All Malt - No Hops - Bad Idea?

[beerbrewer76543]

I made a batch of unbittered malt alcohol once as a mixer for a friends home made bourbon. He wanted something with a low alcohol level, sweet, caramel and highly carbonated.

It only tasted weird (by itself) if you thought of it as "beer". With bourbon it tasted fantastic.

Now, someone will come in and inform me that, actually, the Belgians have been doing this since 1567 and it's name is Le Maltnon Bier du Coq, brewed for the Queen's poodles.

You're a poodle...

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

If its fermented out, shouldnt all the sweetness be gone, not withstanding it would be a funky alcoholic base for some other process....stilling maybe.

 

[Dazza_devil]

If its fermented out, shouldnt all the sweetness be gone, not withstanding it would be a funky alcoholic base for some other process....stilling maybe.

I reckon it will depend on what yeast you use how far it ferments out. As far as I know some bacteria and possibly wild yeasts will ferment things out close to 1.000. Don't quote me on it, I haven't researched it fully or had personal experience with either.

 

[chestynuts]

This may have been covered already but I couldn't be bothered gonig back to the start.

Before hops were added to beer (some time back in the day), beer was flavoured with spices. There are still brewers out there that do this, not many, could probably count them on the one hand.

You just want somehting to counter act the malt. Experiment and enjoy the process!
There is a small brewery down the south of WA that made a lavender beer. (Very wrong, It remined me of the spray toilet fresheners like going into the toilet emptying a can and eating your way out). But none the less still tried it.

Thats why we do it.

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

I reckon it will depend on what yeast you use how far it ferments out. As far as I know some bacteria and possibly wild yeasts will ferment things out close to 1.000. Don't quote me on it, I haven't researched it fully or had personal experience with either.

Maybe do it with a Lambic yeast, to add a bit of twang

 

[booyablack]

This may have been covered already but I couldn't be bothered gonig back to the start.

Before hops were added to beer (some time back in the day), beer was flavoured with spices. There are still brewers out there that do this, not many, could probably count them on the one hand.

You just want somehting to counter act the malt. Experiment and enjoy the process!
There is a small brewery down the south of WA that made a lavender beer. (Very wrong, It remined me of the spray toilet fresheners like going into the toilet emptying a can and eating your way out). But none the less still tried it.

Thats why we do it.

It's called "gruit". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruit



.

 

[hsb]

That wikipedia link heads off into a whole world of herb and spice beer, such as:
http://www.gruitale.com/rec_basic_gruit.htm
Interesting stuff and I might try one out for Brew #1000 (currently on around #20)!

I seem to remember seeing a Scottish Thistle Ale on Oz and James Drink to Britain? but maybe that was with Hops and a little thistle for flavour/the sake of it.

 

[kbe]

I wanted to make a quick brew as I was running out, and I also wanted to try to make a malty brew. As I do not mind trying out things, I made one with a Blue Mountains lager, a kilo of LDM and some maltodextrin...... no hops and the kit yeast.

The first few after about 2 weeks condition where... different. In no way undrinkable. I drank a few of them and then left them for a few more weeks had a few more, and now after about 8 weeks, they are actually not that bad if you have more than one.

So, as long as you make what you want, and they do not taste off, who the hell cares. You are not going to enter them in to a comp, so just do it. If they have alcohol in them, all is good! :icon_drunk:

 

[manticle]

Blue mountains lager tin is hopped already though isn't it?

 

[bum]

Yep.

k&k

[EDIT: I do agree with him on the last part of his post though. But it must also be balanced by the idea that if you're going to ask people for their opinions on something they are certain to find idiotic then you must be prepared to be called an idiot.]

 

[kbe]

Blue mountains lager tin is hopped already though isn't it?

Yeah, I always forget that about that.

I will just say then, there were no added extra hops.

 

[Nodrog]

stumbled accross this elsewhere, let us know how the gruit tastes- hopefully better than it sounds?

how to gruit

 

[RobH]

FWIW - I made a starter out of Coopers yeast from a couple of Coopers Sparkling bottles. 600ml water, 60gm LDM, and it sat in a sealed (clip down lid - like Grolsch) bottle for about 4 weeks (brewday didnt' happen when it was supposed to) ... it fermented out & settled, leaving an amber liqour - tasted it, it tasted dry ... watery - but palatable.
The main thing that struck me about the flavour was the dryness of it rather than it being malty or sweet.

 

[ubergrafik]

OK, so I did the brew and bottled it yesterday. After tasting it every day while doing the hyrdometer reading, it is actually quite close to what I was aiming for - nice malty character, but not too sweet and the hops give it a nice fruity flavour, not too bitter or 'hoppy'. So, in the bottles for at least four weeks and see how it goes.

I went with my original recipe of can, hops, yeast and up to 12 liters. Wanted to keep it simple and then it's easier to know which bit to modify - although I'll have to wait a while...

Thanks everyone for your replies. Have to start another brew now - may add crystals and roasted barley...

 

[sir_piggy]

OK, so I did the brew and bottled it yesterday. After tasting it every day while doing the hyrdometer reading, it is actually quite close to what I was aiming for - nice malty character, but not too sweet and the hops give it a nice fruity flavour, not too bitter or 'hoppy'. So, in the bottles for at least four weeks and see how it goes.

I went with my original recipe of can, hops, yeast and up to 12 liters. Wanted to keep it simple and then it's easier to know which bit to modify - although I'll have to wait a while...

Thanks everyone for your replies. Have to start another brew now - may add crystals and roasted barley...

Hey Ubergrafik,
Which yeast and hop combo did you go with?

You can probably see my thread about a Belgian Ale which includes Candi Syrup and Candi Sugar, which may be worth checking out as your taste seems to be on the money with mine...let us know whay you think.

 

[ubergrafik]

I used the saaz hop pellets, not sure why, but i had it so used it - muntons premium gold yeast - 1.5kg can of blackrock amber malt extract.

I threw the hops into the wort and left them there...

I actually went back and got some more supplies - same hops and yeast, but a can of dark malt extract and a baggy of chocolate malt grain. Am intending to use half the grain and steep it with the hops in a liter of water for twenty mins, then strain it and add it to the wort.

Last time I filled up to 13 liters and only used ten.

The hardest thing I found was riding the correct temp - it fluctuated from 16 to 21 - i switched the heat pad on at night and off in the morning and it seemed to keep it mostly under control...

Will check out your thread. Cheers.

 

[bum]

Am intending to use half the grain and steep it with the hops in a liter of water for twenty mins, then strain it and add it to the wort.

Apologies if you just forgot to type the step out but you really do need to boil resulting liquor from your grain steep. Malts can come with all sorts of nasties and you shouldn't be adding them straight to your brew. Some people do this without reporting incidents but it isn't worth the gamble, IMO. This boil might be a good time to think about adding the hops instead - although you'll need to add some malt to make this boil OG 1040-ish. Close enough is good enough for a small boil - the generally accepted rule of thumb is 100g of LDME per litre of water.

[EDIT: Start making sense!]

 

[ubergrafik]

Yeah, cheers for that - missed mentioning tipping the can into the pot then getting boiling water to dissolve the remainder, then adding more water and boiling all that...

 

[rendo]

I made a batch of unbittered malt alcohol once as a mixer for a friends home made bourbon. He wanted something with a low alcohol level, sweet, caramel and highly carbonated.

It only tasted weird (by itself) if you thought of it as "beer". With bourbon it tasted fantastic.

Now, someone will come in and inform me that, actually, the Belgians have been doing this since 1567 and it's name is Le Maltnon Bier du Coq, brewed for the Queen's poodles.

I dont think I want to be drinking any beer that is known as "Beer of Cock"....(Bier du Coq) and I wouldnt even give it to the dog to drink...poor dog...well maybe a poodle cause they are kinda switch hitters in the world of dogs