Doing Things Differently
Compiled by Mike Retzlaff
Cool Cousin Brewing in NYC is a commercial brewer doing something a bit differently. It appears to be the first commercial beer brewery in America to make beer entirely from unmalted barley. They claim to be saving water and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) in every batch brewed.
Besides water, the majority ingredient in most beer is malted barley. Barley provides the carbohydrates which are fermented into alcohol and CO2. The carbohydrates, as supplied by the raw grain, are in the form of long chain starches which brewer’s yeast can’t digest.
As brewers, we all know that malting tricks the seed (in this case barley) into believing that it is sprouting to become a new plant. Sprouting develops and activates natural enzymes which will break down starches into usable food for the growing seed. Malting develops and activates these same enzymes. The normal malting process involves steeping the grain in water several times before it finally sprouts. The sprouted seed is then kilned to stop the growth and dry the grain. All of this prepares it for the brewer. The whole process requires the application of extra water for germination and extra energy to kiln the green malt before it is usable by the brewer.
The malt is delivered to the brewer who crushes it and combines it with hot water. This forms a mash which activates the enzymes to break down the long chain starches to develop various types of sugars. The sugary liquid is drained off and the mashed grain rinsed. The collected liquid is then boiled with hops before being cooled and fermented with yeast.
“Malting is incredibly old school and inefficient,” says John Midgley, CEO and founder of Cool Cousin Brewing. It is their mission to bring beer brewing into an ecologically “green” status. Cool Cousin’s quest is to make beer without using malt at all. They crush raw barley, mix it with water, and introduce an enzyme “cocktail” to achieve a mash. Cool Cousin Brewery uses a 4 temperature step-mash to accomplish the conversion.
Midgley claims his method saves nearly 75% of the water needed and 128 gm. of CO2 per gallon of the beer conventionally produced. As stated before, eliminating malting yields a substantial energy savings in the process.
Their flagship beer is in the style of a German Kolsch. It is golden in color and has a light toasty and fruity flavor. It is featured at a restaurant boasting two Michelin stars. It is also sold on tap throughout Brooklyn, NY.
The barley is grown in NY State and Pennsylvania. The German-strain hops are grown in NY State. The beer is only available in NY with no plans to expand distribution.
Crescent City Brew Talk 