Lichtenhainer (sour smoked ale) by Mark Schoppe

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Mark Schoppe (in black shirt), sitting with members of the Austin ZEALOTS, at the 2008 Dixie Cup (competition/conference of the Foam Rangers homebrew club of Houston, TX).

Mark Schoppe was the 2012 Ninkasi winner at the National Homebrew Conference and also the winner of the 2012 Lone Star circuit (a series of homebrew competitions in Texas). This is a beer of his that won the Funkiest of Show at the Alamo City Cerveza Fest (San Antonio, TX) in 2012. He also brewed it at Freetail (San Antonio, TX) as an entry in the GABF Pro-Am.

 

Schoppe’s Lichtenhainer

All-grain (English units)

by Mark Schoppe

 

DESCRIPTION

This is a sour smoked ale based on a rare German style. It is like a combination of rauchbier and Berliner weisse, two of my favorite styles.  The goal is to produce a light-bodied beer with a clean lactic sour flavor, and a mild smoky flavor.  The sour and the smoke should both be prominent, but not overpowering, and linger into a long dry finish.

I’ve made several versions of this, some using Lactobacillus to sour in the primary, and some using a sour mash to sour before the boil.  The sour mash approach is very dependable at producing a sour flavor, and does so very quickly.  However, it can also produce some funky flavors that are out of place.  I’ve had mixed results using Lactobacillus (sometimes it just doesn’t product enough sour flavor, in which case you may end up with a nice smoked Kölsch).  The approach I use in this recipe is the most dependable I’ve found so far.  Basically, you ferment for one week with just Lactobacillus at a very warm temperature (90°F), and then cool down to 68°F, add ale yeast, and then ferment for another week.

INGREDIENTS (for 5 gallons)

 

Water Profile 

50 ppm calcium (Ca+2)

75 ppm chloride (Cl)

75 ppm sulfate (SO4-2)

Malts and Other Fermentables

(for an OG of 1.040 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 3)

4.125 lb. Weyermann rauchmalz (smoked malt)

4.125 lb. Weyermann pale wheat malt

Hops (for 5 IBUs total)

Hallertau hops (5 IBUs)

0.25 oz. (at 5.7% alpha acids) boiled for 60 minutes

Yeast (to attenuate to FG 1.008, for an ABV of 4.2%)

White Labs WLP677 (Lactobacillus delbrückii) or Wyeast 5335 (Lactobacillus)

White Labs WLP029 (German Ale/Kölsch) or Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch)

Processing Aids and Other 

1 tsp. Irish moss (boiled for 10 mins)

5.75 oz corn sugar (to prime bottles for 2.7 volumes of CO2)

 

PROCEDURE

Make starter for the Lactobacillus 2–3 days ahead of time. On brewday, heat 9 qts. of brewing liquor to 164 °F and mash grains, 150 °F, for 45–60 minutes. Stir the mash a couple times if you can do so and maintain temperature (via heating mash tun or adding hot water). Add boiling water to mash out to 168 °F. Recirculate wort until clear, then run off. Sparge steadily over 75–90 minutes to collect about 7 gallons of wort. Vigorously boil wort for 90 minutes, to yield post-boil volume around 5.5 gallons. Add hops, Irish moss and yeast at times indicated. Chill wort, then rack to fermenter. Your yield should be about 5.25 gallons. DO NOT AERATE THE WORT.  Lactobacillus does not require oxygen. Pitch sediment from Lactobacillus starter and ferment warm.  The ideal temperature is 90 °F.  I use an old broken chest freezer with a heating pad and temperature controller as a “hot box” to ferment this beer.  It’s also a good beer to ferment in a Texas garage in summer.  (But try not to go over 120 °F.)  After four or five days, make a starter for the ale yeast.  After two to three more days, gradually bring the temperature of the wort down to 68 °F and pitch the sediment from the yeast starter.  DO NOT THE AERATE.  Ferment at 68 °F  for another week.  After fermentation stops, let the beer settle for 2–3 days, then rack directly to keg or bottling bucket, for a yield of 5 gallons. Carbonate to 2.7 volumes of CO2.  The sour flavor will continue to develop as it ages.  It will keep for years, and I think it’s best after a year of aging.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can rack this beer to a second carboy and add chipotle peppers.  Here’s what I do:  I take about an ounce of dry chipotle peppers, chop them up into small pieces, put them in a coffee mug and pour boiling water over them.  I let them steep for about 30 minutes, then add the contents of the mug (water and all) to the secondary.  The three-way balance between sour, smoke and pepper is awesome!

 

 

Schoppe’s Lichtenhainer

All-grain (metric units)

by Mark Schoppe

 

DESCRIPTION

This is a sour smoked ale based on a rare German style. It is like a combination of rauchbier and Berliner weisse, two of my favorite styles.  The goal is to produce a light-bodied beer with a clean lactic sour flavor, and a mild smoky flavor.  The sour and the smoke should both be prominent, but not overpowering, and linger into a long dry finish.

I’ve made several versions of this, some using Lactobacillus to sour in the primary, and some using a sour mash to sour before the boil.  The sour mash approach is very dependable at producing a sour flavor, and does so very quickly.  However, it can also produce some funky flavors that are out of place.  I’ve had mixed results using Lactobacillus (sometimes it just doesn’t product enough sour flavor, in which case you may end up with a nice smoked Kölsch).  The approach I use in this recipe is the most dependable I’ve found so far.  Basically, you ferment for one week with just Lactobacillus at a very warm temperature (32 °C), and then cool down to 20 °C, add ale yeast, and then ferment for another week.

 

INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)

 

Water Profile 

50 ppm calcium (Ca+2)

75 ppm chloride (Cl)

75 ppm sulfate (SO4-2)

Malts and Other Fermentables

(for an OG of 1.040 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 3)

1.87 kg Weyermann rauchmalz (smoked malt)

1.87 kg Weyermann pale wheat malt

Hops (for 5 IBUs total)

Hallertau hops (5 IBUs)

7.1 g (at 5.7% alpha acids) boiled for 60 minutes

Yeast (to attenuate to FG 1.008, for an ABV of 4.2%)

White Labs WLP677 (Lactobacillus delbrückii) or Wyeast 5335 (Lactobacillus)

White Labs WLP029 (German Ale/Kölsch) or Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch)

Processing Aids and Other 

1 tsp. Irish moss (boiled for 10 mins)

163 g corn sugar (to prime bottles for 2.7 volumes of CO2)

 

PROCEDURE

Make starter for the Lactobacillus 2–3 days ahead of time. On brewday, heat 8.5 L of brewing liquor to 73 °C and mash grains, 66 °C, for 45–60 minutes. Stir the mash a couple times if you can do so and maintain temperature (via heating mash tun or adding hot water). Add boiling water to mash out to 76 °C. Recirculate wort until clear, then run off. Sparge steadily over 75–90 minutes to collect about 26 L of wort. Vigorously boil wort for 90 minutes, to yield post-boil volume around 21 L. Add hops, Irish moss and yeast at times indicated. Chill wort, then rack to fermenter. Your yield should be about 20 L. DO NOT AERATE THE WORT.  Lactobacillus does not require oxygen. Pitch sediment from Lactobacillus starter and ferment warm.  The ideal temperature is 32 °C.  I use an old broken chest freezer with a heating pad and temperature controller as a “hot box” to ferment this beer.  It’s also a good beer to ferment in a Texas garage in summer.  (But try not to go over 49 °C.)  After four or five days, make a starter for the ale yeast.  After two to three more days, gradually bring the temperature of the wort down to 20 °C and pitch the sediment from the yeast starter.  DO NOT THE AERATE.  Ferment at 20 °C  for another week.  After fermentation stops, let the beer settle for 2–3 days, then rack directly to keg or bottling bucket, for a yield of 19 L. Carbonate to 2.7 volumes of CO2.  The sour flavor will continue to develop as it ages.  It will keep for years, and I think it’s best after a year of aging.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can rack this beer to a second carboy and add chipotle peppers.  Here’s what I do:  I take about an ounce of dry chipotle peppers, chop them up into small pieces, put them in a coffee mug and pour boiling water over them.  I let them steep for about 30 minutes, then add the contents of the mug (water and all) to the secondary.  The three-way balance between sour, smoke and pepper is awesome!

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