Looking for Historic German Beer from 16th Century

[tennesseean_87]

In light of the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation, I'd love to brew a beer at least inspired by the sort of beer Martin Luther would have enjoyed. What were Germans brewing at home (he loved his wife's beer) in 1517 and the decades following? Anyone have any links to German brewing history blogs or anything?

 

[applescrap]

http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/11/15/historical-beer-myths-with-randy-mosher-beersmith-podcast-115/

Even though this podcast is about some Brewing myths to, iirc he goes into some German history. And also might point you in the right. His website too, maybe. Best of luck.

 

[Desertbrewer]

Interested in this as well being a reformed Christian, always was curious when learning about church history about hearing how Luther thought his wife's homebrew was the best beer he'd had.

 

[Miraculix]

In the book "sacred and ancient healing beers" are a lot of very old recipes covered. I would definitely recommend this one. You will find some recipes from the time you are looking for in there.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Thanks for the replies. I found a page that was helpful and have sort of concocted a recipe based on that information with the help of a brewmaster friend. Man ingredients are chosen because i have them in inventory. Here's what I put together:

2/3 Pils malt (weyerman may have an extra light pils--the original beer was made from air-cured, unkilned malt, so lighter is better)
1/3 wheat
Magnum for bittering
1/2oz Hallertauer at 10 minutes
OG: 1.070
IBU: 35 (OG:BU roughly based on BJCP Maibock)

Process: I want it dry, so mashing at 148 or 150, it apparently had a lactic tartness, so I'll do a short kettle sour or add lactic acid at bottling. Beers back then would probably have had brett, but I am not doing that. They would have mixed cultures of yeast, so I'll be going with Danstar Munich (because I have it) and the DuPont strain, and possibly another German ale strain if I can get it locally. Belle Saison or 3711 would definitely give the dryness if you have them. I will ferment cool to keep theyeast flavors restrained, because it wasn't a typical German weissbier. It may be a a good thing to use the Danstar Munich which is reputed to produce a more muted wheat beer profile. I may also pitch some US-05.

I will try to brew to be ready by October 31, 2017. I will post my results if I can fit this in.

Other sources:
http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/martin-luthers-beer/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=412793
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/einbecker-style-middle-ages-beer

 

[Bilsch]

2/3 Pils malt (weyerman may have an extra light pils--the original beer was made from air-cured, unkilned malt, so lighter is better)

I think Best Heidelberg is probably the lightest malt that's readily available.

 

[brewbama]

...I found a page that was helpful ...

Other sources:
http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/martin-luthers-beer/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=412793
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/einbecker-style-middle-ages-beer

Pretty cool reading. Thanks for posting.

 

[Miraculix]

I think if you want it to be most authentic, you would need to go on the wild side and produce a starter from wild ferm. Maybe use some sourdough to start the starter if you have access to a real one. This would also result in a spur beer, depending on the amounts of hops used during fermentation.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I think if you want it to be most authentic, you would need to go on the wild side and produce a starter from wild ferm. Maybe use some sourdough to start the starter if you have access to a real one. This would also result in a spur beer, depending on the amounts of hops used during fermentation.

I'm not gonna mess with that. The wild stuff here in ND will be different from Germany, and I've had a few batches go bad that didn't have the lid sealed all the way. I want to be authentic, but more importantly, I want it to be good! So ultimately I'm looking to brew something inspired by, but not exactly like what Luther was drinking. I'd hope we've gotten better at making beer in the last few hundred years.

 

[Miraculix]

Well, depends on the personal point of view I guess. The output has certainly become way more predictable. But I must admit, the most interesting beers I had the pleasure to drink, were all based on mixed and wild cultures. The brewery can be reached via wildbeerco.com if you are interested in it.