There was a bottle of really good cherry-fruit beer at a meeting of one the homebrew clubs of which I am a member. The person who brought it had traded for it, and I think it was Wisconsin Belgian Red. In any case I was inspired to brew a brett-cherry saison. The malt bill is nearly identical to my previous brett-saison, but with a different strain of brett, slightly more late hop additions, and obviously with the planned additions of cherries. I was planning to use some Brett C but the local shop didn't have it, and the GigaYeast Tart Cherry Brett sounded perfect for this beer, for obvious reasons. The ABV on this one will be at least 7% after the addition of the cherries, nearly double the ABV of the New Glarus beer. Oops, I probably should have considered that.
Not sure what form the cherries will take - frozen, puree, fresh, etc... It depends on availability. Puree would probably make for the easiest handling and lowest amount of fermenter loss.
Also I've been trying to tweak my planned volume amounts, ideally to get 5.5 gallons of clear, non-truby wort into the fermenter. But that didn't quite happen here.
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Brett-Cherry Saison
Style: Saison
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.62 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 74.6 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 72.0 %
2 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 16.0 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.0 %
8.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4 4.0 %
0.75 oz Sterling [8.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 18.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Sterling [8.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 4.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Sterling [8.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 7 1.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Tart Cherry Brett (Giga Yeast #GB002) Yeast 8 -
4.20 lb Cherries (Secondary 0.0 mins) Flavor 9 -
Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash Step Add 16.00 qt of water at 162.8 F 150.0 F 60 min
Mash Step Add 9.60 qt of water at 203.7 F 168.0 F 10 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 2.91gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
1/2 tsp gympsum, 1/2 tsp CaCl to mash water, a little less to sparge water.
Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low gravity starter made on 4/13/16, with yeast nutrient. By brew day there was no visible activity but I did get some nice bretty smells from the starter.
Brewed 4/16/16.
Hit my mash temp. Pre-boil OG was ~1.044 (pre-sugar), ~1.046 (post-sugar), on target. Post-boil OG was ~1.065, a bit high, likely due to underestimation of boil-off.
Brewing went smoothly except that I had to disassemble, clean, lube and reassemble my grain mill to get it to work properly.
Force cooled to 120F, racked to better bottle, and accidentally chilled all the way to 33F in my chest freezer.
On 4/17/16, pitched yeast at 33F and shook the carboy a bit, then allowed to warm to 68F for start of fermentation. May increase to 70F tomorrow. I don't want a heavily oxygenated wort for brett since that can produce too much acidity or other weirdness.
There was about 5.4 gallons in the fermenter, a little less than planned, and although most of the wort I racked was trub-free, I did get a bit of hot-break material in the wort.
5/7/16: Visibly active fermentation occurred from April 19 - April 30, with temperature ramping from 68F - 70F. As of 5/7/16 quite a bit of yeast and trub has settled to the bottom but the beer remains turbid with yeast. Will rack next week and at some point add the cherries.
5/15/16 - Racked to secondary. Carried some yeast into the new vessel.
6/20/16 - I was away on vacation at the time that fresh sour cherries were available, and I couldn't find any frozen ones. So I added 36oz of frozen raspberries instead to the secondary fermenter.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Monday, April 4, 2016
Dry Irish Stout Brewday
One of the clubs of which I am a member is doing a club experiment where a bunch of brewers will brew nearly the same recipe but vary one ingredient - in this case the roast malt. I decided to use Carafa I in this recipe to see how that grain tastes in comparison to Black Patent, Roast Barley, Chocolate Malt, etc...
Recipe: Irish Stout
Style: Dry Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Note: 1/2 g Cal. Chloride and 1/2g Gypsum, per gallon of brewing water.
Ferment at 68F for 6 days, 70F for 2 days, crash cool to 35F.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.88 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.5 gal
Bottling Volume: 5 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 41.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.25 gal Boston, MA Water 1 -
7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 57.1 % 2 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 16.3 %
2 lbs Carafa I (337.0 SRM) Grain 6 16.3 %
1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 7 8.2 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.0 %
0.95 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 65.0 min Hop 9 39.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast 10 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 4.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 19.31 qt of water at 161.2 F 152.0 F 60 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.52gal) of 168.0 F water
Made starter on 3/23/16 since I was planning to brew that week. Brewday was delayed... After starter fermented, cooled, allowed yeast to completely settle, then put yeast in mason jar with boiled H20.
4/3/16. Brewed. Brew day went well. Hit my mash temp of 152F. Mashed for 1 hour, drained, then sparged. Probably oversparged a little.
Pre-boil OG was ~1.046 / 11.4B. Post-boil OG was 1.054 / 13.4B, slightly under. Overvolume.
Cooled to 90F, then placed into fermentation chamber for final cooling to 68F. Got 5.75 gallon into fermenter pre-pitching.
After wort reached 67F, oxygenated 1 min and pitched yeast directly from Mason jar. At around 9 pm.
By 5pm on 4/4/16 the beer was actively fermenting. I am afraid some foam may blow out of the airlock when high krausen hits. The temperature probe taped to the side of the carboy read 67.7F. Of course the middle of the beer is likely at a higher temp due to the heat of fermentation.
4/5/16, 5pm. Quite some foam blew through the S-type airlock during high krausen. I removed the beer / krausen soaked airlock and bung, and replaced them with a clean one. High krausen has passed but the new airlock was bubbling at a moderate pace.
I would like to have a stainless kettle with internal volume etchings for better control over my final batch volume.
 |
| Cooling the wort. |
Recipe: Irish Stout
Style: Dry Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Note: 1/2 g Cal. Chloride and 1/2g Gypsum, per gallon of brewing water.
Ferment at 68F for 6 days, 70F for 2 days, crash cool to 35F.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.88 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.5 gal
Bottling Volume: 5 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 41.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.25 gal Boston, MA Water 1 -
7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 57.1 % 2 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 16.3 %
2 lbs Carafa I (337.0 SRM) Grain 6 16.3 %
1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 7 8.2 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.0 %
0.95 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 65.0 min Hop 9 39.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast 10 -
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 4.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 19.31 qt of water at 161.2 F 152.0 F 60 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.52gal) of 168.0 F waterMade starter on 3/23/16 since I was planning to brew that week. Brewday was delayed... After starter fermented, cooled, allowed yeast to completely settle, then put yeast in mason jar with boiled H20.
4/3/16. Brewed. Brew day went well. Hit my mash temp of 152F. Mashed for 1 hour, drained, then sparged. Probably oversparged a little.
Pre-boil OG was ~1.046 / 11.4B. Post-boil OG was 1.054 / 13.4B, slightly under. Overvolume.
Cooled to 90F, then placed into fermentation chamber for final cooling to 68F. Got 5.75 gallon into fermenter pre-pitching.
After wort reached 67F, oxygenated 1 min and pitched yeast directly from Mason jar. At around 9 pm.
By 5pm on 4/4/16 the beer was actively fermenting. I am afraid some foam may blow out of the airlock when high krausen hits. The temperature probe taped to the side of the carboy read 67.7F. Of course the middle of the beer is likely at a higher temp due to the heat of fermentation.
4/5/16, 5pm. Quite some foam blew through the S-type airlock during high krausen. I removed the beer / krausen soaked airlock and bung, and replaced them with a clean one. High krausen has passed but the new airlock was bubbling at a moderate pace.
I would like to have a stainless kettle with internal volume etchings for better control over my final batch volume.
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