thanks for the input. Although, I doubt that we’ll get 27c here in Edinburgh – even in the summer!
I just had this beer about a month ago for the first time and it jumped to one of my most enjoyable and unique top 10 beers. Who has brewed this recipe and what is your feedback? TYIA
Chris, any chance I can have a copy of that Odd Nordland pdf?