3

INGREDIENTS

The preparation I learned from my time in Goslar—this beer is prepared from the waters of the River Gose. This is where the [Gose beer] name comes from.

—Johann Friedrich Zückert, Die Naturgeschichte und Bergwerksverfassung des Ober-Harzes. (Translation by Benedikt Rausch.)

Many things play a part in the formation of a final beer’s flavor: specific processes, time, cleanliness, equipment design, the brewer’s skill, and ingredients. None can be more important than good ingredients, particularly the water and the yeast you will use. Without good ingredients it is very difficult to make delicious beer—as brewers, making good beer is always our goal.

WATER

Often people take water for granted; it just comes out of your tap (or hose). As far as ingredients go, water makes up the largest percentage of beer and as brewers we need to give it a bit more consideration. Water can be one of the simplest brewing ingredients and the one of the most complicated. On the simple side, if you can drink it and it tastes good, then you can probably make good beer with it. Simple. On the other hand, your water and all its components (or lack thereof) can have fairly dramatic effects on the final flavors in your beer. There are entire books written about it—just ask my friend John Palmer about water, or better yet, buy his book! For people with mathematical minds, water chemistry seems easy and understandable; the rest of us have to struggle through it. However, understanding water chemistry is worth the struggle and it can help us make better beer, and that should always be our goal. And what of the water chemistry for the classic beers and their brewing sites: Burton-on-Trent, London, Dortmund, Pilsen, and Leipzig? Do we need to emulate their waters to brew their beers? Not necessarily—I think you can make a great porter without emulating London’s water, but I also think it is always good to know what characteristics an ingredient brings to a beer. So, what do we need to know?

Figure 3.1. The Gose river that runs through the town of Goslar.

I think that the best place to start is with your own taste buds. If you like the way your water tastes then there is a pretty good chance you will like the way it makes your beer taste. If you do not like the way your water tastes then you have some tough decisions to make.

Your brewing water should be chlorine and chloramine free. Even small amounts of free chlorine in your water can end up forming chlorophenols in your beer and even at low levels these can be noticeably unpleasant. Luckily, removal of chlorination is easily accomplished by heating your brewing water before use, using a not-yet-saturated activated carbon filter,1 or by using ultraviolet light, a technology that some brewers already use to sterilize their house water (Palmer and Kaminski 2013). Usually, the softer your water—meaning the lower the mineral content—the better. Not because minerals are bad, but because it is much easier to add the minerals you want to your water than it is to take out the ones you do not want.

The easiest way to find out what is in your water is to obtain a water report. Every brewer should get an analysis of their water. Whether you are brewing with your own well water or using a reliable municipal water source, you should know what is in your water when it comes out of your tap. For those on private wells, like Anderson Valley Brewing Company, you can send samples to a private lab for analysis. If you are on a municipal water system like most towns, then your local municipality should be able to supply you with a water report.

ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING WATER ANALYSIS

Sodium:	31 ppm
Potassium:	1.0 ppm
Magnesium	17 ppm
Calcium:	40 ppm
Chloride:	24 ppm
Nitrate:	1.2 ppm
Sulfate:	3 ppm
CaCO3:	176 ppm
pH:	7.8

We know from many sources that the water of the Gose river was used to brew the beers in Goslar. In the case of Gose beer, the mineral content of the water, especially the salinity, is a good part of what this beer is all about. So, what of the Gose river and its water?

The Gose is a small river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a tributary of the Abzucht river, and is approximately 5 miles (8 km) long with a drainage basin of about 3.9 sq. mi. (10 km²). The Gose’s source lies north of Auerhahn in the Harz Mountains, on the eastern slopes of the Bocksberg. The river runs toward the northeast through a steep and narrow valley, and meets the Abzucht on the western edge of the town of Goslar, which is named after the river. The area around the Harz Mountains is high in mineral content, one of the most abundant of which was salt (Burnsed 2011). Some of these minerals dissolved into the waterways and this may have originally been the source of Gose’s salinity. There are several large salt mines off to the east, which made salt a much less valued commodity in the Harz region than it was in other areas. So, adding a bit of salt might have been a cost-effective way for brewers in Goslar to add a bit of mouthfeel to their beers.

GOSLAR WATER ANALYSIS

Sodium:	28.9 ppm
Potassium:	1.4 ppm
Magnesium	6.3 ppm
Calcium:	20.7 ppm
Chloride:	45 ppm
Nitrate:	6.9 ppm
Sulfate:	22.4 ppm
CaCO3:	76.7 ppm
pH:	7.65

907mmol/m³

4.3°dH, or 4.48 grain CaCO₃/gal.

Data courtesy of and much thanks to Benedikt Rausch.

°dH, deutsche Härte (German hardness); ppm, parts per million (1 ppm = 1 mg/L).

As you can see in the Gose river water analysis above, today the waters of the Gose are not very high in mineral content. Where then did the salinity come from? Although there is no definitive answer, it will be discussed more later in the book.

A brewing water analysis for Leipzig is a bit more complicated than that for Goslar. Leipzig draws its water from several different supply sources. The water supply in any particular location in Leipzig may vary from the supply in another part of the city. This variation may also depend on what time of the year it is, or the municipal waterworks’ needs at that time. The sources include the supply stations Canitz, Thallwitz, Naunhof 1, Naunhof 2, Belgershain, Probstheida, and Plaussig (Boone and Castenholz 2001). Some of these water supply stations are on the outskirts of the city; others are farther afield. Some of the water profiles vary greatly from the others. The following are averages for those seven locations. The Döllnitz water analysis is for the Döllnitz city water supply.

LEIPZIG WATER ANALYSIS

Sodium:	26.7 ppm
Potassium:	4.4 ppm
Magnesium	<0.1 ppm
Calcium:	78.2 ppm
Chloride:	43.0 ppm
Nitrate:	12.0 ppm
Sulfate:	167.7 ppm
pH:	7.8

14.1°dH (German hardness)

°dH, deutsche Härte (German hardness); ppm, parts per million (1 ppm = 1 mg/L).

DÖLLNITZ WATER ANALYSIS

Sodium:	9.7 ppm
Potassium:	1.0 ppm
Magnesium:	3.3 ppm
Calcium:	22.3 ppm
Chloride:	17.9 ppm
Nitrate:	1.3 ppm
Sulfate:	22.9 ppm
pH:	8.67

3.9 dH (German hardness)

°dH, deutsche Härte (German hardness); ppm, parts per million (1 ppm = 1 mg/L).

With all this discussion of mineral content, salinity, and water analyses, you may be asking yourself, so where does this leave me? Stick with the premise that if your water tastes good, it will make good beer. If you want to do more, there are a few things to consider trying. Homebrewers can start with distilled water and make mineral additions to build the water profile required. That is probably not an economically viable solution for professional brewers. If you want or need to make adjustments, compare your water to the beer style you would like to brew—in our case the water of Leipzig or Goslar. For example, if you would like to emulate a Leipziger Gose, Leipzig water has a rather high sulfate content.2 This is said to be good for brewing pale beers, to give a beer a sharper bite, showcase the hops, and make malts less sweet. Adjust your sulfate content to around 160–175 ppm by adding gypsum to your water. Or you might want to increase your calcium content by adding calcium carbonate to your water. Keep in mind that calcium can impart mineral flavors at levels over 200 ppm. However, unless your water has some fairly serious issues, I think it is better to start with the water available to you, make the adjustments you feel are necessary, and always use an even hand.

MALT

Most brewers adhere fairly closely to tradition when creating the malt bill for their Gose-style beer. This malt bill usually consists of wheat and barley in near equal proportions, with wheat sometimes taking a slight lead. There are some recipes prior to 1800 that used 100 percent wheat malt, but not all of them. In the past, oats were sometimes used in small quantities. Specialty malts can be used too, but should be used sparingly. The main focus of this beer is wheat, and if the brewer creates an overly complicated malt bill, it will only distract from the wheat’s contribution.

Barley

The barley malt for a Gose should be pale two-row malt, Pilsner malt, or another well-modified pale barley. The pale malt can be either German- or American-grown. The German malts may produce a bit more flavor, but American pale malt will work just as well. If you are trying to recreate a traditional Gose, you will of course need to acquire a German variety for both your pale barley malt and wheat malt. It is noteworthy that German malts are usually not as highly modified as American malts and as such will not readily supply as much low molecular weight nitrogen, which makes up a large percentage of the free amino nitrogen (FAN) in wort. To help alleviate this, brewers using German malts (or high percentages of wheat) may choose to have a protein rest at around 122°F (50°C) before moving up to a saccharification rest.

Figure 3.2. Malted barley—brown malt and pale malt.

Some brewers like to use two or three different base barley malts to add complexity to the malt flavor profile.

Oats

It has been reported by several sources that during the High and late Middle Ages some brewers used oats in smaller quantities when brewing Gose (Brockhaus 2001, 723). The literature is scant on the subject, but it has been suggested that the proportion was low—possibly up to 20 percent, but not much greater. It has also been suggested that beers made with oats were of a lower quality; these beers were made for the less fortunate in the community. In modern Gose, oats are not used in any appreciable quantity, and most literature maintains that Gose is made using only wheat and barley in near equal proportions. If you do want to use oats, I would suggest using flaked or rolled oats at 10 percent or less. Oats will give the beer more mouthfeel and some greater depth.

Wheat

When brewing a beer with such a large percentage of wheat, it is important to understand a little about this grain. Wheat and barley differ in several ways and it is important to note that the overall protein content of wheat is typically higher than the overall protein content of barley. The most important difference is in the amount of gluten contained as a percentage of the protein content. The protein content of raw barley is in the area of 10–12%, with the fraction of gluten being about 50–55%. Wheat malt, on the other hand, has a protein content of about 13–17%, with about 80% of that being gluten. The higher protein and gluten levels in wheat malt will result in a more turbid beer with greater mouthfeel and better head retention. The more wheat malt you use, the more you will see those components in your finished beer.

The use of more than about 60 percent wheat malt can lead to a deficiency in amino acids. This lack of amino acids can in turn lead to a sluggish or weak fermentation, producing undesirable fermentation flavors and by-products in your final beer. These undesirable components can include excessive diacetyl, worty flavors, and fusel alcohols.

Wheat malt has about twice the high-molecular-weight proteins as does barley. Wheat malt also produces a wort that is more viscous than that of barley—this viscosity can lead to problems during lautering. A 100 percent wheat malt wort is over 50 percent more viscous than that of a wort produced from 100 percent barley. Also remember that wheat is a huskless grain; plan your malt bill accordingly and, if needed, use rice hulls to augment filterability of your grain bed during lautering. I have been told that in Europe rice hulls are not easily available, so if brewing in Europe you might use sorghum hulls or spelt husks.

Your choice of wheat malt variety can make subtle differences in the overall flavor of your Gose. (See “A Short Dissertation on Wheat” sidebar for additional details).

A SHORT DISSERTATION ON WHEAT

Less than one tenth of one percent of the wheat grown in America goes on to be used in brewing. Understandably, almost no one bothers to grow wheat to brewers’ specifications, although I have heard tell of farms, such as Skagit Valley Malting in western Washington, who are growing unusual wheat and barley micro-crops for craft brewers. But for the most part, nearly all wheat is grown to bakers’ specifications and we brewers must make do with what is available to us.

Red versus White, Hard versus Soft, Winter versus Spring

The differences in the varieties of wheat malt are fairly minor for brewing applications—varietal differences are of much greater importance to the baker—but they matter enough in brewing to warrant some discussion. For those who want to make a more nuanced or delicately complex-tasting wheat-based beer such as Gose, this sidebar may bring you some helpful insights. For brewers wanting a Gose with bold and robust sourness, spice, or fruit flavors, any difference in wheat malt variety will likely be too subtle to make much difference, as the other flavors would overpower them.

Wheat malt can be either red or white. The color refers to the outer seed coat. Red wheat has a more distinctive and robust wheat flavor and character than the milder white varieties. Hard white wheat was developed from hard red wheat by genetic selection that eliminated the genes for bran color while still preserving the other desirable characteristics of red wheat. Depending on the variety, red wheat has from one to three genes that give the bran its red color. White wheat lacks these genes. Their elimination results in fewer phenolic compounds and tannins from the bran, and this in turn reduces husk bitterness.

Winter wheat is planted about six weeks earlier than spring wheat (a.k.a. summer wheat). This means that winter wheat sprouts and is harvested earlier, resulting in a plumper kernel with a lower protein level; approximately 12 percent for winter varieties compared with 15 percent for spring varieties. This lower protein level is preferable, as it translates to slightly higher extracts and a slightly paler beer. Spring wheat also has a slightly higher gluten level.

Hard and soft wheat are terms used mainly in the United States to differentiate between high-protein and low-protein wheat types. The term comes from the baking industry. Hard wheat has higher protein and higher gluten levels than does soft wheat. The gluten it forms is strong and elastic and is better able to trap the carbon dioxide bubbles formed by the yeast, causing dough to rise. Its protein content is usually around 14–15 percent. Hard wheat is prized for baked goods like bread. Soft wheat has a lower protein content, around 10–12 percent, and forms a softer gluten matrix, making it more adequate for cakes, piecrusts, cookies, and other pastries. It will absorb less water than hard wheat flour and cannot take over-kneading. There is no noticeable flavor differences between the two.

Unmalted or raw wheat has not undergone the sprouting and drying process of malting. Some brewers feel that unmalted wheat lends more flavor and body to their beers. I have found it adds more haze to the final product. Unmalted wheat is also cheaper to purchase. When I once asked brewer Pierre Celis, of Hoegaarden witbier fame, why traditional witbier used a percentage of unmalted wheat, he replied, “Because it was cheaper.” It was such a sensible, down-to-earth answer, it made me realize that traditional may not always mean better. Beware: the use of unmalted wheat can slow the lautering of an already difficult-to-lauter wheat beer.

Pregelatinized, Torrified, Flaked, and Rolled Wheat

These products are all basically the same. They can be used in place of raw wheat with slightly better results. All of them are unmalted, but heat-treated. This heat treatment allows for faster hydration and easier access to the starch for enzymatic degradation. Rolled and flaked wheat are just flattened versions of the whole-kernel grains, and they require no milling. All these products should be used with a malt that has sufficient enzymes to carry out the conversion of their starches. They add body and fullness to a beer, but can also lead to difficulty in lautering (although not as bad a plain raw wheat). I would suggest using them sparingly, less than 15 percent of the total grain bill.

Figure 3.3. Wheat malt is sometimes called “the naked grain.”

Historical Use of Luftmalz in Gose

As discussed earlier, it can be difficult to know what beers were like historically, as it is difficult to pin down even the most basic information, like what kind of malt was used. Prior to the 1200s, there is a real dearth of documentation, not just about the beers, but about the ingredients of almost any kind. This coupled with the fact that, in the past, brewers were a very secretive group, makes it very difficult to be sure of the facts. But, although it is impossible to be certain, we can make a few assumptions. For example, if people were writing about a process or ingredient and not saying it was an amazing new development, then we can be pretty sure it had been done or used in the recent, or even distant, past. Such is the case with Luftmalz, or air-dried malt. People from the area now known as Belgium called it “wind malt,” because it was malted at low temperatures and dried in the open air rather than kilned (Hieronymus 2010).

The lack of a strong heat source to dry the malt prevented any color formation or Maillard reaction-derived character. (Maillard reactions are chemical reactions between amino acids and reducing sugars that give browned food its distinctive flavor, and is especially important for developing dark malt flavor in brewing.) It has been suggested by maltster Michael Heinrich of Great Western Malting that malt produced without heat would have very little of the taste we currently associate with malt, because most of the flavors in malt, even today’s light pale malts, are created in the kilning process. The flavors of un-kilned malt would probably include grass, a lightly herbal character, and perhaps a bit of sulfur. My experiments of malting and drying without a heat source did in fact have grassy, clover, and alfalfa-like flavors, but no sulfur notes (see “Luftmalz Malting” sidebar below). Air-dried malt would be high in enzymes, and the resulting beers would have been very pale, sometimes described as white or waxy light yellow.

These malts were made specifically to create light-colored beers. Both wheat and barley could be air-dried, making it difficult in some cases to tell which grain Luftmalz referred to. If that ambiguity did not complicate things enough, even well into the nineteenth century some parts of central Europe understood weissbier to mean white beer, not necessarily wheat beer. The term white beer could refer to wheat beer, barley beer, or a mixed barley and wheat beer brewed with air-dried malt (Hieronymus 2010). Drying malt in this manner was probably a technique that went back hundreds or even thousands of years prior to its first mention. Certainly, it would have been a less resource-intensive way to go about drying malt; in the Middle Ages, when the maltster often had to supply the heat source, be it wood, coal, or coke, air drying malt would have made a lot of sense. Another important point about Luftmalz is that, because it did not use heat, it could only be produced in the warmer months of the year. In cooler months not only would it not dry properly and be more prone to mold, but in winter the malt could freeze and then the “quality of beer brewed with it suffered” (McGregor and McGregor 2017, Pt.1). Because of its higher moisture content, such malt could not be stored for very long.

Without records, it is impossible for us to know what malts were used in the early Middle Ages, let alone what wheat and barley varieties existed. Later records tell us of the use of 100 percent wheat malt in some Gose recipes. I would suspect that, because of the difficulty with lautering, 100 percent wheat recipes were the exception, not the norm, but there is no way to be certain. At some point, probably during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, brewers began to shift away from brewing with 100 percent wheat for Gose in favor of using some proportion of barley. There were probably economic reasons behind the change: barley kept better than wheat, it had greater diastatic power, and barley was easier to lauter. The references below speak to this, but bear in mind these are all from later sources.

When barley first started to be used in Gose, its proportion was rather low, but it increased over time. Recipes suggest that by 1700 ratios were about 3 to 1 (wheat to barley). For the last 100 years or so the ratio has been around 1 to 1.

Historical References to Luftmalz Production

If you want to brew a weissbier from barley, use malt that has been merely air dried and is called Luftmalz. The usual weissbiers, Gose, Brenhahn, are brewed with air-dried malt and oats.

—Hedenus 1817

If the malt has already dried on the aforementioned kiln floor that there is no need for any kilning, then the malt is called Luftmalz. This Luftmalz is primarily used for weissbier to give it a very light and faint color. However, comparing Luftmalz to the quality of everyday kilned malt, it isn’t always advantageous to use it alone, namely because 1) Its faint color, 2) On account of the enormous amount required that it is necessary to grow during the most favorable times of the year, 3) The Luftmalz is harder to mash in, and 4) The wort is also harder to extract; because the brewer’s grains (Treber) are very sticky and stick together leading to a slow and imperfect wort runoff.

—Heiss 1870

One uses air-dried malt and two parts air-dried malt with well-modified kilned malt, but lower quality will also do, as it works just as well [for making Gose].

—Grenell 1907

Air and kiln drying: The moist, green malt comes to a dry, moderately warm, airy loft or attic floor, where it is spread out in thin layers and turned, and partly dried; The germination process is thereby interrupted. The so-called half-dried or air malt with close to 12 percent moisture is further kiln-dried by heating. This Luftmalz is only stable for a short time, does not provide a long-lasting beer and does not contain the necessary flavor for the beer. Kiln drying takes place between 50 and 100°C (122 and 212°F) or higher, and thereby destroys part of the diastatic power, but without disadvantage for the beer, because the green malt contains much more diastatic power than is necessary for saccharification. Green malt is used for distillation. The malt is kiln-dried using hardwood or hard coal (anthracite).

—Heiss 1870

The character of the beer is primarily dependent on the type and degree of malting and kiln drying. For a light and thin beer, for example, Bohemian and light northern German beers, [grain] must be malted at a lower temperature with strong ventilation, so that the carbohydrates remain fermentable and have little browning.

—Ost 1890

100 lb. [45.4 kg] of air-dried barley results in about 92 lb. [71.7 kg] of Luftmalz; eight percent of the barley weight is lost in the malting process. Consequentially:

1.5 lb. [0.68 kg] lost during steeping

3 lb. [1.36 kg] lost during germination

3.5 lb [1.59 kg] lost to rootlets

100 pounds barley Luftmalz contains on average 65 lb. [29.5 kg] whole grain, 35 lb. [15.9 kg] husks, and under dry conditions yields up to 75 lb. [34 kg] of water-free extract.

—Heiss 1870

The malt is never kilned but germinated and dried under the free air. It needs a lot of care to create the malt always in the same quality. The owner has to watch it day and night so he does not miss the right moment to get it out of the growth bed and break it apart.

—Bibra 1791 (Translated by Benedikt Rausch)

Adjuncts

Adjuncts are probably not appropriate in a beer as light as Gose. They would only serve to dry the beer out to a point where the sourness would be unbalanced by the lack of sufficient malt body and sweetness. If a brewer felt compelled to use an adjunct, I would recommend keeping its use below 10 percent of the total grist bill.

TABLE 3.1 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BARLEY AND WHEAT

	Barley	Wheat
Husk:	Yes	No
% Cellulose:	5.7	2.9
% Starch:	71	76
% Lipids:	2.5	2.0
% Protein:	11.8	14.5
% Gluten:	5–8	12–14
	High content of fiber and a stronger taste	Less fiber and lighter taste
% Extract:	85	80

LUFTMALZ MALTING

After reading many historical German brewing texts and meeting with several German brewers who made sour wheat beers, I began to wonder about Luftmalz and what its characteristics might be. Since I could find no malting company making Luftmalz, and encouraged by my discussions with maltster Michael Heinrich at Great Western Malting, I thought I might be able to make some myself. I procured some homegrown wheat from my friend, John Keevan-Lynch. It was a variety called Dylan. Dylan is a hard red spring wheat that is well able to handle wet soils (like we find here in the Anderson Valley in winter and spring). I followed instructions I found online to malt the wheat. It was quite easy.

1. 1. Homegrown grain will probably need washing to separate the wheat from the chaff. Cover the grain with water. The chaff will float—remove it. Give the grain a gentle stirring. Remove any other floating debris. Purchased commercial grain will probably not need this step.
2. 2. In a container, cover the grain with an inch or two of water. Cover and let soak for 8–10 hours.
3. 3. Drain and let the grain sit for 8–10 hours.
4. 4. Repeat step 2.
5. 5. Drain and spread the grain out to a thickness of 1–2 in. (2.5–5 cm). At this point the chit should be showing from one end of the grain (see fig. 3.4). Cover the grain and let it sit for 2–4 days (3 days is normal) at room temperature.
6. 6. Turn the malt every 8 to 12 hours. The grain on the bottom will sprout faster and thus the grain needs to be turned. Keep the grain moist but not wet during the first two days (fig. 3.5). You can lightly spray it down or lightly rinse and drain it. This can easily be done if the grain is in a perforated pan or colander.
7. 7. Allow the sprouting to continue until the coleoptile (a vegetative sheathed sprout—not to be confused with the rootlet) is 75–100 percent of the length of the kernel (fig. 3.6). Sprouting will occur faster for wheat (2–3 days) than barley (4–6 days). How quickly it sprouts will depend on the wheat variety, temperature, moisture level, and other conditions (fig. 3.7).
8. 8. Drying can be accomplished in the sun, by blowing air on the malt with a fan, or using a food dehydrator. Air movement is important. If drying with only a fan, turn the malt occasionally. The drying should take 16–30 hours depending on the method used.
9. 9. Luftmalz was milled and used both damp and fully dried. The malt should be fully dried if it is to be stored for any length of time.

The malt had an overall impression of being green, with aromas of mown grass, clover, alfalfa, hay, and husks.

Figure 3.4. Day one sprouting.

Figure 3.5. Day two, rootlets galore!

Figure 3.6. Day three you can see the beginning of the sprouts.

Figure 3.7. Day four. Just about ready. I stopped hydrating it at this point and allowed it to air dry.

WHITE BEERS

It is interesting to think about what connections might have existed across Europe during the Middle Ages, when long distances were traveled infrequently, and records about brewing were scant and jealously guarded. Of the few records we do have, malt was the common denominator in the brewing of white beers. Records were kept on things like gruit, herbs, and hops, but the amounts used changed over time as well as distance. For example, the use of gruit herbs in beer may have remained in use in one area, while hops supplanted them in another. It is tempting to make a connection between similar beers brewed with similar ingredients, but in different places. Many brewing historians have suggested a historical link between Berliner weisse, Broyhan, and Gose. A few others have suggested a link between Gose and witbier. It is tempting to theorize that there might have been a general style of “white beer” that many brewers across Europe adapted to fit their region.

White beer is brewed in other places, and these beers are called Gose. These should be called wrong Gose, because they are not brewed with the Goslar water and are not able to come near the Gose from Goslar in taste and quality.

—Zückert, Die Naturgeschichte und Bergwerksverfassung des Ober-Harzes, (1762).

There are a number of less well-known beers that probably fall into this white beer category: Lichtenhainer, Broyhan, Grodziskie, witbier, Berliner weisse, and Gose. All these are pale (white) wheat beers with low gravity, and varying levels of lactic sourness. Certainly, each of them today has a unique character, but these differences are regional and fairly nuanced: one slightly smoky and hoppy (Grodziskie), one with another spice (Broyhan), and more than one with coriander (Gose and witbier).

In Stan Hieronymus’s book, Brewing with Wheat, there is an intriguing sidebar in which Belgian brewer and beer historian Yvan De Baets outlines a historical witbier recipe that contains both coriander and salt (plus 250 grams of stag’s antler shavings—but as I said, regional differences). At the bottom of the sidebar De Baets notes, “The lactic fermentation, plus the use of salt and coriander, will inevitably make you think of the Leipzig Gose, which has the same characteristics. It’s worth a study on the links between those cities that would show a possible influence in their brewing methods.” Could these beers have been related at some point?

Indeed, and it would be interesting to know about the possible links between Goslar and Jena, where Lichtenhainer beer was brewed, and between Hamburg, where Broyhan was brewed, and Berlin, among others. It makes me wonder if brewers really were as secretive as many of the books suggest. Maybe connections were developed by the practice of what in Germany today is called die Walz, during which a young hopeful ventures out into the world to find a master to apprentice with, before returning home to start his or her own trade in earnest. Or is it more like modern day brewers, who, when they chance to meet, sit down over a few beers and discuss their mutual interest.

A FAMILY OF WHITE BEERS

Back in 1784, Dr. Knaust, the eighteenth century beer writer, suggested a similar but less widespread notion of a family of white beers. He wrote about as many as 50 of them and profiled each one. “The beer of the mountain town Goslar am Harz is called Gose, just like the river that flows through the city. Dr. Knaust says it’s sweet at first, but later turns sour like Hamburg. Several places, of which the book makes Quedlinburg, Halberstadt, Blankenburg, Aschersleben, Werningerode and Osterwyk praised, mimicked the Gose.” (Elvert 1870)

HOPS

In order to tame the sweetness of the wheat and to prevent the beer from getting sour, some Scheffel of Hops should be added.

—Sigmund Bibra, Journal von und für Deutschland (Translated by Benedikt Rausch and Fal Allen).

In the case of Gose, hops came in mid-game as a replacement player. Gruit and other herbs and spices were the flavorings of the very first Gose beers. But since there are almost no brewing records and certainly no recipes from those early days in Goslar, we will have to make a few assumptions about those beers. Hops probably came into use during the 1200s and possibly a little bit later (Lawrence 1990). We do know that hops were being grown, probably for medicinal purposes, around Goslar by then. In fact the Ratsapotheke, or councilor’s apothecary of Goslar, was first documented in 1300. It was one of the oldest chemist shops in Germany and hops would certainly have been on one of their shelves (Goslar Museum 2017).

At first, hops may have been a part of a gruit mix. They were worked into the recipe with other spices that had come before them. Then, over time, most of the other spices fell away, leaving only hops and coriander, or maybe sometimes a little spruce.

Gose is not a hop-forward beer style; it’s just not. In this current India Pale Ale (IPA) craze, that may be hard to remember. Making a hoppy Gose is a bit like making a blonde stout, or black IPA, or . . . Oh, wait a minute. All right, I know some of you out there won’t be able to help yourselves—you will feel compelled to make a hoppy Gose. To all of you in that camp I say do what makes you happy, just don’t call it a traditional Gose. Part of writing a style guideline book is defining the style’s parameters, and traditional Gose is not a hop-forward beer. Its notably low bitterness is one of the things that helps define the style. To add to that, in my experience, I have found that bitter and sour do not really work all that well together. That is probably one of the reasons Gose is not hop forward. Hops were used—there are many descriptions of their use historically—they were just used in small quantities.

Another reason that Gose is not a hoppy beer is that Lactobacillus is not a hop-tolerant bacteria. As little as 5 IBUs can affect the growth of some strains of Lactobacillus, and without Lactobacillus Gose would not be a sour beer. So it is not all that surprising that a beer traditionally soured by Lactobacillus during fermentation didn’t contain much hops. This is less of an issue if you are doing a non-traditional souring of your Gose, like using acidified malt or brewhouse souring.

Hop Selection

Traditionally, hops probably would have been added only once, in small amounts. In the early years of using hops, during the late Middle Ages, that addition was probably in the mash tun. This is because the gruit spices were often mixed in with the malt in the mash tun (Corran 1975). In later years, the hop addition probably shifted to the boil, or even after the boil. Hop additions would have been enough to ward off some unwanted bacteria, but low enough to allow Lactobacillus to do its work. Hops traditionally would be of a noble German variety, but since the hops play a smaller role they could conceivably be of any variety as long as they are not overly assertive.

When choosing a hop variety, it is important to know what you want out of it. There are three basic characteristics to look at: bitterness, flavor, and aroma. In Gose, bitterness should range from 2–15 IBUs. Bitterness should be mild, not harsh. Look for a mild flavored hop with low cohumulone to impart a softer bitterness. Keep in mind that if you use lower alpha acid (AA) hops, you will need to use a greater quantity of them to achieve the same amount of bitterness than you would with a higher alpha acid hop. For example, you would need roughly twice the amount of Cascade hops (5–7.7% AA) than you would Magnum hops (~10–16% AA) to achieve the same bitterness.3 This means that if you use Cascade hops you will be boiling twice the vegetal matter than you would with Magnum hops, and doing so will extract more cooked vegetal flavors. These flavors might remain hidden in a bigger beer, but in a low-gravity pale beer like Gose, these unwelcome vegetal flavors could distract from the overall flavor profile. Also note that low gravity beers achieve better hop utilization (alpha acid or hop bitterness extraction) than do higher gravity beers.

Hop flavors and aromas are more subjective choices. Flavors should be mild for the same reasons bitterness should. What you choose for your aroma hops can make a big difference in the overall perception of your beer. For more traditional Gose beers, the classic German aroma varieties Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Saphir, Hersbrucker, or Perle might be good choices. But whether you choose fruity, spicy, pine of citrus hops, be sure they pair well with the other spices you may be using; traditionally, that would be coriander or maybe spruce. Remember, in most cases you want to make a balanced beer and to do so you will need to use a judicious hand.

YEAST

The Gose is a cloudy, slightly acidic beer and was already mentioned as an export beer in 1755, but originally came from Goslar and was later produced in Döllnitz. Nowadays it is produced in the Leipzig area by a number of breweries, but the yeast is taken from the distillery Libertwolkwitz.

—Braumeister Grenell, Die Fabrikation obergäriger Biere in Praxis und Theorie page 74. (Translation by Ron Pattinson.)

A brewer’s choice of yeast can have a big impact on any beer style. Bavarian hefeweizen brewed with English ale yeast would taste very out of place. It would lack the signature banana and clove nose traditionally found in a German weizen. Or imagine a Pilsner brewed with a Belgian monastery yeast; it would be full of a rich, ripe fruitiness that no lager should have, and it would be lacking the clean crispness and malty backbone associated with Pilsners the world over. If you have any doubt about how much of an impact the chosen yeast strain has on the final beer, try splitting a single run of wort and fermenting it with two or three different yeast strains. The results will surprise you.

For Gose, the choice of yeast is not as dramatic as the examples above, but the choice is still an important one. The six factors that a brewer usually looks at (pretty much in this order) are flavor and aroma, attenuation, alcohol tolerance, temperature range, flocculation, and ability to remain viable during storage.

Flavor is very subjective and so you will need to base yeast selection on the flavors you like, or what you want to bring out in the beer. Gose beers are traditionally top-fermented ales, so although lager yeast could be used, it is not really the best choice. I would recommend a well-known German ale strain, perhaps Kölsch or altbier. White Labs WLP029 is a good Kölsch strain; under the right conditions it will lend a classic white-wine note, and is a good attenuator. Wyeast 1007 German Ale ferments dry and crisp, with a mild fruitiness at higher temperatures, though it will ferment cleanly closer to 55°F (13°C). You could also use an English ale yeast, but I would avoid ones that are overly fruity. A fruity yeast might bring out more of the spice you use, but a yeast with a relatively neutral flavor profile will let more of the sour brightness show through in the beer. I would also avoid using distinctive strains, like monastery ale or Bavarian weizen ale yeasts, as the ester profile might overpower the other Gose flavors. A Belgian witbier yeast, like White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit and Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier, might bring out interesting notes. Most importantly, find a yeast strain that you think will work well with the Gose you want to brew. Good versions of these strains and others can be found through your favorite yeast supplier or local homebrew supply stores.

Attenuation can be important in this style depending on what you are shooting for. A highly attenuative yeast will leave the beer dry and crisp. Yeast with low attenuation will leave the beer with more sweetness. When looking at yeast specifications, keep these general ranges in mind: high attenuation is 78 percent and above, medium is from 73 to 77 percent, and low attenuation is anything less than 72 percent.

For Gose, alcohol tolerance in not really an issue, as Gose-style beers are low to medium-low alcohol content beers. The same can be said about flocculation, as Gose is not particularly clear.

The one characteristic that is of a concern for Gose is tolerance to acidity. Some yeast will not properly function at pH levels lower than about 3.8. At that point, they may produce off-flavors or they may stop metabolizing sugars and leave the beer underattenuated. Some yeasts (like the house yeast at Anderson Valley Brewing) can adequately ferment low pH wort and produce good flavors, but after fermentation is over that yeast cannot be repitched into another wort with acceptable results. The yeast is essentially burned-out and must be discarded. Still, there are other yeast strains that can produce beer at low pH levels and can easily be repitched. Since this characteristic in not usually listed on yeast performance descriptions, it will need to be tested before taking a Gose to full production.

Terminal Acid Shock

As discussed above, some yeast cannot thrive under low pH conditions. They remain alive, but are not able to proceed with normal fermentation function. This is known as terminal acid shock. However, it may be possible to train or acclimate your yeast so as to tolerate low pH conditions. This can be done by re-propagating your yeast in a series of successively lower pH pitches until the yeast has acclimated to the low pH conditions. This has been successfully done for yeast needed to bottle condition low pH beers, but this method may not yield yeast that can produce satisfactory flavors in a full-scale ferment.

DEFINING SPONTANEOUS, WILD, AND OPEN FERMENTATIONS

Spontaneous when referring to a process or event is defined as “developing [. . .] without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment.”4

Wild when referring to an animal or plant is defined as “living in a state of nature and not ordinarily tame” or “growing or produced without human aid.”5

The Milk the Funk blog defines a spontaneous fermentation as “the inoculation of wort for fermentation with local ambient microbes.”6

Wine makers define spontaneous as “fermentation that naturally occurs when the wild yeast and microorganisms that the grapes bring in with them from the vineyard are encouraged to propagate.”7

My opinion is that all of these definitions give about the same answer: a spontaneous or wild fermentation is one that occurs naturally from local microbes not introduced by the brewer. The two key points seem to be that the introduction of the microbes occurs without assistance of the brewer and that these microbes are naturally occurring in the environment. I would venture to agree with Milk the Funk’s loose interpretation and think that these microorganisms could be blown in on the wind, residents of the wooden barrels and tanks, or existing in the environment that surrounds the coolship or fermenting vessels, as long as they are naturally occurring and indigenous to the surroundings. I would also put open fermentations in the category because, as the name suggests, the wort is left open to the environment to achieve fermentation. All of the above would be considered mixed fermentations, but not all mixed fermentations can be considered spontaneous. A brewer could pitch selected bacteria and Saccharomyces yeast and that would be a mixed fermentation, but it would not be naturally occurring and it probably would not be with indigenous microbes. Even if it was pitched with indigenous microbes, they would have been selected by the brewer and not by random occurrence or nature.

Wild Ferments and/or Spontaneous Fermentation

The Goslarsche Gose inoculates itself without the addition of yeast or gest.

—Brückmann and Kohl, Epistola itineraria XXXVIII.

It [Gose wort] is then filled in barrels and left to ferment which happens after 12 to 24 hours. This beer needs no foreign additive but inoculates itself.

—Zückert, Die Naturgeschichte und Bergwerksverfassung des Ober-Harzes.

There should be some discussion here about not pitching yeast. Originally, Gose beers were almost certainly spontaneously fermented. There are records of Gose fermenting without the addition of yeast as late as the 1700s, yet those fermentations were starting within 24 to 48 hours.8 So there must have been a more immediate source of microbes to get the beer fermenting so quickly. Additionally, Gose beer was drunk fairly quickly—usually within three weeks—and most 100 percent spontaneously fermented beers take much longer than three weeks to finish and be safe to consume. It has been suggested that fermentation vessels made of wood, sometimes spruce, were the possible source of bacteria and yeast necessary for fermentation (Brinkmann 1925). These vessels may have acted as a home for resident microbes, and brewers may have intentionally avoided cleaning these vessels too thoroughly, as they would have noticed that a more casual cleaning resulted in the next fermentation starting faster (from the imbedded microbes left behind in the wood). This would be akin to the fashion that Scandinavian brewers used the fast-acting Kveik to start their fermentations prior to a good understanding of how fermentation was carried out.

Figure 3.8. Wort starting fermentation in the coolship. Photo courtesy of Sebastian Sauer, Bierkompass/Freigeist Bierkultur, Germany.

Those brewers today wanting to reproduce a spontaneously fermented Gose have a few options. One would be to build a coolship and allow local wind-borne microbes to ferment your beer. An alternative would be to lightly spray the walls, ceiling, and rafters of the building/shed/garage that holds your coolship.9 Spray these areas down with a diluted, unfiltered, spontaneously fermented beer of your choice (I prefer Lindemans Cuvée René, after I have enjoyed about half the bottle). To avoid mold, do not spray too much at one time. Let it all dry up and repeat the process. This puts the many, many microbes involved in the spontaneous fermentation of that beer up and soaked into the building in a percentage that you might find them wafting about in the air.10 Another method would be to naturally inoculate a small wort sample, culture it to assure that there is no mold or other evil present, and the flavors are not completely unacceptable. Then you can grow up that sample to a sufficiently pitchable quantity, and pitch it into the main body of wort.

Another way to achieve a spontaneous fermentation is to pitch your wort into a wooden vessel, such as a barrel or foeder, that previously contained a wild ferment. The microbes responsible for the wild fermentation will be ensconced in the cracks and crevices of the inherently porous wood, and once you introduce the sweet wort they will take over and do what they do best. This method is, of course, only an alternative if you have access to such vessels.

SPICES

In the early part of the Middle Ages, before the Crusades, Asian spices in Europe were costly and mainly used by the wealthy. A pound of saffron cost the same as a horse; a pound of ginger, as much as a sheep; two pounds of mace as much as a cow. A German price table of 1393 lists a pound of nutmeg as worth seven fat oxen. Pepper, as well as other spices and herbs, was commonly used as a monetary source. Eastern Europeans paid 10 pounds of pepper in order to gain access to trade with London merchants. Throughout Europe, peppercorns were accepted as a substitute for money—some landlords would get paid as a “peppercorn rent” (Rosengarten 1969). Peppercorns, counted out one by one, were accepted as currency to pay taxes, tolls, and rents (partly because of a coin shortage). Many European towns kept their accounts in pepper. “If you were an exceptionally lucky bride, your father might give you peppercorns as a dowry” (Moseley 2006)

When Gose beers were first brewed in the Middle Ages there were many herbs and spices used in brewing, including a spice mix called gruit. Gose-style beers from the modern period are spiced with coriander, but other spices have been used in the past. A Brauwelt International article written by Nancy and Christopher McGregor explains, “It seems that many herbs—some of them exotic and available only through the town’s [Goslar’s] links to the Hanseatic League—were employed in the brewing of the beers from Goslar. Some of these herbs included cinnamon, anise, ginger and caraway. However, none of them were employed for very long in the beer . . . except for coriander. The popularity of this herb [coriander] was apparently due to propensity to soothe the stomach” (McGregor and McGregor 2017).

Today the German breweries I have spoken with use only coriander, with one exception: Geisterzug Gose by Freigeist Bierkultur uses spruce. The flavor of coriander is usually mild, but most often overshadows the even milder hop profile of today’s Gose. When designing any beer, I think that the spices should be an accent, not a dominant flavor, and so it is with Gose. You want to add enough coriander to lightly spice the beer but not overpower the other flavors. Use a subtle hand and keep the spice as a complement to the beer’s other flavors. Of course, you need to be mindful of consumer expectation too. If you create a beer using juniper and call it Juniper Gose, then the consumer will be expecting some juniper flavor in the beer. But better a subtle undertone of juniper than a juniper branch slap in the face.

If you are planning on breaking with tradition, as many American brewers do, Gose is a style of beer that lends itself nicely to other spices. Many brewers have used fruit (addressed later in the book) and unusual spices in their Goses. Experiment, have fun with it, and find your own path.

Spices can be added at any time during the brewing process, depending on the flavors and aromas you want them to provide. You can add spices in the mash tun, the kettle, in the whirlpool, hop back, in the fermentor, or even in the finished beer. Conventional wisdom says that the later you add the spices during the process, the more flavor and aroma will be left in the beer. There are a few exceptions to this rule, where flavor is better extracted on the hot side (in the brewhouse) rather than on the cold side (in the cellar), but by and large the rule holds true. It is important to remember that each spice is different and the best way to extract flavors and aromas from one spice may not be the best way to extract them from another. A hot steep of leaves may be the best way to extract tea flavor and aroma, but something as delicate as basil might be best extracted in cold, finished beer.

GRUIT RIGHTS

Charlemagne, known as Charles the Great (b. 742, d. 814), became King of the Franks in AD 768; he later become King of the Lombards through conquest, and finally, after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800, became ruler of the Carolingian Empire until his death. He played an important role in developing, growing and using local and foreign herbs. He was the first ruler to encourage farmers to plant an abundance of culinary herbs such as anise, fennel, fenugreek, sage, thyme, parsley, and coriander. It was Charlemagne’s government during the ninth century that gave the emperor imperial power over all the unexploited lands, and thus by extension, power over all the plants and animals of those lands. The open lands were vast, and this was where most of the herbs and spices used in gruit were found. Charlemagne’s power over these unexploited lands and all things from them gave him the right to grant similar power to those he thought worthy—and so he did. This was known as Gruitrechte, or gruit rights: the right to manage, tax, and control the herbs found in gruit (Unger 2004).

Hot Side Additions

The obvious advantage to adding spices on the hot side is that they are sterilized by their contact with the hot wort. The down side may be a loss of some of the more subtle, delicate flavors and aromas during the steeping or boiling process. Adding your spices during the active boil is probably not the best choice. A boil sufficiently vigorous for brewing purposes will often drive off more delicate flavors and aromas. Boiling may also extract more of the unpleasant harsh or woody flavors from the spices. So most breweries add spices in one of the following ways: toward the very end of the boil, so that there is a short time of boiling and a longer steep in the whirlpool; at the end of the boil, so there is no actual boil time but a gentler steep in the whirlpool; or in the whirlpool or hop back so that the contact time is shorter, though long enough to extract what the spices have to offer.

The other disadvantage of adding your spices on the hot side is twofold. As mentioned, higher temperatures may extract astringent and harsh flavors. The other issue is that the spices may get carried over into your heat exchanger and get stuck or cause build up. An inline screen upstream of the heat exchange can help alleviate this potential problem. If you use spices in your beers regularly, I would recommend that in addition to installing an inline screen upstream, you also do a reverse clean in place (CIP) after every brew, and that you take apart and clean your heat exchange manually at least two to four times a year.

Cold Side Additions

The obvious down side to adding your spices after cooling the hot wort (the cold side) is that they are not sterilized by coming into contact with the hot wort, and that leaves open the possibility of infection. Adding spices to the cold side can also bring out some different flavors than a hot side addition, though they may or may not be to your liking. Cold side flavor extraction doesn’t depend on heat, obviously, but post-fermentation additions may get some help from alcohol extraction.

There are three times during cold side operations that you can add your spices. The first would be before or during fermentation. The main disadvantages of adding the spices at this time is that the evolution of carbon dioxide during fermentation will scrub out a lot of the aromas you are hoping to retain in your beer. Since there is little or no alcohol produced yet, your chances of infection will be higher. The second opportunity to add your spices is very late in fermentation or after fermentation is complete, but before the beer is chilled. The advantage to adding spices here is that the evolution of carbon dioxide is complete (or very near complete) and the more delicate aromas will not likely be scrubbed out. Also, there is now some alcohol in the beer to help ward off infecting bacteria. The pH has also dropped significantly and this too helps reduce the number of bacteria and wild yeast that can prosper in the beer, although this point may be moot for brewhouse-soured or spontaneously fermented Gose beers. The temperature of the beer is still warm enough that the extraction of flavors and aromas will be faster and more effective than they would after the beer has been chilled. And if you add the spices at the very end of fermentation, there is still just enough yeast left in suspension to sequester any oxygen that you might inadvertently introduce to the beer when you add your spices. The third window is after you have chilled the beer. This gives you one more advantage against infection, as most bacteria don’t thrive in the cold, but cold temperatures will inhibit extraction, and there is less yeast in suspension to absorb any inadvertently added oxygen.

There is also the option of making up a tincture of the spices you would like to use by soaking them in a solution of at least 40 percent ethanol. This method can be very useful for some spices, but be aware that ethanol may extract flavors that other methods do not, and this method may pose legal issues for professional brewers.

I believe that although Gose-style beers are low in both alcohol and hops, both of which act as preservatives, the one great advantage these beers have is their high acidity, which also has preservative qualities. Gose beers are in a way pre-infected—certainly at this point a Lactobacillus infection is not much of a worry. Still, you should remain vigilant, because some strains of bacteria and wild yeast (like Brettanomyces) can tolerate pH down to around 2.0.11

Coriander

A little about the main spice used in Gose: coriander, or Coriandrum sativum, is an annual herb indigenous to southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The leaves are used in cooking, especially in Asian, Latin, and Indian cuisine; most people in the Americas know it as cilantro. The ripe, dried fruit is known as coriander seed. This is what is used in Gose brewing. Coriander seed and cilantro leaves give very different flavors and aromas, and they are not interchangeable. There are also two different varieties of coriander: C. sativum var. microcarpum is grown in Russia and central Europe, and is spicier and less fruity; and C. sativum var. vulgare is grown in India, and is fruitier, with heavier notes of citrus. The aroma of coriander seed is fragrant and distinctive, vaguely sweet and similar to a combination of lemon and sage. During the Middle Ages, coriander was added to love potions and was mentioned in One Thousand and One Nights as an aphrodisiac (Rosengarten 1969, 211). Today coriander is used in essential oils, perfumes, candies, pickles, alcoholic beverages, chocolates, tobacco, meats, curries, and pharmaceuticals. Its medicinal properties are said to be anodyne, stimulant, and carminative. Herbal uses are said to include mild pain relief, stimulation of appetite and digestive juices, and reduction of flatulence.12

Gruit

There should be further discussion of gruit, as it was the herb and spice mix almost universally used in brewing when Gose was first brewed. Gruit was the herb and spice mixture used in almost all beers during the Middle Ages. In the fourteenth century, hops began to replace gruit, but the replacement of hops by gruit was strongly resisted for many reasons and took many decades. Gruit was a combination of several herbs and spices mixed together and they could vary greatly depending on location, season, and local availability. The most notable of the herbs used were bog myrtle (a.k.a. sweetgale) yarrow, mugwort, and marsh Labrador tea, or wild rosemary (Ledum palustre). Both bog myrtle and wild rosemary provided a similarly sharp taste component to gruit. Other notable gruit herbs and spices might include ginger, cumin, caraway, anise, sage, marjoram, juniper, laurel, mint, wormwood, ivy, and may have even included the bark of certain trees (Unger 2004). The addition of gruit was for flavor, aroma, sometimes color, and effect (Hornsey 2003). Some gruit mixes contained somewhat intoxicating herbs. Sacred Herbal and Healing Beers author Stephen Buhner writes that the properties of gruit were “highly intoxicating—narcotic, aphrodisiacal and psychotropic when consumed in sufficient quantities. Gruit ale stimulates the mind, creates euphoria, and enhances sexual drive. The hopped ale that took its place is quite different. Its effects are sedative and anaphrodesiacal” (Buhner 1989). Although I have read several references that suggest some gruit ales were somewhat mildly psychotropic, I have found nothing to give the indication that all were psychotropic or that the level of the effects were as potent as might be inferred from the above quotation. The gruit ales I have myself consumed had no greater effect on me than ales of equal alcohol percentage brewed with hops.

We also know that one of the reasons gruit ales were generally more intoxicating than hopped ales was because their alcohol content was higher. Whereas alcohol was the main thing that protected “ales” against bacterial infection, “beer” was brewed using hops, which are an antimicrobial. Hops were so much better at preserving beer than gruit spices were at preserving ale that brewers fairly quickly found they could use less malt for making beer than they would in making gruit ales. Using less malt lowered the brewers’ costs as well as the alcohol content, and the hopped beer lasted just as long without spoiling. This is discussed in A Perfect Platform of a Hoppe Garden by Reginal Scot: “Whereas you cannot make above 8 or 9 gallons of indifferent ale out of one bushel of malt, you can draw 18 or 20 gallons of very good beer.” This means you would need about half the malt to brew an agreeable beer as you would to brew the same amount of ale, if you wanted them to last the same amount of time. A similar sentiment is borne out in Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England by Judith Bennet (1996).

There were several reasons hops eventually supplanted gruit: substantially lower malt costs, longer shelf life, lower alcohol content, cleaner bitterness to balance the malt, more consistent flavors (remember, one never knew what was in a gruit mix), and consumer preference.

One of the problems you will face when brewing gruit beer is that without hops the risk of infection is much higher. Because of their strong preservative qualities, hops help to keep all those unwanted bacteria, molds, and some of the wild yeast from growing in beer.

When hops began to replace gruit it did not happen all at once; it happened slowly and in different places at different times. As mentioned earlier, it is very likely that hops became an addition to gruit, and other herbs were phased out over time. It is also likely that in the case of Gose, hops came into use as other herbs were discarded, and that eventually coriander was the sole remaining herb besides hops. Coriander gives Gose a pleasing lemon note that works well with both the lactic acid and the mild hop character.

Spruce

It appears that throughout the Middle Ages spruce branches and tips were also used in the brewing of Gose. The branches were used in the lautering process and for separating the hot break. The wort was “filtered through the spruce branches” and this gave the wort “the peculiar taste of spruce needles.”13 Later, when brewing methods changed and spruce branches were no longer used, some brewers continued to use spruce as a spice in Gose. I have not had the opportunity to brew or taste a spruced version of Gose, but I have made other styles of beer using spruce. For the most pleasing spruce flavor, I would suggest waiting until the early spring when the spruce trees begin to shoot out new foliage. These pale green tips have a bright conifer aroma and a pleasant, sweet spruce taste. Older branches will be more woody and bitter.

FRUIT

Traditionally, fruit was not added to Gose, but as with Berliner weisse, flavored syrups were sometimes added to the beer when it was served. American craft brewers have taken that concept and run with it by adding fruits, both natural and as syrups, purees, or flavorings, to their beers before packaging. The potential flavor combinations are nearly limitless. When you add fruit to your beer, in addition to the flavors it contributes, the fruit will also be adding some fermentables. It is important to understand what these additional fermentables can mean for your beer. Most fruits contain a mixture of sugars: fructose, glucose, and sucrose. Limes contain the least amount of sugar, clocking in at about one percent by weight. Dates contain the most sugar at about 50–60 percent. These sugars come from the breakdown of fruit starches during ripening. Ripe fruits still contain some starch (notably amylose and amylopectins) and pectins. When boiling, fruits pectins may be extracted and these pectins can cause haze issues downstream. The pectin content will vary from fruit to fruit.

Pears, apples, plums, guavas, gooseberries, oranges, and other citrus fruits contain large amounts of pectin. Some of the relatively low-pectin fruits include raspberries, strawberries, cherries, apricots, grapes, and peaches. Keep in mind that although some haze is acceptable in the wheat-based Gose style, they should not be a cloudy mess. If you feel your beers have haze or other issues related to fruit pectin, you can use a pectic enzyme (pectinase) to break the pectin down. Pectinases are readily available at most homebrew and winemaking shops.

Color, pH, and Astringency

Most fruits have a pH lower than normal, non-soured beers. The pH of fruit can vary from 4.5 to as low as 2.1 for some citrus fruits. You should bear this in mind when adding fruit to beer. In the case of Gose, a fruit addition might even raise the pH.

Fruit may also bring color to the beer. Most of these colors will be pleasing, but not all. The color in fruits come from either anthocyanins, carotenoids, or chlorophyll. The red, purple, and blue colors come from anthocyanins, which give cherries, raspberries, and blueberries their color. Anthocyanins are pH sensitive; at low pH they are more reddish and at higher pH they exhibit more blue color. In Gose, due to low pH, anthocyanins will be expressed as reddish even when using purple or blue fruit. Carotenoids are what create the yellow, orange, and, in some cases, red colors in plants (the red in tomatoes, for example, comes from carotenoids). Carotenoids are fat-soluble and as such will not transfer much color into your beer. Chlorophyll is responsible for the green colors in fruits, but most fruits do not have a lot of chlorophyll. I have found that chlorophyll can also cause astringent bitterness, so be careful when using green-colored fruits. Seeds, pits, and skins can also cause a lot of unpleasant astringency. I recommend tasting these by themselves and deciding if you think it worth the extra effort of removing them from the fruit. In most cases, if possible, I think it is worth the trouble to peel and pit or de-seed the fruit.

In our experience at Anderson Valley Brewing, fresh fruit almost always tastes best, but fresh fruit has many drawbacks as well. It is labor intensive to process, often requiring peeling, squeezing, zesting, chopping, pureeing, scooping, and mixing. It is often hard to acquire a sufficient amount—imagine asking the local grocer for 65 flats of fresh raspberries. It does not store well, and most fruits are seasonal, thus cannot to be found year round—try getting fresh watermelon in the dead of winter or pumpkin in July. Not only that, fresh fruit is covered with micro- (and sometimes macro-) organisms. If you plan on using fresh fruit, be careful of the rind, peel, skin, and seeds, as they can contain compounds that impart harsh and unwanted flavors, sometimes even toxins. Some seeds can contain toxins too. You might want to check out Stan Hieronymus’ Brewing Local for safety details on which parts of the plant to avoid using.

Your other options include, in descending order of preference, frozen whole fruit, frozen purees, frozen pasteurized purees, pasteurized juice, pasteurized aseptic non-frozen purees, juices, juice concentrates, extracts, natural flavoring, and artificial flavorings. Each of these has pros and cons. As you descend down that list from frozen whole fruit to artificial flavoring, usually the quality of the flavor decreases and the ease of use increases. One nice thing about using purees, juices, or extracts is they have removed most of the extraneous matter (seeds, pits, stems, etc.). Whichever of these forms you choose, be careful to find a vendor with flavors that you like; puree, juice, syrup, and extract can vary widely in flavor and aroma from one supplier to another.

Hot Side Fruit Additions

The obvious advantage to adding your fruits on the hot side is that they are sterilized by contact with the hot wort. The downside is that there may be a loss of some of the subtle and more delicate flavors and aromas during the boil, whirlpool, or steep. Boiling fruit may also create a more cooked, jam-like flavor. Many fruits also contain seeds, which, if not removed before heating, can be the cause of harsh and bitter flavors in the beer. Boiling fruit may also release pectin that will cause haze issues post fermentation. As with spices, the best way to add fruit on the hot side is at the very end of the boil, just long enough to sterilize the fruit in the whirlpool. Like spices, another disadvantage of adding your fruit on the hot side is that the pulp or seeds may get carried over into your heat exchanger. Again, the use of an inline screen upstream can help alleviate this potential problem. The same cleaning protocols also apply: I recommend a reverse CIP on your heat exchange after every brew with fruit or spices to help flush out any material, and that you also take apart and manually clean your heat exchange at least two to four times a year.

Cold Side Fruit Additions

Adding fresh fruit to your beer on the cold side can give your beer the flavors closest to real, fresh fruit. As with spices, the downside to adding fruit at this time is that it has not been sterilized. And fresh fruit has a lot more bacteria and bugs (micro and macro) than spices. Adding fresh fruit to beer on the cold side will dramatically increase your chances of infection. To alleviate some of this potential, brewers often use frozen fruit, as most bacteria cannot survive any length of time in the deep freeze—but some bacteria can. Safer yet are flash-pasteurized fruit purees that have then been frozen, and even safer are fruit concentrates. Unfortunately, the more stable a fruit product, the farther you are from the real fresh fruit’s flavors.

Adding your fruit to the cold side can also bring out some different flavors, and to some extent this will be affected by when you add the fruit. The closer to the beginning of fermentation that fruit is added, the more fruit flavor and aroma is lost during fermentation as a result of the fruit’s compounds breaking down. The production of and gassing off of carbon dioxide in particular can be responsible for the loss of many aromatic compounds, just like with hops, and spice aromas. The obvious way to avoid losing aroma and flavor this way is to add the fruit after fermentation is over. But then you might be left with a lot of fruit sugar in your beer. This additional fruit sugar will not only make the beer sweeter, it will leave unfermented sugar in the beer.

If a brewer wants to get fruit flavor and aroma, but does not want the sweetness from the fruit sugar left in the beer, adding the fruit in the last 20–30 percent of fermentation could be a good compromise. At Anderson Valley, we like to add the fruit when fermentation is about 90 percent complete. We do this for several reasons. First, we get good fruit flavor and aroma. True, we do lose a little to carbon dioxide evolution, but not much. Second, the yeast is still active and consumes most, if not all, fruit sugar. Third, because the yeast is still active and in suspension, it absorbs and metabolizes any oxygen that was added during the fruit addition. Fourth, at that point in the fermentation the yeast have already lowered the pH and created alcohol; both suppress the growth of unwanted bacteria. And finally, the beer is still warm enough so that the extraction of flavors and aromas takes place faster and more completely.

The other time you can add fruit to your Gose is after you chill the beer, though it is not advised. Adding the fruit to chilled beer is a double-edged sword; the beer is cold and that offers more protection against spoiling microorganisms (which is good), but the cold temperature means that the flavors and aromas of the fruit will not be extracted as completely or as quickly as they would in warmer beer. All chemical reactions happen faster when they are warmer. Also, since the beer is cold, the yeast will not be able to immediately consume the fruit’s sugars. This will leave fermentable sugar in the beer, which may lead to infection issues after packaging. And even if you are not worried about the flavors those unwanted bacteria may produce, the eventual fermentation of sugar in a finished beer can create unexpected additional carbonation. This will lead to gushing bottles and foaming kegs.

In your favor when adding fruit and spices to the cold side, is that Gose, although not hoppy or very alcoholic (both fairly decent preservatives), has a very low pH. A low pH is a natural preservative, because most microorganisms do not grow well at a pH of less than 3.4, and most bacteria that will grow at a low pH mostly only contribute more acid, which in a Gose is not the worst thing in the world. Do not let this lull you into a sense of false security! To make great beer you should always remain vigilant against unwanted microorganisms.

Of course, you could use fruit on both the hot and cold sides and at multiple stages, or even every stage, of the brewing process. Fruit used at different stages will bring out different flavors and each fruit will act in its own unique way depending on when you add it to your beer. Table 3.2 will be of some aid in your fruit selection.

TABLE 3.2 PH AND SUGAR CONTENT IN SOME COMMON FRUIT

	pH	Approx. sugar % by weight
Apples, Golden Delicious	3.60	10
Apples, McIntosh	3.34	10.5
Apricots	3.30–4.80	9
Beets	5.30–6.60	Varies
Blackberries	3.85–4.50	4.88
Blueberries, Maine	3.12–3.33	11
Breadfruit, cooked	5.33	11
Cactus	4.70	4
Cantaloupe	6.13–6.58	N/A
Cherries	4.01–4.54	14
Cherries, frozen	3.32–3.37	15
Ginger	5.60–5.90	N/A
Gooseberries	2.80–3.10	N/A
Grapes, Concord	2.80–3.00	15
Grapes, Malaga	3.71–3.78	14.8
Grapefruit pulp	3.00–3.75	9.2
Guava nectar	5.50	9
Kumquat, Florida	3.64–4.25	9.36
Lemon juice	2.00–2.60	2.53
Lime juice	2.00–2.35	1
Mangoes, ripe	3.40–4.80	11
Mangoes, green	5.80–6.00	4
Mangostine	4.50–5.00	8
Orange juice	3.30–4.19	9.15
Peaches	3.30–4.05	9
Pears, Bartlett	3.50–4.60	9.69
Pineapple	3.20–4.00	9.85
Plums, blue	2.80–3.40	11
Plums, frozen	3.22–3.42	11
Plums, red	3.60–4.30	11
Pomegranate	2.93–3.20	13.67
Rambutan	4.90	N/A
Raspberries	3.22–3.95	7
Raspberries, frozen	3.18–3.26	7
Strawberries	3.00–3.90	7
Watermelon	5.18–5.60	9

SALT

Legend has it that the salinity of Gose once came from the mineral-laden water of the Gose river. It has been postulated that some medieval brewers thought salt enhanced fermentation and the flavors of the beer made with it. And unlike other regions of the world at that time, salt was plentiful in the Harz mountain region around Goslar, and thus salt was not the expensive commodity it was in other brewing centers. A thousand years after the first Gose beers were brewed, it is hard for us to be certain where it first got is mineral saline note.

We do know that later on, as the beers from Goslar gained in popularity, brewers in the nearby towns wanted to emulate their unique character. In order to replicate the Goslar’s famous Gose flavor, brewers needed to replicate that mineral salinity. From brewing records, we know that the solution for many of those brewers was to add a little salt.

By the late Middle Ages many of the towns surrounding Goslar, especially to the southeast, were producing a Gose. Records show that the towns of Wernigerode, Quedlinburg, Halberstadt, Aschersleben, Blankenburg, and Sandersleben all made their own versions of Goslar’s famous beer. Not much was written about these beers, but we can assume that the further a town was from Goslar, the less likely it was to have similar water. Thus, adjustments would be necessary, and salt became part of the Gose recipe.

Types of Salt

There are many varieties of salt, and you probably should decide what kind of salt you want to use before you decide how much of it you want to use. So let’s do a little Salt 101 class. Humans have been using salt for at least as long as they have been brewing beer. The earliest evidence of the harvest of salt comes from China about 6,000 years ago, and salted fish and game birds have been found in Egyptian tombs that date back to circa 2000 BC.14 Salt’s chemical makeup, in its purest form, is sodium chloride (NaCl) in a 2:3 ratio by mass of sodium and chlorine. The molar masses are approximately 23 g for sodium and 35.5 g for chlorine. Thus, 100 g of sodium chloride (salt) contains 39.34 g sodium and 60.66 g chloride. This could have implications depending on when in the brewing process you add your salt, but these implications are discussed elsewhere in the book.

Minerals or compounds bound up with the salt are what give different salts their different flavors and colors. The minerals could be calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, or others. Some salts are intentionally mixed with other components to give them distinctive colors and flavors. Salt is either mined from ancient ocean deposits or evaporated from ocean water. Most of the nearly 200 million metric tons of salt produced each year is mined from terrestrial deposits. Mining salt usually involves sending water underground into the large salt deposits, then pumping the briny solution to the surface, cleaning it, and then vacuum evaporating off the water. This process leaves salt in the form of grains sufficiently small and uniform to fit through the perforations of your household salt shaker. Sea salt is made by evaporating ocean water, which leaves behind coarse salt crystals. Kosher salt can be either mined terrestrial salt or evaporated sea salt. There is a specific evaporating process used to make kosher salt and it creates coarse, irregularly shaped crystals. The irregular shape is desired because it helps the crystals cling more easily to meat, helping to draw out blood, thereby koshering the meat. Kosher salt is produced under rabbinical supervision. Both kosher salt and natural sea salt are non-iodized. In addition to being used in food and beverages, salt is also used in industrial processes and for the deicing of roads.

Salts of the World

Now that we know a little bit about salt and its makeup, we need to determine what variety of salt we want for our beer. One might think that this would be a bit easier to nail down than how much salt we want to use, but there are a lot of options to choose from.

Iodized Salt

Most table salt is iodized. This mean that the salt has had potassium iodide added to it. This addition is to help protect us humans against thyroid disease, which can be caused by iodine deficiency. Some table salts have other additives like dextrose or calcium silicate to help stabilize the salt and keep it from clumping. Iodized salt is good for table use, but most people agree that it is not suitable for curing meats, some types of cooking, or for brewing. This is because the iodine in the salt can contribute unwanted flavors. The salt you use in your brewing should be non-iodized and free of anti-caking agents.

Pink Himalayan Salt

Pink Himalayan salt is a form of halite or rock salt. It comes from in, around, and near the Punjab province of Pakistan. It has a lovely pink color. It is purported to have many great health benefits, none of which, to date, have been scientifically confirmed. It is also said to be 99 percent pure and to contain over 84 different minerals and trace elements, which one must assume make up the other one percent. It is also purported to store vibrational energy (to understand vibrational energy, you’ll need to first get your chakra realigned). I think that Dr. Andy Weil, the founder and director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, put it best when he said, “Pink Himalayan salt is nutritionally very similar to regular salt. It’s just prettier and more expensive.” A lot more expensive.

Persian Blue

Persian blue salt is harvested from an ancient salt lake in Iran. It is a mineral-rich deposit. Its blue color does not come from the mineral content as with many other colored salts, but from the natural compression of the salt’s structure over millennia. While visually pleasing, as one of the rarest salts in the world, it is very expensive.

Fleur de Sel

Fleur de sel means “flower of salt” in French. For many chefs, this salt is the Holy Grail. It is hand-harvested along the French coastline in the same pools as Celtic grey sea salt. Fleur de sel comes from the uppermost layer of the saltpans, and is therefore the lightest and most flakey of the hand-harvested French salts. In terms of health, it is an expensive, mineral-rich sea salt with delicate flakes. Did I mention that it was expensive?

Celtic Sea Salt

Sometimes called sel gris, this salt is colored by the grey clays of France. It is a naturally evaporated sea salt. It is hand-raked in Brittany, France, and sometimes in other areas where the natural clay and sand create moist, mineral-rich crystals. It comes from the same harvest area as fleur de sel, but from the bottom of the saltpans. Sel gris is said to have alkalizing properties and to prevent muscle cramps. This salt is on the more expensive side, due to the labor-intensive process of hand raking.

Kala Namak / Bire Noon

This is black salt from Nepal (bire noon), India, and Pakistan (kala namak). It is dark purple when whole but becomes pink once ground. It begins as white salt, which is sealed in a ceramic jar with charcoal, sometimes soda ash, and small amounts of harad seed and other spices, and is then fired in a furnace for 24 hours. It develops its color from iron sulfide during this process, which makes it sulfidic in aroma and taste. Thought to be a beneficial digestive aid, black salt is highly prized and is relatively expensive. Kala namak might be good creating some interesting dishes in the kitchen, but I would be reluctant to use it in a Gose. No one wants a beer that smells like boiled eggs.

Hawaiian Black Salt

Another black salt that supposedly originates in Hawaii (although I found no credible source for this claim), Hawaiian black salt is an unrefined sea salt that gets its color from being mixed with activated charcoal. The charcoal is supposedly great for your digestion and for removing impurities in the body. The latter might be true if you’ve just ingested some toxins, although the amount of this charcoal-laced salt you would need to eat to absorb the toxins would have its own deleterious effects. According to Witchipedia (you can’t make this stuff up), this salt is “used in magick [sic] to absorb and trap negative energies.”15 So if you use this salt in your beer you could say your Gose traps and absorbs negative energy, but then again maybe that’s not really a good selling point. As you might imagine, magic salt is fairly expensive.

Hawaiian Rock Salt

Also known as alaea salt, Hawaiian rock salt is an unrefined sea salt that is mixed with and gets its color from alaea, or Hawaiian volcanic red clay. In traditional Hawaiian culture it is used to season local cuisine and to purify, or hi’uwai, tools, objects, and areas. Most of the Hawaiian rock salt that is sold in the United States is produced in California, not in Hawaii (Bitterman 2010). Real Hawaiian alaea salt made in Hawaii is hard to find and legally cannot be sold there (Bitterman 2010). I grew up in Hawaii, so obviously I think that this salt is the best salt known to man (plus, I no can talk stink ‘bout alaea, cuz den bambai da nex time I stay in Hilo, da mokes deah, dey going catch me an buss me up).16

Tahitian vanilla salt

Made with hand-harvested sea salt and Tahitian vanilla beans, this has an attractive brown color and a mild vanilla fragrance. Sweet and salty. It is also expensive.

Spruce Tip Salt

I have included spruce tip salt for three reasons: 1) there are a lot of flavors you can infuse into your salt and I thought this was a good example of one such flavor; 2) spruce was used in Gose traditionally and I thought that this might be a good way to incorporate some spruce flavor; and 3) it just sounds really yummy. I have had spruce tip beers in the past and I have always enjoyed them, but you can only make them during a very brief period of the year when the spruce trees are putting out new shoots. Using spruce tip salt preserves this flavor for year-round use. I got the following basic recipe from the Saveur website: “Dehydrate spruce buds. Grind the dry buds into a powder using a spice grinder; stir them into Maldon flake sea salt. Store at room temperature up to 1 month.17”

Smoked salt

Smoky and sour does have its place: think of some of the sour interpretations of the classic smoked beer from Poland, Grodziskie (Grätzer). Smoked salts are sea salts that are smoked at low temperatures over coals. This process gives the salt a light, smoky flavor and a grey or tan color. Smoked salt has no known health benefits over common table salt, in fact, it may actually be bad for you, as it is alleged that smoked products have compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are known to cause cancer in lab animals. So, not as expensive, but may cause cancer.

Natural, Non-Iodized Sea Salt

Natural, non-iodized sea salt is the salt evaporated from the oceans of the world. It contains a very low level of pretentiousness, and yet is made from 100 percent fresh, natural ingredients. Widely available, it can be purchased very inexpensively in bulk or in bags. Perfect for brewing or cooking.

Conclusion

There are some people who claim to be able to taste the difference between common non-iodized table salt and more esoteric salts. That may be true in their dry form, but once dissolved in either food or beer it is pretty unlikely that any difference could be easily distinguished. The mineral content in most salts is so low that any effect these minerals might have on flavor will be lost when even as much as 0.5 oz. (14 g) is mixed into one gallon (3.78 L). This leads me to believe that the value of using an esoteric and expensive salt to make Gose would be almost entirely marketing. For brewing Gose I would suggest an affordable non-iodized sea salt. For further reading on this subject I suggest the excellent article by Cook’s Illustrated.18

https://​www.cooksillustrated.com/​taste_​tests/​51-salt

How Much Salt

I believe that, in most of brewing, more can often end up being less. It’s a tricky thing, you want your beer to stand out in the crowd, but you also want people to have more than one of them. If the beer is not unusual enough, it won’t get noticed; but if it is too unusual people will think, “Well, it was an interesting beer but I don’t really want to even finish this pint of it, much less order another one.” This is certainly the case with salt in Gose. You need to have a subtle hand. You want people to notice its effect, but only enough to make the beer interesting. Salt’s flavor contribution should accentuate other flavors and enhance mouthfeel, not create a salty brew.

When we first brewed our Gose at Anderson Valley Brewing we, the brewers, could not agree on how much salt we wanted to use. Some people (well, me) wanted less salt, some people wanted more, some people wanted it to taste like a salt lick. There were a lot of opinions and we could not reach a consensus. We agreed that we would let the people decide. So on a Friday afternoon, we set up a beer station in front of our tasting room and everyone that came in that day had to try four beers. Our base Gose with no salt added, a sample of the base Gose with 0.06 oz. (1.7 g) of salt per gallon, a sample with 0.12 oz. (3.4 g) per gallon, and a sample with (the seemingly unreasonable amount of) 0.24 oz. (6.8 g) per gallon. We had everyone rank the beers favorite to least favorite. We tallied the scores, plotted them on a graph and the perfect amount of salt was determined. And the proper amount of salt, per our less then highly scientific method, was determined to be right in the middle of our graph: 0.12 oz. (3.4 g) per gallon of finished beer (0.888 g/L or 888 ppm). This is a bit above average. For some historical perspective, we know that most Gose beers from the very early twentieth century had between 130 and 260 ppm of salt. The 888 ppm we settled on would be about 346 ppm of sodium and 542 ppm chloride, both above the recommended range for normal beers. Levels over 500 ppm chloride may effect fermentation with some yeast strains (Palmer and Kaminski 2013). The potential of negative effects on fermentation is one of many good reasons to add salt after fermentation is complete.

When deciding on how much salt you want to use, it is important to remember the goal: it’s added to marry a subtle salinity with the clean and sharp tartness of the lactic acid and the mild undertone of the coriander. You want a mineral salinity to bring out the fullness of the wheat and pique the interest of the drinker. The salinity should be a nuance, not a distraction.

Figure 3.9. Anderson Valley Brewing uses this much salt in a pint of Gose.

Adding the Salt

Once you have decided what kind and how much, then you need to get it into your beer. You will need to get the salt into solution and homogenized throughout the solution. Like most solids, salt will not want to dissolve into a cold liquid. For that reason, it’s easiest to add it to the kettle, but there may be some drawbacks to this. First, salt is not good for stainless steel, especially at warmer temperatures (for more detail on this, see the “Sanitation” section in chapter 4). Second, if you add the salt in the kettle, the higher salinity may cause fermentation problems with some yeast strains. So, if you are concerned with either of these potential problems, then the best time to add the salt is after fermentation is completed, but before you chill the beer.

We have found that the easiest way to add our salt is to first premix the salt in a small vessel. Once the salt is completely dissolved, we inject the salty solution into the fermentor through the bottom. We then gently blow some carbon dioxide through the bottom of the fermentation tank and the rising gas mixes the solution into the beer. Doing it at this phase of the brewing process has the added advantage of having a lot of dormant yeast still in solution, so any oxygen we inadvertently add with the salt is absorbed by the yeast. Another option would be to premix the salt and then dose the salt solution inline during the transfer to the secondary or conditioning tank. Do not add solid, crystallized salt to carbonated beer—it can cause a dramatic release of carbon dioxide that may be dangerous, or at the very least messy.

For a discussion on salt’s potential effects on your brewing equipment, please see the “Equipment” sidebar in chapter 4 under the section on sanitation.

SOURING AGENTS

It [Gose] differs from other beers by its larger content of lactic acids. The method how this lactic acid is brought in the Gose, or how it develops in it is known as Einschlag, which is a well kept secret of Gose brewers until this very day.

—Otto Kröber, Die Geschichte der Gose und die Chronik der Gosenschänke Leipzig-Eutritzsch (Translated by Adept Content Solutions)

Bacterial Souring Agents

Gose-style beers need to be sour. If you make a Gose and it is not sour, then you really have not made a Gose. It might be a very interesting wheat beer, but it is not a Gose. Lactic acid is one of the defining flavor characters of the Gose style. True, there has been some discussion about the original Gose beers not being sour beers, but realistically, more than 500 years ago, any but the youngest of beers was at least slightly sour and a piquant sourness is what Gose is known for. When it comes to making your Gose sour there are several choices open to the brewer.

Traditionally it was done with bacteria during or after the yeast fermentation. Today we have more options. All of the methods except the traditional method have the advantage of being safer from a cross-contamination standpoint, as the bacteria are never in the fermentation area of the brewery.

DEFINING ‘TRADITIONAL’ SOURING TECHNIQUES

When you are writing about a beer style like Gose that is approximately 1,000 years old, it is hard to define what traditional means with this style. Should that definition be what was done 1,000 years ago, or merely 300 years ago?

The most traditional and common method of souring is to use the lactic acid-producing bacteria Lactobacillus. Although Pediococcus19 also produces lactic acid, it is a less desirable bacterium for the job as it also produces diacetyl—sometimes prodigious amounts of diacetyl—and can also produce ropiness. Diacetyl and ropiness are not part of Gose’s flavor profile. Usually when Pediococcus is used as a souring bacteria, Brettanomyces20 is also used in what is known as a mixed fermentation. This is because Brettanomyces will metabolize and reduce the diacetyl produced by Pediococcus. In addition to breaking down diacetyl, the Brettanomyces will also produce some distinctive aromas of its own. These aromas are often described as barnyard, horse blanket, and funky. They are aromas that we associate with some lambics and some American sours beers. Other aromas may be described as fruity pineapple, peach, or apricot. Unfortunately, these former flavors and aromas produced by Brettanomyces also do not really belong in a Gose. So this pretty much rules out the use of Pediococcus as a souring agent for Gose-style beer. Thus, we are left with Lactobacillus as the most appropriate souring agent.

Lactic Acid Bacteria

The term lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is conventionally applied to genera of the order Lactobacillales, which includes, notably, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, and several other lesser-known varieties. Lactobacillus is the most widely used and is the most well-known of the LAB.

Lactobacillus is best known for use in cheese making and souring milk to make yogurt. In fact, some brewers use a yogurt pitch to get their Lactobacillus for souring their beer (more on that in “Souring the Beer” in chapter 4). Lactobacillus is a straight or curved rod-shaped bacteria, occurring singly or in chains, and sometimes in filaments. Lactobacillus is a non-spore forming, Gram-positive,21 catalase negative, anaerobic-to-facultative anaerobe bacteria that converts sugar to lactic acid. Lactobacillus is usually non-motile. Facultative anaerobe means that it does not require oxygen, but it can function in the presence of oxygen; it can also function just fine if oxygen is absent. Most species are homofermentative (producing only lactic acid from sugar), but some species are heterofermentative (producing lactic acid and other by-products from sugar). Heterofermentative varieties can produce other metabolites, including ethanol, acetic acid, and carbon dioxide, although lactic acid still makes up the majority (over 50 percent) of the by-products created. In some species of Lactobacillus, the level of acetic acid created will be above the taste threshold, and so will be noticeable in the finished beer; but, the production of lactic acid in these strains is approximately ten times higher than that of acetic acid, so lactic acid will still be the dominate acid flavor. In some species of Lactobacillus, small amounts of other acids may be formed, including formic, propionic, valerianic, and butyric acid (Boone and Castenholz 2001). Lactobacillus have complex nutritional requirements, meaning that they require an environment that includes sugars, amino acids, vitamins, purines, and pyrimidines.

Lactobacillus can be found throughout nature on fruits, plant material and grain husks, and in the mouths, digestive tracts, and on the skin of humans and animals. The genus Lactobacillus contains around 180 known species.22 Most species of Lactobacillus are not hop tolerant. Lactobacillus is commonly used in the production of many foods including yogurt, cheese, cocoa, fermented vegetables like pickles, sauerkraut, and kimchi, sourdough bread, some aged meats, some sour beers, and some wines. Medically speaking, Lactobacillus is considered a friendly bacteria and is beneficial to human digestion, so it should not pose any problems for consumers. Although considered friendly to humans and some food processes, it can also be a food “spoiler” and a nuisance under other conditions, like when you are trying to make beer that is NOT sour.

It was not until the early part of the twentieth century that the concept and production of single-strain starter cultures of Lactobacillus to use in food came about. These starters were mostly used in dairy products. By mid-century the idea of using pure-strain starters was making its way into the preserved meat industry.

When it comes time to select the species of Lactobacillus that you would like to use in your beer, there are many choices, as noted, around 180. The main selection criteria should be flavor. Other considerations are speed of production, hop tolerance, temperature range, and whether they produce by-products that may affect other bacteria or your yeast’s metabolism.

Flavor Contributions

There are some general flavor and aroma notes that can be discussed. Heterofermentative species of Lactobacillus generally produce four main metabolites: lactic acid, ethanol, carbon dioxide, and acetic acid. The amount of each metabolite is strain and environment dependent. Lactobacillus fermentations are often said to have a slightly musty aroma, and sometimes aromas that are referred to as dough-like or reminiscent of sourdough bread. A subject that is often discussed among brewers of sour beer is the quality of the sourness. Words like bright, sharp, or clean are often used as positive descriptors. Dull, musty, and earthy are negative descriptors that are sometimes used.

Both hetero- and homofermentative stains will produce a variety of secondary metabolite by-products that can have effects on both flavors and aromas. Some of the more common secondary metabolites can be diacetyl, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, or fusel alcohols. These may be expressed in flavors or aromas noted as buttery, green apple, fruity, or solvent, respectively. Other metabolites found in even smaller quantities that may be produced include norfuraneol (caramel flavors and aromas), ethyl 2-methylbutanoate (citrus), and 2-phenylethanol (rose). Aging can have a big impact on the aromas and flavors produced during fermentation. This impact is typically influenced by temperature, oxygen exposure, and the other by-products produced during fermentation.

Keep in mind that all of these flavors and aromas are on the lighter side, and they can easily be overpowered by stronger notes contributed by fruits, spices, yeast, and even some strong malt flavors. An exception to the above rule may be L. plantarum from Swanson’s Probiotic Pills. It has been reported that this strain of L. plantarum (and possibly other strains of L. plantarum) can make some pretty funky flavors in the presence of oxygen.

TABLE 3.3 LACTIC ACID BACTERIA DEFINED BY FERMENTATION TYPE

Obligatory Homofermentative	Obligatory Heterofermentative	Facultatively Heterofermentative
Lactobacillus acidophilus	L. brevis	L. bavaricus
L. delbruekii	L. buchneri	L. casei
L. helveticas	L. cellobiosus	L. coryniformis
L. lactis	L. confusus	L. curvatus
L. leichmannii	L. coprophilus	L. plantarum
L. rhamnosus	L. fermentatum	L. sakei
L. salivarius	L. fermentum	L. paracasei
Pediococcus acidilactici	L. pontis
P. damnosus	L. reuteri
P. pentocacus	L. sanfranciscensis
Streptococcus bovis
S. thermophilus

TABLE 3.4 LACTIC ACID BACTERIA STRAINS AND THEIR ACID AND ETHANOL CONTRIBUTIONS

Species	Lactic acid, g/L	Acetic acid, g/L	Ethanol, g/L
L. sanfranciscensis	2.88–3.79	0.27–0.35	1.45–1.78
L. brevis	2.12–3.56	0.17–0.27	0.73–1.39
L. fructivorans	1.12–1.79	0.13–0.20	0.33–0.46
L. fermentum	2.93–3.44	0.21–0.25	1.02–1.95
L. cellobiosus	2.81–3.27	0.15–0.35	1.19–1.95
L. plantarum	4.58–5.14	Trace	0
L. farciminis	3.58–4.27	Trace	0
L. alimentarius	3.48–3.95	0	0
L. acidophilus	3.11–4.19	0	0
L. delbrueckii	4.24–4.98	0	0
S. cerevisiae	0	0	8.88–9.41

Summary of end products for a simple fermentation of a minimal media of various Lactobacillus (L.) species compared to Saccharomyces (S.) cerevisiae.

Hop Tolerance

Hop components are known to have antimicrobial properties against gram-positive bacteria. Hops contain multiple compounds that act to stop bacteria from reproducing. The alpha acids are the best known and understood, but beta acids and a number of polyphenols and even some of the aromatic oils have been found to have some bacteria-inhibiting effects. In aged hops the alpha acids are almost completely absent, but other compounds, especially beta acids, are still present and that is why aged hops still retain their antimicrobial effects. It appears that all these hop compounds inhibit bacterial growth in the same way.

Hop tolerance is both species and strain dependent, but hop tolerance can be an inducible trait in many Lactobacillus species. That means that a hop intolerant strain can become more tolerant if it is repeatedly cultured with successively increasing levels of hop components. Conversely, a hop tolerant strain can become hop intolerant after several generations in a hop-free media. In general, the higher the level of hop components, the slower the pH of the beer will drop due to bacterial action.

Figure 3.10. Hexa-Iso Foam Test. This series of photos shows the foam quality of two Lactobacillus-soured beers, one with Hexa-Iso hop product added to the beer (left), the other with nothing added (right). Photo courtesy of Kristen England (used with permission).

Foam Degradation

There are some species or strains of Lactobacillus that will create all of the amino acids they require for normal growth; these are known as prototrophic strains. Other species or strains can only produce some of the amino acids they require for normal growth; these bacteria must obtain the other required amino acids from within their environment and are known as auxotrophic. It would be impossible to list them, as they change over time.

Auxotrophic Lactobacillus break down proteins in their environment in order to create the amino acids that they cannot make. Importantly, this includes foam-positive proteins in beer. This proteolysis (the breaking down of various proteins into polypeptides) and the subsequent peptidolysis (the breaking down of polypeptides into peptides and then amino acids) is enzyme dependent. This proteolytic activity has been observed in both homofermentative and heterofermentative species, and even different strains of the same species may have differing levels of this proteolytic capability.23

Some species of Lactobacillus have shown that this proteolytic activity decreases as the pH drops near or below 4.5. In brewhouse-soured worts, one might reduce the wort pH to a level of 5.0 or below with an acid addition or by using acidulated malts prior to pitching their Lactobacillus. This could help to retain some of the proteins necessary for foam formation. Another possible solution might be to sideline some of your wort and hold it separate (and unsoured) during the stage of bacterial fermentation. Then as you start to boil the soured wort, add the unsoured wort to your kettle. By boiling it, you have killed all the Lactobacillus bacteria and the sidelined, unsoured wort would retain the proteins helpful to foam formation. Be mindful that by adding in some unsoured wort you will also raise the pH of the whole wort being boiled. You will have needed to previously factor this in and let your soured wort attain a low enough pH so that the pH of your final beer is where you want it to be.

Additionally, one can use ingredients that will increase head retention. Ingredients such as malted wheat, oats, Carafoam®, and hexa-iso-hop extracts have been successfully used to help increase head retention in Lactobacillus-soured beers (fig. 3.10).

Haze

There are some forms of LAB that can aggregate to form haze, and some non-aggregating bacteria are light enough to remain in suspension and cause clarity issues. Some other strains can have the opposite effect by producing the enzyme tannase. Tannase can break down certain haze-forming tannins, and thus could play a positive role in beer clarity. Some sources have claimed that of the 47 strains of LAB that they studied, L. plantarum produced the highest amount of the enzyme tannase (Matsuda et al. 2018).

Attributes of Common Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains of Lactobacillus

L. brevis. Heterofermentative: creates CO₂, ethanol, lactic acid, and can produce acetic acid. Some variants can be hop tolerant, making it a potential beer spoiler. Optimum temperature is 95–105°F (35–40°C). Typically produces more lactic acid than L. delbrueckii.

• Lactic acid: 2.12–3.56 g/L
• Acetic acid: 0.17–0.27 g/L
• Ethanol: 0.73–1.39 g/L

L. delbrueckii. (Also known as L. bulgaricus, which is an L. delbrueckii subspecies.) Used in yogurt production, optimum temperature 83–90°F (28–32°C). Prefers lactose over sucrose or maltose. Produces a moderate amount of lactic acid. Clean, lactic sourness. Known for heat tolerance. May produce trace amounts of diacetyl. L. delbrueckii subspecies lactis can consume trehalose. Trehalose is an off-flavor released when Saccharomyces cells autolyze, thus, this subspecies could be used advantageously in longer (or barrel) aged sour beers.

• Lactic acid: 4.24–4.98 g/L
• Acetic acid: 0
• Ethanol: 0

L. acidophilus. Homofermentative, microaerophilic, optimum growth temperature around 99°F (37°C). Used in soured dairy products like yogurt. Known to inhibit other organisms.

• Lactic acid: 3.11–4.19 g/L
• Acetic acid: 0
• Ethanol: 0

L. plantarum. Aerotolerant, optimum temperature 83–90°F (28–32°C), but will grow at lower temperatures of about 60°F (16°C); will also grown at higher temperatures, but has some difficulty performing above 115°F (45°C). Can ferment a variety of sugars, can produce other by-products (CO₂, alcohol, acetic acid). Does not like hops. Commonly used in food production, notably cheddar cheese. Very high tolerance to low pH (~3.0)

• Lactic acid: 4.58–5.14 g/L
• Acetic acid: trace
• Ethanol: 0

L. sanfranciscensis. Important in sourdough production.

• Lactic acid: 2.88–3.79 g/L
• Acetic acid: 0.27–0.35 g/L
• Ethanol: 1.45–1.78 g/L

L. buchneri. Heterofermentative, may produce acetic acid.

L. casei. Has a wide pH and temperature range. Used in yogurt and cheese production. Ferments lactose, maltose, and mannitol.

Pediococcus. Homofermentative cocci that form tetrads. Used in sauerkraut and pickle production.

1 Carbon filters have a limited life span and a fully saturated charcoal filter may not completely remove all chlorine.

2 The city of Leipzig water authority publishes annual reports showing average water analyses (see https://​www.l.de/​wasserwerke).

3 Also, Magnum has a lower cohumulone level than does Cascade (~25 vs. ~37% AA respectively) and low cohumulone is a good thing.

4 Merriam-Webster, s.v. “spontaneous,” accessed May 6, 2018, https://​www.merriam-webster.com/​dictionary/​spontaneous.

5 Merriam-Webster, s.v. “wild,” accessed May 6, 2018, https://​www.merriam-webster.com/​dictionary/

6 Milk the Funk Wiki, s.v. “Spontaneous Fermentation,” last modified June 3, 2018, 16:23, http://​www.milkthefunk.com/​wiki/​Spontaneous_​Fermentation.

7 Simon Von Dieter, “Spontaneous Fermentation–What’s It All About?” Bonvinitas (website), October 26, 2011, https://​www.bonvinitas.com/​de/​component/​content/​article/​40-the-art-of-wine/​general-topics/​155-spontaneous-fermentation-whats-it-all-about.

8 This is quite fast, considering that modern day brewers who are spontaneously fermenting their beer often don’t see signs of fermentation until 4–7 days after cooling.

9 If you are planning on trying this in your family garage, I highly recommend you FIRST clear it with your spouse/partner/parents.

10 Personal communication with Roger Mussche, lambic expert.

11 Milk the Funk Wiki, s.v. “Brettanomyces,” last modified June 3, 2018, 23:59, http://​www.milkthefunk.com/​wiki/​Brettanomyces.

12 A carminative reduces flatulence, which is why coriander may be an enduring spice in Gose, if the reports of some of the Leipzig Gose drinkers can be believed.

13 Jürgen Reuß, “Die Goslarer Gose,” Bier aus eigener Küche (website), September 28, 2004, http://​www.bierauseigenerkueche.de/​Goslarer%20Gose.html.

14 “A Brief and Fascinating History of Salt,” Beyond The Shaker (website), copyright 2018, http://​beyondtheshaker.com/​pages/​salt-guide/​salt-guide-history.html.

15 Witchipedia, s.v. “Black Salt,” last accessed June 9, 2018, http://​www.witchipedia.com/​mineral:black-salt.

16 Personal communication with some blah’lahs at four miles.

17 “Spruce Salt,” Saveur, December, 2014, https://​www.saveur.com/​article/​recipes/​spruce-salt.

18 “Salt,” Cook’s Illustrated, September, 2002, https://​www.cooksillustrated.com/​taste_​tests/​51-salt.

19 Pediococcus is a coccus-shaped bacteria that are often found in pairs or tetrads. Pediococcus is a Gram-positive, non-motile, homofermentative, facultative anaerobe that occurs in the wild on many types of plant material. It is a lactic acid-producing bacteria that can grow in low pH and some strains are hop tolerant.

20 Brettanomyces is sometimes referred to by the genus name of Dekkera or just Brett. It is a yeast, not a bacteria, that occurs in the wild. Brettanomyces produces significant flavor and aroma compounds and because of that it is often considered a spoilage agent in “clean” beers and wines.

21 Gram-positive means no outer membrane.

22 Wikipedia, s.v. “Lactobacillus,” last modified May 17, 2018, 10:58, https://​en.wikipedia.org/​wiki/​Lactobacillus.

23 Milk the Funk Wiki, s.v. “Lactobacillus,” last modified May 26, 2018, 17:35, http://​www.milkthefunk.com/​wiki/​Lactobacillus#Foam_​Degradation