Home brew

RESIST – Ukrainian Anti-Imperial Stout

The recipe is not prescriptive – brewers can adapt it to their needs. All the organisers want is for you to brew it or your own variation.

Grain bill

50% Pale Ale malt/2-Row 14% Vienna 11% Flaked oats 7% 60 Lovibond Crystal 7% 120 Lovibond Crystal 4% Chocolate malt (1,000 EBC) 7% (debittered/dehisced)

Black malt (1,600 EBC)

Hops

Neutral bittering hops at the start of the boil for 45–50 IBU

Yeast

Use your favourite highattenuation, British-style ale yeast

Beetroot: the taste of Ukraine

Peel (important!) and bake about 50g/L beetroot. Let your nose be your guide to when it is ready. Chop, puree or otherwise process it, and mix with the finished beer. Use a mesh bag to avoid too much mess in the brewing vessels.

Beetroot is mostly carbohydrate and simple sugars, and could be added at various points in the brewing process.

During the mash or whirlpool, it will add extract and colour. It might also be messy and could cause a stuck mash. Adding some rice/oat hulls (mash) or using a mesh bag (boil) should help. Another idea to help would be to spread the beetroot on top of the mash bed during sparging. During postfermentation, the extraction will be lower. But if you are worried about the sugars, allow the beer to ferment out fully before packaging. Adding at this point could also be messy – a mesh bag may help.

Yes, 50g/L sounds like an incredible amount of beetroot. This amount is based on adding post-fermentation. But feel free to adjust the amount, or even miss it out completely.

ABV

Make this stout as strong as you wish. If you are going to go more than 10 per cent, you may wish to add some simple sugars in the boil.