August Update
Last Saturday, I brewed a Doppelsticke Altbier, a big, heavily bittered dark German ale. Original gravity was 1.082, and it is fermenting at approximately 60 degrees.
The previous weekend I laboriously juiced a 5 gallon bucket full of small, underripe Granny Smith apples from my backyard tree, to make just under a gallon of juice. I sulfated this juice, and then later pitched a white wine yeast. This weekend, I decided to dilute these very tart apples with some plain sweet apple juice, and I did so with 3 gallons of juice. I may make up the final 1 gallon of volume with another gallon of acidic Neufeldian apples, but if I get lazy another gallon of storebought juice should do the trick, albeit make for a more insipid, bland cider. A 2 to 3 ratio of tart juice to sweet juice should make a great fermented cider.
Last night, I bottled my kirschweizen, which has a sort of cherry pie character now, between the tart acid cherry juice and the rich malty sweetness of the crystal and pale malts. It is somewhat on the strong side at 7% ABV thanks to a secondary refermentation caused by the addition of the cherry juice, but it is smooth and quite drinkable at this stage, even pre-carbonation.
I'm backing off the idea of the soured wort experiment, and I may try using the acidulated malt from Weyerman to approximate the sour character in a weizen, Belgian, or fruit beer, without actually developing funky bacterial cultures. One of my new ideas (actually an older idea, but rejuvenated) is to brew a Chocolate Coconut Porter. First I would brew a basic porter around 1.060, using lots of chocolate malt and maybe some extra crystal malt to ensure sweetness and full body. Then in secondary, I would add a bottle of coconut rum (an easy way to add coconut flavor without the oils) and a 1/2 pound of cacao nibs for extra chocolate flavor. German Chocolate Cake in a glass!
The previous weekend I laboriously juiced a 5 gallon bucket full of small, underripe Granny Smith apples from my backyard tree, to make just under a gallon of juice. I sulfated this juice, and then later pitched a white wine yeast. This weekend, I decided to dilute these very tart apples with some plain sweet apple juice, and I did so with 3 gallons of juice. I may make up the final 1 gallon of volume with another gallon of acidic Neufeldian apples, but if I get lazy another gallon of storebought juice should do the trick, albeit make for a more insipid, bland cider. A 2 to 3 ratio of tart juice to sweet juice should make a great fermented cider.
Last night, I bottled my kirschweizen, which has a sort of cherry pie character now, between the tart acid cherry juice and the rich malty sweetness of the crystal and pale malts. It is somewhat on the strong side at 7% ABV thanks to a secondary refermentation caused by the addition of the cherry juice, but it is smooth and quite drinkable at this stage, even pre-carbonation.
I'm backing off the idea of the soured wort experiment, and I may try using the acidulated malt from Weyerman to approximate the sour character in a weizen, Belgian, or fruit beer, without actually developing funky bacterial cultures. One of my new ideas (actually an older idea, but rejuvenated) is to brew a Chocolate Coconut Porter. First I would brew a basic porter around 1.060, using lots of chocolate malt and maybe some extra crystal malt to ensure sweetness and full body. Then in secondary, I would add a bottle of coconut rum (an easy way to add coconut flavor without the oils) and a 1/2 pound of cacao nibs for extra chocolate flavor. German Chocolate Cake in a glass!
posted by SQLFunkateer at 8:05 AM
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