White Weddings and Cherries in Beer

The White ale for the Lairdalee wedding is in the Kegs, and I know I promised pictures of it, but believe me, pictures of kegging aren't really that interesting. They didn't come out that well, anyway. Maybe next time.

I'll let you know how the White Ale went over after we drink it next weekend. (It was kegged 2 weeks ago, and I am just now getting around to writing about it. I know. I'm lazy.) Right now, it seems like it is going to be very good. It's a little dark, but I expected it, since I used "light" malt extract instead of "extra light." It will still be delicious, but it just won't look like a Hoegaarden.

In the works right now is another fine idea brought to you in part by The Thirsty Pilgrim. This time, it is an ale inspired by a tree on a farm in New Haven, MO. The bounty of this tree? Tart Cherries.

There are two major types of cherry beer that I can remember trying. The first is the kriek biers in Belgium, which are amazingly delicious, and have a style and flavor that you simply cannot duplicate without starting with a lambic bier. The tartness of the wild yeasts mixes extremely well with the tartness of the fruit, and the flavors blend amazingly well. The only real problem with making this kind of beer is getting a similar result using domestic yeasts. Of course, you can buy specific strains of Brett and Lactobacillus from commercial yeast producers, but that's cheating. Its result is also not as good as the real thing, in my opinion.

The second kind of beer I think about is hard to describe. It seems to happen all the time, though. The beer starts with a cherry flavor, and it seems like it will finish clean and dry, but then the malt and hops find it, and it finishes like a beer. The best are usually wheat-based beers, but even then they can be a little overwhelming for the poor cherries. I'm going to try and avoid this trap.

With a little meditation on the subject and some ruminations from the Thirsty Pilgrim, I've decided to avoid the trap of trying to create a lambic, and, more importantly, avoid the trap of trying to balance the beer aftertaste with the cherry flavor. I am trying to think of a way to have the powerful cherry presence, but make the beer finish very dry, with a clean mouthfeel.

The solution? Use two yeasts. I plan on brewing a clean American Ale, using the ever-reliable SafAle American Ale strain and a light malt bill. I'll use bittering hops only, to keep the hops out of the way of the cherries. the resulting base beer might seem bland by home brewing standards, but it's supposed to be that way.

The real flavor will come from the cherries, added in the secondary fermenter. I'll use a full 10 pounds for the 5 gallon batch, and it will be flavorful. In addition, I'll be pitching a champagne yeast to try and dry out the mouthfeel. With any luck, it will make for a full-on cherry flavor with a very clean finish.

I'll let you know how that works out for me.

Nice Day for a White Wedding Ale

On Sunday, I brewed the new beer, Lairdalee's White Wedding Ale. It's a bit of an nonstandard Belgian Wit. It's a bit darker, but the Orange and Coriander are present. It was a broiling 90 something degrees, and I was using an outdoor burner that puts out quite a few BTU's. I was sweating my face off, but I got the job done, and it's in the fermenter.

I had intended to take many photos on Sunday when I was brewing, but, to be quite honest, I forgot. I'm terribly sorry, if there's anyone out there who has stumbled across this blog and would actually care to see the process, but I promise to do better in the future.

In the mean time, I guess I'll make up for it by giving you the recipe I created for it. Don't get used to it, because I like to keep my cards close to my chest, but I figure I can give you this one, in case you decide to try it out. Keep in mind that I haven't tried it yet, as it's still in the fermenter, but it looks like it'll be a good one.

1/2 lbs.	White Wheat Malt info
5 lbs.	Muntons Dry Wheat info
1 lbs.	Oats Flaked info
1 oz.	Hallertau (Pellets, 3.7 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
1 ounces	Coriander (not included in calculations)
1 ounces	Bitter orange (not included in calculations)
Yeast :	SafAle SAF05 American Ale Yeast info

Steep the wheat malt and flaked oats in 4.5 gallons of 160 degree water for 20 minutes. Rinse the grains with 1 gallon of 160 degree water. Remove the grains and add the malt extract. Bring to a boil, and add the hops. This will begin the 60 minute boiling process, so start your timer. While this is boiling, and you are diligently watching for boil-overs, crush the coriander. I used a mortar and pestle, but I have used a ziploc bag and a rolling pin before, and it worked fine. Whatever method you use, make sure you crush it as well as possible. When there are 15 minutes left out of the 60, add 1 tsp of Irish moss, the hops, and the coriander and bitter orange peel. Finish out the boil, and cool the wort to 70 degrees as quickly as possible. Pitch your yeast, and seal it up in your fermenter to go. It will take 5-7 days to ferment, and then it'll be bottling time.

Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar or 1 1/4 cup wheat malt extract. I will be kegging mine, so I will be using 3/4 cup wheat malt extract.

Let it condition in the bottle for at last 2 weeks, and try a bottle. Hopefully, this recipe will make you think I am the greatest homebrewer of all time. I'm not, of course, but maybe you'll think I am.

Tasting the Saison; Designing a Wit...

The Saison brewed with my brother is finally ready. Its color is fantastic, and it tastes even better.

The Gasket-style bottle is a donation from my brother to bottle the Saison. I was worried about the high attenuation of the yeast causing excess pressure in the standard American 12 oz. bottle, so I bottled all 5 gallons in the gasket-top bottles.

The head on the Saison was very white, and was kind of rocky due to the malted wheat used as a specialty grain. The aroma was very appealing, with a lot of spicy notes and a very slight banana aroma.

I was also worried that it wouldn't be fully carbonated by this point, since the fermentation took extra time, but I was dead wrong, as the beer was very carbonated, with a nice, sharp mouthfeel.

The flavor was very up-front, and was spicy, with notes of all the yeast qualities you'd expct in a farmhouse ale. This is definitely a Saison. My brother will be pleased.

The hardest part of having a beer like this in your cellar is keeping a beer like this in your cellar. I will be tempted to drink it whenever I can, but I kind of want to save it for special occasions.

I know I plan on having some of this left for Christmas, just in case Joe makes it into the country for the Holidays. I'll be sending him as much as I can as soon as I can. Keep watching the Thirsty Pilgrim for him to taste this beer and write his review. He's a bit more practiced at describing what he tastes in a beer.

Tomorrow, I'll be brewing a beer for my friends' wedding, which is at the end of the month. I've decided on a Belgian Wit. I contacted the boys at The Homebrewery in Ozark, Missouri, for a couple of tips, since their Wit Kit is absolutely delicious. Even before I contacted them, though, I had decided on an all-wheat extract beer with coriander, bitter orange, and some flaked oats. I also decided to add a little bit of malted wheat as a specialty grain to make the head retain a little better and make the head a little rockier.

All in all, my Belgian Wit will be about 5.5% ABV, about 16 IBU, and will be a bit darker than the standard Wit, but I anticipate a delicious beer. I will take a few pictures of the brewing tomorrow for you. Look for a post about it on Sunday.

Oh, yeah. I'm calling it the Lairdalee White Wedding Ale. I'm so clever.