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Recipe: Tongs of the Ancients Stone Beer

This is less a recipe and more a set of guidelines and guesses, partly inspired by the Dundulis Moko Maukas Akmeninis stone beer in Lithuania, as described by Simonas Gutautas.

Craft Beer & Brewing Staff May 1, 2022 - 3 min read

Recipe: Tongs of the Ancients Stone Beer Primary Image

Photo: Matt Graves/mgravesphoto.com

This is less a recipe and more a set of guidelines and guesses, partly inspired by the Dundulis Moko Maukas Akmeninis stone beer in Lithuania, as described by Simonas Gutautas. It’s hard to say what kind of efficiency you’ll get—and probably best not to worry about it, the first time around. Your mileage will vary. Be safe. And good luck!

For practical tips on mashing with hot stones, see For Those About to Rock, and for much more on traditional stone beer, see Fire & Brew Stone.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.008
IBUs: variable
ABV: 6%

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MALT/GRAIN BILL
10 lb (4.5 kg) pilsner

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
3 oz (85 g) whole-leaf Saaz, boiled in water to make hop tea
At least 5 fire-heated stones, roughly fist-sized, added to mash

YEAST
Yeast Lab WLP4046 Simonaitis Lithuanian Farmhouse, or other favorite rustic strain or mixed culture

DIRECTIONS
Boil the hops in water to make hop tea; set the tea aside and add the spent hops to your filter bed, which might also include sticks, straw, or juniper branches. Mill the grains and use hot water to mash in at about 147°F (64°C). (Alternatively, mash in cold and use hot stones to bring up the temperature.) Optionally, add an occasional hot stone if needed to maintain the temperature. After at least an hour, add about 5 hot stones and mash out. Recirculate until the runnings are free of particles, then run off into a fermentor or intermediary vessel. Add the hop tea to taste or save some to blend later. Chill or allow to cool to about 86°F (30°C), then pitch the yeast and ferment in a relatively warm area, at least 75°F (24°C). When fermentation is complete, crash, package, and carbonate.

BREWER’S NOTES
Safety: Be sober, wear PPE, and use tongs when handling the hot stones.
Malt: Smoked, rye, wheat, or oat malts could all be interesting here, as could some landrace varieties, such as einkorn. Malting your own grain would also fit the tradition. However, we’re interested to see how the hot stones would affect the flavor of some quality pilsner malt.
Hops: Wild or homegrown would also be appropriate. Instead of making a hop tea, some traditional brewers throw them directly in the mash, which should add hop flavor without much bitterness.

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