Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Time to Spice it Up!


Inspired by the new releases from Wyeast, I wanted to put together something a bit over the top. Brettanonmyces Claussenii is supposed to be one of the lower intensity Bretts producing tropical flavors like pineapple as opposed to the horsey or cherry like flavors of Brux. and Lambicus. Culling together a recipe, I like to peruse Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainascheff and John Palmer for a good base and go from there. For today's beer, I also got out The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg for inspiration. It is an excellent book listing ingredients and their complimentary counterparts as per the data they researched through industry chefs and foodies. I highly recommend it for any cookbook library, it is indespensible for the creative cook. (they are also the authors of What to Drink With What to Eat, another great food and beverage pairing guide)
So starting with pineapple, I went with mango, two bright, tropical fruits. From there, I thought some spice/heat would work well, and chose chipotle chilies as they're used in a couple commercial beers and I think nicely done. Finally, I wasn't done, and decided to throw in some Weyermann smoked malt. The rest of the recipe is based off of Jamil's fruit beer.




Stats

OG

1.071

FG

1.010

IBU

31

ABV

8.4 %

SRM

13

Specifics

Boil Volume

7 gallons

Batch Size

5 gallons

Yeast

80% AA

Wyeast 5151



Fermentables

% Weight

Weight (lbs)

Grain

Gravity Points

Color

55.2 %

8.00

American Two-row Pale

38.7

2.6

20.7 %

3.00

German Smoked

14.5

4.9

13.8 %

2.00

American Soft White Wheat

10.5

1.0

3.4 %

0.50

American Crystal 40L

2.2

3.6

3.4 %

0.50

American Crystal 120L

2.2

10.9

3.4 %

0.50

German Acid Malt

2.2

0.2


14.50


70.4


Hops

% Wt

Weight (oz)

Hop

Form

AA%

AAU

Boil Time


IBU

100.0 %

0.70

Magnum

Whole/Plug

14.5

10.1

60


30.5


0.70







30.5


05/13/09: Brewed another early morning session. The new pot worked really well despite being a bit heavier to move around. Took considerably longer to get to a boil and maintain, so I see more propane usage in the future. As per Mike I added the Acid malt in the last 15 min of the mash. I used 2ea dried Chipotle peppers in the mash and 4ea at 2min left in the boil. I will add the 1K of Mango puree in secondary.
06/03/09: Gravity down to 1.010 with all signs of fermentation over. No pellicle formed and krausen pretty much disappeared. Racked to secondary on 1 kilo of Boiron Mango puree and 5 torn chipotles. I'll give it probably 3 weeks to ferment and be done before bottling.
07/02/09: Bottled with 4.7oz of sugar and a half pack of Champagne yeast for good measure.
08/21/09: First tasting.

2 comments:

  1. If this thing sings, you're gonna have to send this post and a bottle to Page and Dornenburg. Sure they'll get a kick out of it.

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  2. The sample wasn't anything spectacular. I think I should have added more Chipotles, but I can adjust that later.

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