AG No.4 Gose

On the Bank holiday I brewed up No.4, a nice salty Gose.

15L batch.

OG 0.048
FG 0.012
4.8% abv

1.73kg pils malt
1.13kg wheat
0.683kg acidulated malt
0.2kg oat hulls

2.1AAU hellertau blanc hops @60min
1tsp irish moss @15min
21g crushed coriander @10min
15g sea salt @10min

Wyeast 1007 German ale yeast.


The day before, I set off a 2L starter with 200g of DME on my new stir plate. The constant agitation stopped a krausen forming, but when I stopped the stir, a decent amount of yeast dropped out.

12L Strike water @ 73°c, hit the target of 65°c dead on. was well happy.

Mashed for 60 min dropping just 2°c. Insulating the lid of the tun definitely helped.

Added the acidulated mash which dropped the temp to 58°c. Used my step calculator to work out 1.7L of boiling water to raise it back up to 62°c for 45min.

Sparged with 77°c until I got 18L. Gravity was 1.034.

Boiled for 60min adding additions as listed.

I then used my new immersion cooler which lowered the temp to 20°c in about 40 min. It could have been quite a lot quicker but I didn't get enough ice and added it to the cool box reservoir way too early.

Pitched all the starter, ending up with exactly 15L and a slightly disappointing OG of 1.043. Still, if it gets down to a FG of 1.012, it'll be a very sessionable 4.1%.

Two days at 20°c later the yeast is just starting to get going. This 1007 stuff really is slow out of the blocks.

Next up a wheat, maybe with raspberries.

I kept the temp at 20°c until saturday morning when the airlock had slowed right down. I then raised it to 22°c over the weekend to get as much activity from the yeast as possible. I took the FG last night and was well chuffed with 1.008, which gives me an ABV of 4.5%.

I took a quick taste from the sample and it was very nice, and a lot more subtle than I was expecting.

I'll be bottling one evening this week in order to have the FV free for my wheat beer brew hopefully this sunday.

I tried a sampler of a gose in the states a while back...not for me!

This one had chilli, salt and various other stuff. Couldn't see me getting through a pint of it, but each to their own. And that's the beauty of brewing it yourself cos you certainly don't get this sort of beer in 99% pubs and shops

A Gose for your 4th AG brew? Blimey, you're not hanging about, are you.?!

I've only ever tried it once, when I was working in Germany... admittedly, it was knocking on for 15 years ago, but I thought it was absolutely vile!! However, I also reckon the German guy I was working with purposely gave me the funkiest swill he could find, because he was a b@stard that way :lol:

I really like sour beer. Lambic? Yum.

And salty stuff.

As I said, it's pretty subtle.

Well, that is one seriously tasty brew. If I may say so.

I tried the first one when it was only a bit cold and did multiple small pours into quite a small glass. This ended up mixing in most of the sediment, which I know isn't supposed to be an issue with wheat beers. But it tasted a bit minging to be honest. It had a distinctly odd antiseptic taste to it. I thought it was going to be a bit of a struggle to get through 30 bottles of the stuff.

But I put a few more in the fridge and left it for a week.

Last weekend I was chopping wood in the garden, mowing the lawn and generally getting hot and sweaty. So I thought I'd cool off by trying another Gose.

Well it was epic.

I did a gentle single pour into a decent sized glass and was careful not to disturb the sediment. It was crisp, and tart and fresh as a daisy. A hint of coriander and a hint of salt. Very much like Hoegaarden but with a little more bite.

Absolutely flippin' delicious.

Your making me thirsty, wish i was quaffing one with you now. Salted beer is something i would like to try.

I wonder if salted beer works. My first reaction is, No. I dont think so! But salted caramel is supposed to work - I still haven't tried that as sugar and salt seems a bit counter intuitive to me but lots of people like it

I'm probably being stupid, but how did you sour it?

MyQul said:

I wonder if salted beer works. My first reaction is, No. I dont think so! But salted caramel is supposed to work - I still haven't tried that as sugar and salt seems a bit counter intuitive to me but lots of people like it

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Think of water treatment and adding chloride to the mash or HLT to improve mouthfeel. Usually you might use calcium chloride, as the calcium helps the mash, but can also use sodium chloride, I was informed that the sodium gives a slightly sweeter taste. So really its not as odd as it sounds ( or maybe it is?)

The acid malt (lactic acid for souring) will push down the pH which should help the enzyme utilisation, and precipitates proteins but can also decrease colour and isomerisation of hops and therefore bitterness. Generally best to check pH when doing this.
I notice that you don't add the acid malt for the whole mash, but after 45 minutes, suppose this is to give the rest of the malt a chance to extract first.

I have tried a slightly sour ale with less than half that much acid malt and it does give a bit of a zing to the beer!

My wife is from Leipzig, the home of gose, where we go quite a few times a year. It is a pretty subtle drink compared to the Berlin equivalent (just a zing with a slightly salty hit - the US and now UK craft breweries versions are like comparing Deuchars with a West Coast IPA). it's a really refreshing summer drink and is often drunk with a syrup (woodruff, cherry or similar) or the local sweet caraway schnapps (Alasch) in it - i know that sounds wrong but it's actually pretty delicious, especially the Alasch version.

F00b4r said:

My wife is from Leipzig, the home of gose, where we go quite a few times a year. It is a pretty subtle drink compared to the Berlin equivalent (just a zing with a slightly salty hit - the US and now UK craft breweries versions are like comparing Deuchars with a West Coast IPA). it's a really refreshing summer drink and is often drunk with a syrup (woodruff, cherry or similar) or the local sweet caraway schnapps (Alasch) in it - i know that sounds wrong but it's actually pretty delicious, especially the Alasch version.

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Extremely refreshing and lovely with the woodruff. Could drink a lot of it!

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The last of the Gose went last night.

Overall I've been very pleased with it and will be doing it again. It's a bit of an acquired taste and there seemed to be a fair variation between bottles for some reason. But definitely recommended.