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Alcoholic drinks from northern Aukštaitija, Lithuania

Keptinis alus (Lithuanian baked beer)keptinis alus

Keptinis is a Lithuanian farmhouse beer whose mash is baked in a bread oven before brewing. Malt is mixed with hot water, packed into pans or boxes and baked for hours until crusted and caramelised, then broken up, soaked, hopped and fermented. The Jūžintai tradition was entered in Lithuania's national intangible heritage inventory in 2017.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed recipe; farmhouse brewers work by eye.
barley malt (sometimes rye; oats in some recipes)
water
hops
straw (as a filter bed)
Starteryeast (optional in some accounts)

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 h

Start
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What changes: Barley sprouts, then dries and is ground to malt meal

Step 1 of 5
Malt the barley and grind it
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: malt meal.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Keptinis is a Lithuanian farmhouse beer whose mash is baked in a bread oven before brewing. Malt is mixed with hot water, packed into pans or boxes and baked for hours until crusted and caramelised, then broken up, soaked, hopped and fermented. The Jūžintai tradition was entered in Lithuania's national intangible heritage inventory in 2017. Made in 5 steps over 4 h. The longest step, bake the mash in a bread oven, takes 3 h (Garshol L.M. 2025) and runs at 280–300 °C (Řehorská et al. 2025).

Key numbers
Main step3 hReported[garshol2025]Bake the mash in a bread oven
Temperature280–300 °CReported[rehorska2025][garshol2025]Bake the mash in a bread oven

What makes this one different

Keptinis is the baked-mash beer. The mash goes into a bread oven before lautering, which caramelises it.

Related ferments

Variants

  • French accountBarley, oats and rye with straw or hay made into balls, baked, broken into boiling water with hops and linden leaves; yeast optional (fr Wikipedia).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

About 1686, a Radziwiłł cook's notebook is said to describe it (lt Wikipedia). "Keptinis beer of Jūžintai area" was entered in Lithuania's Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory in 2017, submitted by the Jūžintai Village Community.

  1. [s1] Wikipedia (lt), 'Keptinis alus'; (fr) 'Keptinis alus' (outline only)wiki
  2. [s2] Matucheski M. 1994, 'Keptinis alus, Lithuanian baked beer', Zymurgy special issue 14 (cited by fr Wikipedia; not opened)other
  3. [garshol2025] Garshol L.M. 2025, Style school, Keptinis, Craft Beer & Brewing (29 September 2025)web
  4. [rehorska2025] Řehorská et al. 2025, Keptinis - The brewing and fermentation characteristics of a traditional farmhouse ale from Lithuania, BrewingScience Jan/Feb 2025, doi 10.23763/BrSc25-01rehorska (abstract as printed by BRAUWELT, 2025; full text not read)paper
  5. [lnkc-inventory] Lietuvos nematerialaus kultūros paveldo vertybių sąvadas (Lithuanian Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory) 2018 edition, list of 2017 entriesgov