I first came across this beer in Randy Mosher’s masterpiece Radical Brewing. If you don’t have this book it is the one beer book you should own. Lichtenhainer is an obscure style from the Jena region of Germany. Smoky and sour at the same time with both smoke and sourness restrained. Usually the grist is made up of Rauch malt, Wheat malt, and or Pilsner malt. The first time I brewed this beer I used 5lbs smoked,1.5lbs wheat and 2lbs acidulated(an easy way to sour without actually creating a sour mash). The next day when fermentation kicked in we had a heat wave and the Kolsch yeast crashed when the fermenter got to 80 degrees. After trying to restart the fermentation I pitched Cal Ale about 4 days later which finished the fermentation. Beer turned out surprisingly well with an almost champagne like mouth-feel, a hint of smoke, and a slightly perceptible sourness. Beer actually seemed to get better with a little age as well.

This is a supposed to be a very dry beer so this time I’m tweaking the recipe just slightly with a little more smoked malt, less acid malt, and more wheat. Hoping the smoke will come out a bit more and the additional wheat will help with the mouth-feel plus boosting ABV. Weyermann suggests 8% of the grist be acid malt to sour a beer so at 1lb in this recipe it should impart some sourness.

5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.048
Estimated FG: 1.006
Estimated Color: 7.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.4%

Grain
6 lbs Smoked Malt (I use Weyermann Rauch but any German rauch malt will do – peat and cherry wood malt is too intense)(9.0 SRM) 60.0 %
3 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) 30.0 %
1 lbs Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) 10.0 %

Schedule
56.70 g  Hallertauer [3.80 %] – Boil 60.0 min 29.0 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
Mash in 4 gallons 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 75 min
Mash out 168F
Batch Sparge 4 gallons 170F

Yeast
San Diego Super Yeast 2L starter