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I'm currently fermenting a Berliner Weisse and was both surprised and pleased at the recipe when I read it required NO BOILING at all! It was so easy simply mashing and then draining directly into the fermenter. The wort was then allowed to cool down on it's own until the temp was OK for the yeast to be pitched.

For anyone interested, the recipe is "Word to Your Mother" Berliner Weisse, by Michael Dawson.

My question is this: Are there any more types of beer that allows one to skip the boil entirely?

I AM aware of what boiling does to wort and why skipping the boil was OK for this particular recipe.

Thanks!

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  • I have made 'no-boil berliners' but stopped the practice because of the large amounts of DMS that carry through to the finished product. YMMV. – Wyrmwood Feb 14 '17 at 18:05
  • I saw others state the same issues, so I went with a partial decoction sparge which I think would have eliminated the majority of any DMS. At least I hope so - we will see in a few more months. Thanks! :-) – BobRhoades Feb 14 '17 at 18:08
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"Raw Beer" aka "no boil beer" is a popular way of producing beer and there are a number of sites and recipes for this type of brew (a sensible example and a weird example). Many a happy hour can be spent on Google reviewing the subject. It is reputed that the palest pilsners can be made with the no boil method. The only real problem is hop utilisation efficiency. The hops don;t really produce much bittering effect without a boil to allow the alpha acids to isomerise. However it is possible to just boil the hops and strain the "hop tea" into the raw beer wort. Good luck'

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  • Thanks! The "Raw Beer" was the key I was looking for to be able to search for these specific recipes! I may never do another one, but this type of brewing IS quite easy. – BobRhoades Feb 10 '17 at 11:44
  • Actually, alpha acids isomerize around 180F so you don't need to have a boil for that. – Denny Conn Feb 10 '17 at 16:49
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    Alpha acids isomerise at lower temperatures it is true but the rate of conversion drops by approximately a half for every drop in temperature of 10C. IMHO its not a particularly efficient use of a bittering hop. On the other hand one can get nice aromatic hop flavours and aromas by dry hopping/ hopping at reduced temperatures, so all is not lost. It would be interesting to use a hop like "citra" for this purpose. It has both particular citrus aroma/flavour and yet still has enough alpha-acids to impart some bitterness in this somewhat cooler process. – barking.pete Feb 10 '17 at 18:36

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