In preparation of Spring...
(this is a personal copy of a post I made in the homebrewing community. perhaps someone will be kind enough to remind me how to crosspost?)
We've made several bock variants to enjoy when spring is in full bloom. Took a traditional German bock recipe, treated as normal until pitching. We put 3 gallons into a fermenter and pitched an ale yeast; then siphoned the last 2 gallons into two separate 1 gallon carboys and pitched a lager yeast.
Trying a lager for the first time, wish me luck. I left the lager out at room temp over night until I began to see activity then put them in my 50 degree keg freezer. Waited two weeks, raised freezer temp to 60 degrees for diacetyl rest for 48 hours, then racked to secondary and dropped freezer temp to 40. I found it incredibly fascinating how the cold temperature really slows down fermentation - I took both carboys out of the freezer for the racking and by the time I got to the second one it had raised temperature a bit and was beginning to bubble. I was tempted to leave it be to finish off any sugars that were left, but I want to keep this a true lager and keep out any esters so I racked it and tossed it back in the freezer.
A third bock variant we're trying is going to be a present for my brother-in-law's wedding. We're making a dark cherry bock. Mmm, doesn't that just sound delicious? Now, we've never made a fruit beer before so let me present the situation and ask a question. We created a hybrid between texas and german bock recipes, trying to get a ruby color out of the beer (I'll post recipe when I get home to it) and put an oz each of czech saaz and hallertauer in for the full boil to remove much of the aromatics. Pitched with European Ale yeast (instead of German ale; why, I'm not certain, but the brewstore owner suggested it) and left alone for primary fermentation. Its secondary racking time, and now we want to add the cherries. We've got roughly 7.25 lbs of cherries, 75% tart and 25% sweet, frozen and waiting to go. Do we need to prep the cherries in any way before adding to secondary? My mead friend says he simply tosses fruit in as the higher alcohol takes care of any stow aways, but I'm concerned the beer abv may not have the oomf to properly clean 'em. Boil the cherries? doesn't sound like I'll have much of the flavor left when I'm ready to add them. Just pour them in and dont worry?
We've made several bock variants to enjoy when spring is in full bloom. Took a traditional German bock recipe, treated as normal until pitching. We put 3 gallons into a fermenter and pitched an ale yeast; then siphoned the last 2 gallons into two separate 1 gallon carboys and pitched a lager yeast.
Trying a lager for the first time, wish me luck. I left the lager out at room temp over night until I began to see activity then put them in my 50 degree keg freezer. Waited two weeks, raised freezer temp to 60 degrees for diacetyl rest for 48 hours, then racked to secondary and dropped freezer temp to 40. I found it incredibly fascinating how the cold temperature really slows down fermentation - I took both carboys out of the freezer for the racking and by the time I got to the second one it had raised temperature a bit and was beginning to bubble. I was tempted to leave it be to finish off any sugars that were left, but I want to keep this a true lager and keep out any esters so I racked it and tossed it back in the freezer.
A third bock variant we're trying is going to be a present for my brother-in-law's wedding. We're making a dark cherry bock. Mmm, doesn't that just sound delicious? Now, we've never made a fruit beer before so let me present the situation and ask a question. We created a hybrid between texas and german bock recipes, trying to get a ruby color out of the beer (I'll post recipe when I get home to it) and put an oz each of czech saaz and hallertauer in for the full boil to remove much of the aromatics. Pitched with European Ale yeast (instead of German ale; why, I'm not certain, but the brewstore owner suggested it) and left alone for primary fermentation. Its secondary racking time, and now we want to add the cherries. We've got roughly 7.25 lbs of cherries, 75% tart and 25% sweet, frozen and waiting to go. Do we need to prep the cherries in any way before adding to secondary? My mead friend says he simply tosses fruit in as the higher alcohol takes care of any stow aways, but I'm concerned the beer abv may not have the oomf to properly clean 'em. Boil the cherries? doesn't sound like I'll have much of the flavor left when I'm ready to add them. Just pour them in and dont worry?