Against the Grain (AtG) Brewery
Dear Replicator,
Ummm…I’m not sure if anyone at BYO has tried a beer from Against the Grain, but you guys owe yourselves some samples. And while you’re at it, could you have Replicator get a recipe for their Kamen Knuddeln?
Nicki Forster
Rochester, New York
Thanks for the amazing request Nicki! You picked a unique, interesting, amalgamation of a beer. But the same could easily be said for any number of Against the Grain’s brews, which are numerous. Despite being in business for only seven years, Against the Grain (AtG) has produced a whopping 312 different beers at their 8,000-barrel Louisville, Kentucky facility; that’s a pace of nearly a different beer every single week. And why not? With the plethora of beer ingredients available to brewers nowadays, any conceptual idea can be turned into reality.
At AtG, they pride themselves on their uniqueness, creativity, the ability to laugh at themselves, along with bucking common practices. These qualities make them, and their beers, very approachable. They don’t really have any flagship beers, but you’ll recognize them by both the artwork on their bottles and cans as well as the inventive names. These names pull from a variety of pop culture and music references like Citra A@@ Down, Dwead Piwate Woberts, Wheaton Wine, and Rauching Tiger, Hidden Flagon. If you need a good laugh, head over to their website (www.atgbrewery.com). While laughing, you can marvel at the fact that these individuals really know how to brew. One of their brews, 70K Amburana, a dark, silky smooth milk stout with additional spice from the Amburana barrel, won a gold medal at the 2018 GABF in the Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout category.
AtG is Louisville, Kentucky’s first brewer-owned brewery and smokehouse located in the southeast corner of Louisville Slugger Field, home to the minor league baseball team the Louisville Bats. They’re situated in a former train station that was restored to highlight the ornate industrial architecture that is visible in both the dining room and the brewhouse. The whole operation is powered by one of the nation’s only Victorian-styled, three-story, copper-clad 15-barrel brewhouse . . . a work of art.
The concept for Kamen Knuddeln came out of necessity; a local bar called the Nachbar needed a beer to be ready for an event in only a couple of weeks that was unique and stood out from the crowd. Being in the heart of Bourbon country, AtG decided to brew a Kentucky common and use kettle souring to produce a flavorful, unique creation. (Side note: the BJCP 2015 Guidelines recognize that the Kentucky Common (27B) should not be sour for those judges following along.) Brew day and the subsequent fermentation came and went, and it was time to sample the result. The beer was good but not quite where the brewers wanted it. But how to make it more colorful? One of the brewers decided to blend the kettle-soured Kentucky common with a bit of Bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout that they had on hand. The result was perfection.
This beer and its components really shine when brewed as an all-grain batch as many of the components are tough to mirror in the extract versions. Flaked maize, for instance, needs to be mashed and while you can get rye malt extract, it’s usually a combination of 2-row, rye malt, and crystal 40. Finally, due to the ratio of soured ale to imperial stout (4:1), you should have plenty of opportunities to tweak the kettle-soured portion to pair nicely with a single batch of imperial stout. Consider each variation unique creations and then learn from them and keep on making excellent homebrew. Cheers!
Against the Grain Kamen Knuddeln clone
Blend 4 parts kettle sour beer with 1 part Russian imperial stout for the clone. Carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes.
Kettle-Soured ale
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.013
IBU = 26 SRM = 25 ABV = 5.3%
Ingredients
7 lbs. (3.18 kg) Pilsner malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) rye malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (80 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) acidulated malt
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) chocolate malt
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) flaked maize
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) flaked barley
0.1 lb. (0.05 kg) roasted barley
7 AAU Nugget hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP672 (Lactobacillus brevis)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
Step by Step
Mill the grains, then mix with 3.6 gallons (13.7 L) of 169 °F (76 °C) strike water to achieve a single infusion rest temperature of 154 °F (68 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes. Mashout to 170 °F (77 °C). Vorlauf until your runnings are clear before directing them to your boil kettle. Batch or fly sparge the mash to obtain 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. Boil for 15 minutes to sanitize the wort before cooling it to 105 °F (40 °C).
Pitch the Lactobacillus and allow it to work for 18 hours. pH of the beer should be 3.2–3.4. Feel free to adjust the acidity using 88% lactic acid. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the beginning of the boil. At 15 minutes left, you may want to add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents.
After the boil, rapidly chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, which is 68 °F (20 °C) for this beer. Pitch yeast. Maintain a steady fermentation temperature to avoid excessive ester formation.
Kettle-soured ale
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.053 FG = 1.013
IBU = 26 SRM = 24 ABV = 5.1%
Ingredients
7 lbs. (3.18 kg) rye liquid malt extract
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) chocolate malt
0.1 lb. (0.05 kg) roasted barley
2 tsp. 88% lactic acid
7 AAU Nugget hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP672 (Lactobacillus brevis)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
Step by Step
Bring 5 gallons (18.9 L) of water and the 2 tsp. of lactic acid to ~155 °F (68 °C). Steep your milled, bagged grains for 15 minutes before removing them. Then add the liquid rye extract while stirring and stir until completely dissolved. Boil for 15 minutes to sanitize before cooling it to 105 °F (40 °C).
Pitch the Lactobacillus and allow it to work for 18 hours. pH of the beer should be 3.2–3.4. Feel free to adjust the acidity using 88% lactic acid. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the beginning of the boil. At 15 minutes left, you may want to add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents.
After the boil, rapidly chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, which is 68 °F (20 °C) for this beer. Pitch yeast. Maintain a steady fermentation temperature to avoid excessive ester formation.
Russian Imperial Stout
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.115 FG = 1.029
IBU = 52 SRM = 68 ABV = 14%
Ingredients
15 lbs. (6.8 kg) 2-row pale malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) rye malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) wheat malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) chocolate malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) chocolate rye malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) crystal malt (120 °L)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) honey malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) roasted barley
17 AAU Columbus hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 17% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
Step by Step
Mill the grains, then mix with 7.9 gallons (29.9 L) of 167 °F (75 °C) strike water to achieve a single infusion rest temperature of 152 °F (67 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 min. Mashout to 170 °F (77 °C). Vorlauf until your runnings are clear before directing them to your boil kettle. Batch or fly sparge the mash to obtain 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the times indicated. At 15 minutes left in boil, add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents.
After the boil, rapidly chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, which is 69 °F (20 °C) for this beer. Pitch yeast.
Maintain fermentation temperature to avoid excessive esters and fusel alcohol production. Age the beer for 3–4 months in a Bourbon barrel. If you’re using other higher surface area to volume sources of oak, you’ll need to decrease the contact time to avoid over-oaking the beer.
Russian Imperial Stout
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.111 FG = 1.028
IBU = 52 SRM = 67 ABV = 13%
Ingredients
7 lbs. (3.2 kg) extra light dried malt extract
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) rye liquid malt extract
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) chocolate malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) chocolate rye malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) honey malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) roasted barley
1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (120 °L)
17 AAU Columbus hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 17% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
Step by Step
Bring 5 gallons (19 L) of water to ~155 °F (68 °C). Steep all your milled, bagged grains for 15 minutes before removing them. Then add all the extract while stirring and stir until completely dissolved. Top up kettle to 6.5 gallons (25 L) then bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the times indicated. At 15 minutes left in boil, add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents.
After the boil, rapidly chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, which is 69 °F (20 °C) for this beer. Pitch yeast.
Maintain fermentation temperature to avoid excessive esters and fusel alcohol production. Age the beer for 3–4 months in a Bourbon barrel. If you’re using other higher surface area to volume sources of oak, you’ll need to decrease the contact time to avoid over-oaking the beer.
Tips for Success:
Before adding any hops, you should sanitize the wort via boiling for several minutes. That will give the L. brevis a clean, uncompetitive slate to work on. Feel free to use 88% lactic acid to adjust the pH if needed. Speaking of pH, if you don’t have a pH meter, now may be the time to make the investment. Many are user-friendly and relatively inexpensive and can transform your brew day. In addition, you can use them for other fermented products.
The next aspect is the barrel-aged stout. If using staves or cubes, the contact time will need to be decreased. Start tasting every other day after a couple of weeks to prevent too much oaky, woody, tannic character from creeping in. Finally, AtG uses a ratio of one-part RIS to four-parts soured ale. Depending on the character of each of your two beers you may find a different ratio is more palatable.
