Here it is, my first Bygg or Bere beer, either one has a nice ring to it. Yields were very low last summer as everything got swallowed up by weeds but I did manage to come out with about 8 lbs. of Bere. I decided to make a 2.5 gallon batch with 6 lbs malted, 8 oz roasted and then save the rest for planting this year.
Malting- Initial moisture content was 12% I did an unaerated steep in keeping with a more historical malt. I changed the water twice (once every 24 hours) during the 56 hours it steeped. Final moisture content was 48.5 %, a little high so I probably could have taken it out at the 48 hour mark. Ambient temperatures were between 12 and 14C. Germination lasted 10 days. Air-on temperatures for kilning were 25C for 17 hours with a fan, 11 hours at 50-60C without a fan and 3 hours at 185F for a total of 5lbs 3 oz. of malt.
Check out the size difference! Bere on the left Chevalier on the right.
The awns on the Bere barley are very tough, some of them didn’t break off even after malting.
The recipe: I took 3 oz of the Bere malt and roasted it at 400F until it was very dark. I also took an extra 8 oz of raw Bere barley and roasted it at 350 until it was a nice brown colour. For hops, I used some Hallertau for boiling and then some Perle and Saaz at the end for 30 IBU. Yeast: Whitelabs Edinborough Scottish Ale.
Brewing: Just a single infusion at 149F for an hour.
The original gravity was low as expected. According to Beer Tools at 75% efficiency, my O.G. should have been 1.061. Instead, it was 1.051 making the efficiency around 62%. However, my final gravity was very low at 1.002, probably due to my low mash temp. This puts the a.b.v. at 6.3%, slightly higher than the 6.1% predicted by Beer Tools.
The flavour: Clean and dry with some caramel and toasted bread flavours. Very little bitterness present but that’s what I was going for. It’s a very easy drinking beer.
Brewing Beer The Hard Way 