Recipe

Castle Danger Brewery’s Nordic Sahti clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.053 FG = 1.011
IBU = 26 SRM = 7 ABV = 5.5%

Ingredients
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) Pilsen malt
1.25 lbs. (567 g) Briess caramel malt (10 °L)
1 lb. (454 g) flaked rye
0.75 lb. (340 g) honey malt
1.5 oz. (43 g) dried juniper berries, crushed (20 min.)
5 AAU Saaz hops (60 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 2.5% alpha acids)
7.2 AAU Hallertau hops (10 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 4.8% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Fuggle hops (0 min.)
Wyeast 2112 (California Lager), White Labs WLP810 (San Francisco Lager), or Mangrove Jack’s M54 (California Lager) yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Mill your malts but leave rye flakes whole. Strike-in with approximately 3.5 gallons (13.25 L) of water to achieve a single infusion mash rest at 152 °F (67 °C). A softer water profile works well, but adjust your water as needed and aim at mash pH around 5.3 for best results. It’s OK to mash a little thinner than this if desired, especially with the rye flakes and rice hulls if you choose to use them. Mash for 60 minutes or until converted. Vorlauf until clear and then begin transfer into brew kettle.

With kettle full, take a pre-boil gravity reading. Boil for 60 minutes. It’s OK to boil longer if you want more color and flavor development, if you prefer to concentrate your wort, or want to ensure elimination of potential DMS (dimethyl sulfide) from the Pilsner malt. Add bittering hops at the 60-minute mark. With 20 minutes left add crushed juniper berries. Keep them in a bag to make removal easier. Add remaining hops at 10 minutes and at flameout.

Chill wort to 62 °F (16 °C) and transfer to your sanitized fermenter. Oxygenate at a moderate rate if using liquid yeast strain, then pitch the yeast. Ferment at 62 °F (16 °C). Primary fermentation can take 5–12 days depending on several variables. The key is to be patient. The beer should finish around 1.010–1.011. Rack to secondary if desired or let sit for about one week after primary fermentation is complete then proceed to keg or bottle condition. Carbonate the beer to 2.6 volumes of CO2.

Castle Danger Brewery’s Nordic Sahti clone

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.053 FG = 1.011
IBU = 26 SRM = 7 ABV = 5.5%

Ingredients
3.75 lbs. (1.7 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract
1 lb. (454 g) Pilsner malt
1.25 lbs. (567 g) Briess caramel malt (10 °L)
1 lb. (454 g) flaked rye
0.75 lb. (340 g) honey malt
1.5 oz. (43 g) dried juniper berries, crushed (20 min.)
5 AAU Saaz hops (60 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 2.5% alpha acids)
7.2 AAU Hallertau hops (10 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 4.8% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Fuggle hops (0 min.)
Wyeast 2112 (California Lager), White Labs WLP810 (San Francisco Lager), or Mangrove Jack’s M54 (California Lager) yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Flaked grains have no diastatic power, so they cannot self-convert, but they have fermentable sugars if converted. They need to be mashed with a base malt in order to be converted, so we will use 1 lb. (454 g) of Pilsner base malt to help convert the flaked rye and the honey malt. (The caramel malt is already pre-converted to sugar.) The rest of the base malt will come from dried malt extract.

Using about 2 gallons (7.57 L) of water, achieve a single infusion mash rest at 152 °F (67 °C). Insert the grains inside a mesh bag for easy removal later. Mash for 60 minutes or until converted. Remove the grain bag, allowing the liquid to drain out. Raise wort temperature to near boiling, then remove pot from heat and slowly stir in about half of your extract until thoroughly dissolved. Holding back about half of the extract allows your hop extraction to better replicate that of the all-grain version. Return to heat source and raise to boil. Boil for 60 minutes.

Add bittering hops at the beginning of the boil. With 20 minutes left add crushed juniper berries. Keep them in a hop bag to make removal easier. Add remaining hops at 10 minutes and at flameout. Add remaining extract with about five minutes remaining in the boil to properly dissolve the sugars and sanitize the extracts.

Pre-boil and chill about 3.5 gallons (9.5 L) of water separately so you can add that to the wort later. Best to do this before your brew to make life easier.

Follow the all-grain recipe’s step-by-step for remaining fermentation and packaging instructions.

Tips For Success:
If you are looking to brew a more historical version of the style, consider using a hefeweizen yeast strain that will provide the signature banana and clove character. If you want to replicate Castle Danger’s Nordic as closely as possible, then employ a California common yeast.

According to Brewmaster Bjorn Erickson, “The fun thing about this kind of brew is you can feel free to change things up without being untrue to the style. If you are feeling bold, try using more rye, or add some Weyermann Cararye® for more color and depth to the rye flavor. Your mileage will vary with the juniper berries, especially depending on how much you can crush them and what state they are in. ‘Dry hopping’ with juniper berries can add more of the piney/menthol notes. An ounce or two (30–60 g) of lemon zest or caraway seeds can also punch up the aroma.” Don’t be afraid to play around with this one!

Issue: November 2021