Summer HefeWiezen Part Duex

Last night I racked my HefeWiezen to the secondary and added the two summer ingredients which will make this a one of a kind homebrew: Raspberries and Rhubarb

I have been wanting to use rhubarb for sometime now and figured that a wheat beer would be the best base beer for this endeavor.  Because rhubarb is very tart I decided that to try and balance it out I would add a "sweet" berry.  The first choice was Strawberry but after some research I found that real strawberries don't work that well in beer and I have had success with the Razzburly Cream Ale (eventually to be reviewed here) and figured to go with what I know.

The Rhubarb came from my girlfriend's mother which she grew in her garden and the raspberries were frozen organic berries from the store. Both were frozen (break down the cell walls) and taken out the freezer three days prior to racking the beer.

Not wanting to just dump the rhubarb and raspberries into the new carboy, I put both in the food processor to make a puree

Rhubarb

Rhubarb and Berries

Pureeing the two allowed me to sample the mixture so that I could find a balanced taste between the tangyiness  of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the berries.  I then added it to the carboy

In to the Carboy

Here it is almost 24hrs later:

I will probably let it sit like this for 2-3 weeks before bottling it. I am going to estimate that by the time it is ready to bottle it should be about 5% ABV

I am really looking forward to the time when this is ready to try

Berkley's Gluten Free Brown Ale

Brew Type: Extract with Specialty Grain
Style: Gluten Free Brown Ale
Batch Size: 2.5 Gallon

Date Brewed: 4/24/2011
Date Bottled: 5/15/2011

Ingredients
Amount       Item                                                   Type          
3.30 lb         Briess White Sorghum Syrup              Extract        
0.70 lb         Buckwheat (Roasted in Oven)             Grain
0.70 lb         Millet (Roasted in Oven)                     Grain
5 oz.            Maple Syrup (Grade A)                     Adjunct
6 oz.            Blackstrap Molasses                          Adjunct
5 oz.            Dark Candi Syrup                             Adjunct
Hops
0.70 oz   Fuggle    (60 min)                                 4.8%        
0.50 oz   East Kent Golding   (15 min)               4.2%
Yeast  
1/2 Packet   Nottingham Dry yeast (Gluten Free)

Background:

          This batch of homebrew was one of two that I did for my sister-in-law over in Conn.  She was unable to enjoy beer and couldn't find a gluten free beer that she enjoyed and didn't have a sour from taste from the sorghum.  So I started doing some research on gluten free homebrew recipes on HomeBrew Talk forums and came up with this and another recipe.

          This batch was also my first time roasting the grains in the oven as I did with the Buckwheat and Millet which I used as the steeping grain.  It also took me some time to locate the White Sorghum Syrup which I found at my local homebrew store which had just started caring it.

          I am really pleased with the way this turned out...it is very cloudy for some reason but it does not take away from the overall taste...I think I am still have some carbonation issues which I am currently researching.  From what I have heard my sister-in-law enjoys the beer. 

        I will probably be making this recipe again since it was a hit with the intended audience so I should be able to tweek and perfect this particular recipe.

-c