Sahti

A commercial craft brew that my wife and I both enjoy is Dog Fish Head's Sah'tea.  It has usually been available in the spring or early summer, and I would go out to my local Total Wine location and purchase a couple of bottles.  Lately, I haven't seen that it's been available, and even check the AleBoards app to see if any of the local DFH locations has any available...and I haven't been seeing it.  So, what better opportunity to try something new, eh?

I started reading about the history of the style, and while I found some really good information about it, I also found some different recipes.  What I thought was interesting about the style itself is that several descriptions suggest that it isn't supposed to sit (secondary fermentation, rest in bottles, etc.) for extended periods of time, which is somewhat different from what I've found with some more traditional recipes that I've worked with.

So, my thoughts on a small batch recipe that I'd like to try:

I'd have to get some juniper boughs, so I'll go to the local nursery first.  If that doesn't work out, I'll see what I can find in the local park.

The partial mash will be predominantly Munich malt (with a small amount of dark rye), and I'll put the juniper boughs (hopefully, I'll be able to find some with berries still on them) in the cooler before adding the water.  After adding the water, I will add the grains (in a muslin bag) and follow my usual process; as with most cases, I'm looking to have the water at 142-146F for about an hour.

Once the partial mash is complete, I'll add the juniper boughs and the wort to the brew kettle, bring the total volume of water up to 5 qt, add 1 lb of Pilsen DME, and bring everything to a boil.  Most of what I'm guessing are more traditional recipes do not use hops, and several say that this brew only stays in primary fermentation for a week.  I'll have to review the recipes again and look at the time required, and also look at my schedule...I don't want to have this stuff ready to put in containers and me be off doing something else.

Yeast: Instead of the Finnish baker's yeast, several recipes recommend using the Red Star Active Yeast, which can be found on Amazon.

Resources
HomeBrewersAssoc.
NorthernBrewer - also, here
TheBrewGuys
DistantMirror
MoreBeer
CraftedPours
HomeBrewTalk recipe