Beer without Hops

I remember I was on some island or Mexico and the school children were drinking some malt product when they got out of school. At first I thought the were drinking beer but then I realized it was carbonated unfermented wort. Kind of a soda. I think you may need to carbonate it to a higher level than beer. Definitely sweet
 
Theoretically, if it ferments out completely there should be no sugar, right? It may be malty but it shouldn't be sweet. I'm aiming to mash as dry as I can to avoid residual sugars. Again, we shall see...
 
Thurston Brewer said:
Theoretically, if it ferments out completely there should be no sugar, right? It may be malty but it shouldn't be sweet. I'm aiming to mash as dry as I can to avoid residual sugars. Again, we shall see...
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I'm sorry I thought you were bottling wort. You will have to keg carb. If your bottling unfermented wort you need to pasteurize it. I just freeze mine.
 
Oh right. I see you are bottling before adding yeast. Disregard my post
 
Sorry for the confusion... I'm doing both. Some will be bottled without yeast for RWS use - to be kept in the fridge so it won't go bad. Some will be pitched and fermented to turn into beer without hops - old school - like King Henry I would have drunk.
 
and that reminds me of some collaboration that Flying Dog and a brewery in the UK (or thereabouts) did. A 0 IBU IPA. ignoring the fact that is a complete contradiction in terms, i don't think it tasted all that great. not bad, but it would've been marketed more truthfully as a brown ale or something
 
Ha no, not yet anyway. I'm from the DC area originally, worked around Germantown for 20 years, and moved to Louisiana 5 years ago. I was up there last Christmas and had the chance to go to Brewer's Alley. I can't remember if they had 1634 on draft, I was a little distracted by the cask of Scotch ale. I love that stuff.
 
Got my micro-test-brew going in a small fermenter. No hops, just malt. Yeast is very happy - quite active for such a small batch (~ 24 oz.)

Smells interesting; like fermenting, but maltier. Can't wait to find out how it comes out :)
 
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Been in bottles a week now. I think I'll let it go for two more before I try some - after all it's only a two bottle batch, so I can't afford a bunch of test samples. It's pretty and very clear.. I'm curious about the head retention, etc. Prolly not much since it's nothing but two-row. Baseline, you know...
 
Thurston Brewer said:
Been in bottles a week now. I think I'll let it go for two more before I try some - after all it's only a two bottle batch, so I can't afford a bunch of test samples. It's pretty and very clear.. I'm curious about the head retention, etc. Prolly not much since it's nothing but two-row. Baseline, you know...
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Patient man Thirsty Thurston brewer
 
Decided to pop 'em open tonight and see how the experiment turned out...

Actually pretty tasty. Not like regular beer, of course, but not nasty - and not cloying or over-sweet, either. I could definitely drink it on a regular basis, though I can't say I prefer it to hopped beer... it's just... different.

Wifey and I both had some and she liked it too. Really simple recipe, though: 2-row and yeast. It's interesting how well the yeast came through when there were no hops to compete with. Fruity but mild.

Now... I need to decide where to go with this concept next. I'm thinking a touch of roastiness to add flavor - no crystal, though.. don't want to add maltiness. Maybe mash at 148 and use a high attenuation yeast.
 
Thurston Brewer said:
Decided to pop 'em open tonight and see how the experiment turned out...

Actually pretty tasty. Not like regular beer, of course, but not nasty - and not cloying or over-sweet, either. I could definitely drink it on a regular basis, though I can't say I prefer it to hopped beer... it's just... different.

Wifey and I both had some and she liked it too. Really simple recipe, though: 2-row and yeast. It's interesting how well the yeast came through when there were no hops to compete with. Fruity but mild.

Now... I need to decide where to go with this concept next. I'm thinking a touch of roastiness to add flavor - no crystal, though.. don't want to add maltiness. Maybe mash at 148 and use a high attenuation yeast.
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King Henry may have been drinking a sour which may give a dimension to your unhopped beer
 
GPA said:
Just a thought if bitterness is what it's lacking there are some oriental tea blends like Kuding which is very bitter but supposedly has a very smooth sweet finish with notes of honey,used as a cold remedy to soothe sore throats lol or even some herbs like chickory , excuse the spelling , like I said just thinking out loud.
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That's the theory behind gruit - put something bitter in the brew to cut back the sweetness! Gruit ale has some interesting herbal flavors, is more "light" in its bitterness but gruit doesn't have antibacterial properties. They'd throw just about anything bitter in the brew back before hops, even if it were poisonous or halucinogenic. A bitter tea should work, too.
 
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Thurston Brewer said:
Decided to pop 'em open tonight and see how the experiment turned out...

Actually pretty tasty. Not like regular beer, of course, but not nasty - and not cloying or over-sweet, either. I could definitely drink it on a regular basis, though I can't say I prefer it to hopped beer... it's just... different.

Wifey and I both had some and she liked it too. Really simple recipe, though: 2-row and yeast. It's interesting how well the yeast came through when there were no hops to compete with. Fruity but mild.

Now... I need to decide where to go with this concept next. I'm thinking a touch of roastiness to add flavor - no crystal, though.. don't want to add maltiness. Maybe mash at 148 and use a high attenuation yeast.
Click to expand...
Great exbt sounds like an interesting success!!
 
I found a very interesting paper from Carnegie Mellon:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pwp/tofi/medieval_english_ale.html

Haven't read through it all, yet, but apparently the ales they brewed in Medieval times were without hops, and also without boiling the wort. They were drunk very 'fresh' (we would say green) and probably not very carbonated. I'm inclined to boil the wort, but it makes sense that they wouldn't let them sit for long since they had no sense of sanitation and without the antiseptic of hop oils the ale just wouldn't last.
 
More from the paper cited above:
Since ale wort was not boiled, medieval ale was chock full of proteins in addition to the carbs and other nutrients. It also had to be drunk within four days or it would spoil. Based on modern experiments, when wort was not boiled:
...it started to sour on the fourth day, and was fully sour before it started to really clear.
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whereas, if it was boiled (even without hops):
...the ale was clear, and that it has lasted well for at least six months.
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so boiling makes it less nutritious, but clearer and it keeps better.
 
I'm thinking that a 'modern' version of medieval ale would be:
  • No hops
  • Amber to dark in color
  • Flavored/bittered with roasted malt or barley (nod to Gerry P.)
  • Boiled to remove proteins
  • Possibly flavored with warm spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, etc.)
  • Low in carbonation
  • Consumed without chilling - possibly even slightly warmed
This would obviously not fill the space that beer does in modern life, but ale was drunk at every meal as part of their diet - a third way of consuming their staple grain, in addition to bread and porridge. Men, women and children all consumed this nourishing (and inebriating) drink!
 
Look at your basic wine coolers these days. There's no wine in them. They're labeled as malt beverages. To me, that's beer without hops.
 
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