So in reading some literature about other forms of fermentation, one thing I’ve read talks about a no-boil no-sparge fermentation. Meaning, you mash in, get everything converted, drop to fermentation temp via coil chiller, pitch and wait. Is this something that could be used to produce drinkable beer?
Obviously the beer would be cloudy and have little to no IBUs using traditional technology. I make Berliner Weiss no boil. I sparge with cool water so I can pitch my lacto without doing any cooling. It is possible to buy enzymes to break down the protein and hop extracts and avoid the “need for boiling.” Not sure what the benefit/detriment of no sparge is other than speed vs. efficiency.
I do a no sparge, no boil, no hops to make my Egyptian historical brew. Just mashing baked grain breads with dates and chamomile. I sulfite it to kill the bugs, then pitch my starter. Over time it turns beautifully clear, and is a light bodied summer brew with notes of the chamomile and dates. Oh, and it keeps winning golds in 23A 
So yes, it can definitely be done.
Fascinating - can you post a recipe?
The only thing I’d be worried about is the no boil part. I guess you need to make sure you mash high and long enough to kill off any bugs that are hitching a ride on your ingredients and equipment. I’d probably Star San anything that touches the mash just to be on the safe side.
You also wouldn’t be isomerizing any alpha acids even if you mash hop, so you probably want to look into alternate ingredients to provide a bit of bitterness.
I’ve kept this one pretty close to my chest so far, but I’m trying to be less competitive and share the fun of a new twist on an ancient brew. So good luck, and let me know how it turns out. PM if you have more questions. The feedback I get on scoresheets for this is very positive, and most people dont believe there’s no hops or boil since its clean and balanced.
4lbs 2-row
2lbs flaked maize
2lbs white wheat
Close down your mill and grind away (flour isnt a concern here)
Add enough water to get it to all stick together, then dump it on a nonstick cookie sheet in a big pile. Place a meat thermometer in the middle and set the alarm to 125F. Place in a hot oven (425F) and bake until the outside is toasty brown (you’ll see sugars caramelizing as conversion begin which is pretty neat) but dont let the core overheat because you want to preserve the amalyse enzymes.
Dump the lot into your mash tun. Add 2lbs of chopped dates and 1/2 oz of chamomile tea bags. Add all your water volume, dough in and target the mash at 155F then let it sit for 6+ hrs. It’s fine if it drops down to 130F, you want this to be really fermentable.
Run off to a sanitized carboy, adding campden tablets to sulfite for 24hrs. Pitch your favorite yeast strain (WLP007 works nicely). Ferment and treat as a regular beer from then on.
It will drop clear if lagered. No need for filtration. Ages nicely as long as sanitation is good. I tried to pasturize one instead of sulfite and it went lacto sour on me. Which also tasted pretty freaking awesome by the way, so feel free to experiment.
Right now I’m trying to see if I can replicate the end flavors with some C60 and Biscuit to skip the bread making step, so it can be scaled up to work with a local microbrewery.
That’s pretty interesting as a technique. Considering trying it.
The sulfite is pretty important it seems.
how big of a batch where you aiming for? this seems like a really cool idea. Ive heard of similiar recipes with bread added as a starch source.
This recipe is for 5 gallons. The brewery I was talking with has a 15 barrel system. Needless to say we’re NOT baking that much grain!
could you bake part of it(say 25%) and then use a regular mash for the rest? im sure you will lose something important from this brew by not baking the bread.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing that.