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Date: 24 Oct 2006 14:16:43
From: brian@yahoo.com
Subject: Cranberry wheat tastes sour
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I brewed a 5 gal cranberry wheat (AG) where I made up a standard wheat
recipe with a bit extra crystal and dextrin malt and light on the hops
to make it a bit on the sweet side. Then I added 3lb of pureed
cranberries to the primary after the main fermentation was over. I
tasted it a couple of days after the cranberries were added and it had
a strong sour flavor. I am kicking myself for not tasting it before
the cranberries were added to determine if the cranberries are giving
that flavor or if it was already in the beer. The cranberries seemed
to ferment off quickly (like a day). I'm trying to figure out if the
sourness is from the cranberries (sour, not tart like a cranberry) or
if it was an infection in the underlying beer. Is it the acid in the
cranberry? Should I add some chalk to neutralize the acidity a bit?
If so, how much? Will it mellow with age? How can I speed up this
aging? How soon should I rack to secondary? Will sitting on the
larger yeast cake of the primary cause the beer to mature quicker or
will racking off the cranberry trub make it mature quicker? Can I fit
in another question here?
Any thoughts or help will be appreciated.
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Date: 16 Nov 2006 07:16:58
From: brian@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Cranberry wheat tastes sour
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On 24, 4:16 pm, "b...@yahoo.com" <brian.s...@gmail.com > wrote:
> I brewed a 5 galcranberrywheat(AG) where I made up a standardwheat
> recipe with a bit extra crystal and dextrin malt and light on the hops
> to make it a bit on the sweet side. Then I added 3lb of pureed
> cranberries to the primary after the main fermentation was over. I
> tasted it a couple of days after the cranberries were added and it had
> a strong sour flavor. I am kicking myself for not tasting it before
> the cranberries were added to determine if the cranberries are giving
> that flavor or if it was already in the beer. The cranberries seemed
> to ferment off quickly (like a day). I'm trying to figure out if the
> sourness is from the cranberries (sour, not tart like acranberry) or
> if it was an infection in the underlying beer. Is it the acid in thecranberry? Should I add some chalk to neutralize the acidity a bit?
> If so, how much? Will it mellow with age? How can I speed up this
> aging? How soon should I rack to secondary? Will sitting on the
> larger yeast cake of the primary cause the beer to mature quicker or
> will racking off thecranberrytrub make it mature quicker? Can I fit
> in another question here?
>
> Any thoughts or help will be appreciated.
It is truly amazing what some time can do to a beer......
When I first tasted this after the cranberries just finished fermenting
out it was ver sour. So much so I though I had an infection. I let it
sit for about 2 weeks and then racked to the secondary. At this point
the sourness was completely gone, but it was very tart and in need of
some sweetness. After a week in secondary I just kegged the beer and
it actually turned out great! It feels a little thin right now, but
then again its not carbonated either. The FG was about 1.020 so it
should have some body to it. I am thinking of adding a little sugar to
help round it out (with Potassium Sorbate to prevent refermentation),
but its really quite good. Next time I will use less cranberries
because this is currently cranberry flavor primarily with a beer
aftertaste rather than the other way around (3lb of cranberries for 5
gal is a bit much).
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