Smoke on the Oder

The greatest effect of the American brewer’s magpie affinity for the next big thing is our willingness to resurrect lost styles to discover “new” flavors. Think Indiana Jones with a mash paddle. And a lost style is part of what brought me to Nebraska to brew with Matt Stinchfield, owner of Ploughshare Brewing.

Matt is obsessed with European tradition and built his brewery with a classic separate mash and lauter tun design capable of performing multiple decoctions. It’s this sort of obsession that led to a playful replication of Grodziskie (Grätzer in German), the recently re-animated Polish style.

Grodziskie was a small, sessionable oak-smoked wheat beer produced from the 1300s to the 1990s near the river Oder. Today, it’s surrounded by debate: Was it sour? What sort of yeast did it use? What is the beer supposed to taste like? What era are we talking about? Over time, Grodziskie morphed and the original yeast strain was lost. Ultimately, the style is perfect for re-interpretation because who knows what’s authentic anyway?

Matt and Mark Beatty of the Lincoln Lagers Homebrew Club put together Pedro Grodziskie, a chipotle syrup and ancho-infused mesquite-smoked wheat beer fermented with Kölsch yeast. Matt, being the traditionalist, drew up a complicated infusion mash schedule based on his research of the last known practice before its death in the post-Communist era. I haven’t had a taste of the beer yet, but I can tell you the brewery smelled like the best sort of spicy BBQ!

PEDRO GRODZISKIE
For 5.5 gallons at 1.039 OG, 8.3 SRM, 27 IBU, 4.0% ABV, 90 minute boil

Malt
5.33 lb. wheat malt
1.75 lb. mesquite smoked malt
0.33 lb. Cascade beer candi syrup southwest chipotle
1.0 lb. rice hulls

Mash
Acid rest 103°F 20 minutes (via infusion)
Protein rest 125°F 20 minutes (via infusion)
Sacch rest 155°F 30 minutes (via infusion)
Mash out 172°F 40 minutes (via recirculation)

Hops
0.6 oz Magnum (pellets) | 12.7% AA | 75 minutes
0.33 oz Czech Saaz (pellets) | 3.2% AA | 10 minutes

Extras
8 oz dried ancho chiles, deseeded
20 minute whirlpool steep

Yeast
Wyeast 2565 Kölsch ■