Gotlandsdrika

I wanted to make a old Scandinavian Juniper ale, using Buhner's "Sacred Healing Herbal Beers" as a guide, but also using ingredients Denmark's Winter Coat Brewery uses in their Mars Ol.

Brewer:	SchnauzerHaus Homebrew		Email:	-
Beer:	Gotlandsdrika		Style:	Historical Scandinavian
Type:	All grain		Size:	5.5 gallons
Color:	17 HCU (~10 SRM)		Bitterness:	49 IBU
OG:	1.076		FG:	1.016
Alcohol:	7.8% v/v (6.1% w/w)
Water:	5 gallons RO, rest is from my well.
Grain:	10 lb. British pale 1 lb. Belgian biscuit 4 oz. American crystal 120L 1 lb. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils) 2 lb. Flaked oats 1 lb. Flaked rye 8 oz. Flaked wheat 1 lb. Raw wheat
Mash:	69% efficiency
	The night before I mashed in, I clipped fresh green juniper branches from the shrub in my yard, filled my 4 gallon stockpot with them and about 2 1/2 gallons well water, and brought it,covered, to boil. Turned off stove and let sit overnight. In the morning, a thin resiude had formed, sap. I mashed in at 152* with half of the juniper extract added, bringing mash in volume to about 5 gallons. I sparged with rest of extract and H2O to make 7 1/2 gallons boil volume.
Boil:	120 minutes	SG 1.056	7.5 gallons
	At 60 minutes, 3 oz East Kent Goldings was added. At 30 minutes, 1 oz. of fresh organic thyme was added.At 15 minutes, Irish Moss.
Hops:	3 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.)
Yeast:	Nottingham, dry.
Log:	3 weeks in the primary, 2 months in the secondary.
Carbonation:	Used almost a cup of corn sugar and re-hydrated a pack of Nottingham added to bottling.
Tasting:	Most complicated ale I ever made. Very pleasantly surprised at how good the juniper extract alone was. Ale pours cloudy, most like due to all the flaked adjuncts. The thyme is noticable, but not offensive. Would compliment a hearty game dinner or stew nicely.Very pleased, will use half an ounce of thyme next time, and will make this a yearly brew.

Recipe posted 08/08/10.