Cranberry wheat beer

[brian_beer]

Hi all,

Thinking about an xmas beer and found a simple sounding Randy Mosher idea (i'd be doing cranberries rather than crabapples):

"9. Crabapple Lambicky Ale. Gravity: 1050; color: pale pink.

Crabapples add not only a festive touch, but tannins and acidity as well, which makes it easier to get that tart, champagne-like character without extended aging. Brew a simple pale wheat recipe. If mashing, go low (145 degrees) and long (2 hours). Ferment with ale yeast, Belgian or otherwise. Obtain 3 to 4 pounds of crabapples (cranberries work also), wash well, then freeze. Thaw and add to the beer when it is transferred to the secondary, along with a package of Wyeast mixed lambic culture. Allow to age on the fruit for two months, then rack, allow to clear, then bottle. Lambic character will continue to increase with time."

(in case you are interested, from here: http://allaboutbeer.com/learn-beer/home ... christmas/)



So the brew itself is a "simple pale wheat" recipe - so I'm thinking pale malt and wheat malt, probably 50/50.

For hops, I'm guessing we don't want them to overpower so will keep it quite light - maybe go with Hallertau as I've used this before in a kolsch. However I do have a growing pile of hops in the freezer, so would any of these be any good?

Cascade, Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, Challenger, Northdown, Target.

That just leaves the yeast - any suggestions?

Finally, does anyone have experience with the lambic cultures he mentions? I'd imagine that a couple of months on the fruit will give quite a tart brew anyway without pushing things too far, so I might skip that step. Epecially as the only thing I can see from Wyeast is a mix of yeast and bacteria which seems odd to put in the secondary.

Thanks in advance

[simco999]

Wow - very ambitious - freezing the fruit should kill any nasties - maybe boil and freeze will be a double safety.

Yeast - I have no experience of lambics - I use WLP300 for my normal Wheat beers - 50/50 on the grist is a good ratio.

I have a WLP320 in the fridge at the mo which should give me more banana and cloves.


Edit - BTW - Nelson Sauvin is lovely and citrussy - don't use too much - 40g at 15 mins is great,

Good luck with the brew.

[brian_beer]

Thanks for the response Sim,

You've got me worried now....thought it was reasonably simple....ambitious sounds scary! I have a couple of weeks before deciding on the fruit and lambic though - simple wheat will happen tomorrow either way.

Will try that yeast next time I buy online, my local HBS only stocks Wyeast so I've gone with 3056 (bavarian wheat). They also had the lambic so i grabbed one anyway - its 3278 wyeast and looks to be the same as a normal yeast. No idea if that's really a good thing to be putting in the secondary though - especially since I don't think cranberries have a lot of sugar in them. Time will tell I guess.

Have about 45g of the nelson so that'll work nicely - thanks for the tip

[simco999]

Haha - don't worry its just a bit of cooking!!

[brian_beer]

Ok, so the wheat is brewed and is fermenting away nicely....but in the last few days I've convinced myself that using the lambic is a bad idea.

From what I can tell, it's very difficult to remove from FV and any hoses used and I don't really want to have to buy a second set of kit just for this one brew.

So this means 2 things:

1. Will just putting the fruit into the secondary give me a decent beer, and should I add anything else at that point?
2. Does anyone want a wyeast lambic smackpack...free to a good home (I'm in Berkshire)

[seymour]

....but in the last few days I've convinced myself that using the lambic is a bad idea.

From what I can tell, it's very difficult to remove from FV and any hoses used and I don't really want to have to buy a second set of kit just for this one brew...

Oh, c'mon! Stick to your guns. Just get a cheap white paint bucket or go sneak a 5 gallon water jug from someplace where people exchange their empties...no big deal. Throw it away after if you want, or keep using it just for wild/sours. You already own the lambic culture? Brew this delicious concept, dangit!

[bod]

i have to 2nd Seymours comments!!! you only need a second set of kit for anything the lambic/brett yeast touches, a few metres of tubing, a bottling stick and a bucket, its well worth it!!

[brian_beer]

Yeah, but I would then be buying kit and would have to have self control - digital thermometer, refractometer and PH meter are on my current upgrade list

I like your enthusiasm though, so I'm back on the lambic!

Liking the idea of a water cooler bottle. Thinking it's a little thin though for fermenting in - not sure if anything would leach out of it.I guess at least I could nick one for racking into before bottling and chuck it away afterwards.

Can I do anything to clean the kit or is it a total no-go for anything but lambic afterwards? Soak in starsan for a month or something?
Assuming not, will I need to store that kit inside something (e.g. lead lined box ) so it doesn't contaminate the other kit?

Just wanna know how paranoid to be about it if even the tubing couldn't be re-used - suggests that even minimal contact would cause problems.

Finally, just a note on process. I have a fridge and STC - what temp should I use for the secondary? Wyeast say 17-24° C for that lambic yeast. I'm assuming keeping to the range for the 3056 (18-23) would be sensible since there would still be some of that left in there at that point. Never kept beer for this long so not sure if you're supposed to keep low instead

Cheers guys

[TheMumbler]

Liking the idea of a water cooler bottle. Thinking it's a little thin though for fermenting in - not sure if anything would leach out of it.I guess at least I could nick one for racking into before bottling and chuck it away afterwards.

I would think that if they are OK for drinking water they would be OK to do 1 ferment in. I am no expert on this though.

Can I do anything to clean the kit or is it a total no-go for anything but lambic afterwards? Soak in starsan for a month or something?
Assuming not, will I need to store that kit inside something (e.g. lead lined box ) so it doesn't contaminate the other kit?

Just wanna know how paranoid to be about it if even the tubing couldn't be re-used - suggests that even minimal contact would cause problems.

If you clean it properly you shouldn't have much to worry about in terms of contaminating other kit. A good soak in VWP solution is going to kill the vast majority of bacteria in there. The worry is that you will get some spores etc hiding in the scratches in your plastic FV and tubing. When you put some tasty wort in there the bacteria come out to play again, but they aren't going to climb out to get on other things. For what tubing costs I would avoid using it with other kit.

I'd love to know how this one goes if you do have a shot at it.

[brian_beer]

Yeah tubing is not an issue - have plenty of that. Will have to buy another bottler though I think, and either another cheap FV or might use the water cooler bottle (if it will fit in my fridge). Unfortunately I have to go away for work for 2 weeks, and the wheat is not done yet so it'll have to wait till I get back before I secondary it.

Will post some updates once it's on it way.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

[seymour]

Sounds good. No need to ferment a beer like this in a fridge, though.

[brian_beer]

Ah, thanks for the tip - I wasn't sure how to handle that stage. I assume its still prudent to keep it out of the sun though, so may sit it in the fridge (powered off) once in secondary anyway.

Will it need an airlock/blowoff or is it better to seal firmly?
and if not in fridge, is there any concern about temp...will get pretty cold over the next couple of months out in the shed

[seymour]

Yeah, out of the sun. Airlock is recommended, I don't know of any good reason to allow CO2 pressure to build in the fermentor. I wouldn't worry about temperature, Belgian yeasts and lambic cultures in particular evolved to keep churning away at diverse ambient temperatures. If the shed dips to freezing temps, though, I'd look for space in a cellar, closet floor, wardrobe, etc.

[brian_beer]

spare sleeping bag might come into play then...the downside to having a dedicated brewing space outside the house is that bringing it in is frowned upon

[seymour]

spare sleeping bag might come into play then...the downside to having a dedicated brewing space outside the house is that bringing it in is frowned upon

I see. Do you have to get inside a sleeping bag in a shed to drink it, too?

Just kidding. I'd love to have a dedicated space like that. You have running water and electric out there?