Bottling the Rhubarb Raspberry Wheat

Well Summer is half over and at least I finally got around to bottling the Rhubarb Raspberry Wheat.  It sat in the secondary for just over a month because of a vacation home to WV, the extreme heat and humidity, and just general procrastination


My original plan for priming was to use two different priming methods: Priming Tabs and sugar cubes
Unfortunately I was unable to find sugar cubes at the store but did end up purchasing a new type of conditioning tabs that are supposed to allow you to have a bit more control the carbonation levels.

So as an experiment I did the following:

22oz Bottles - 8 conditioning tablets

12oz bottles with 3 conditioning tablets: 3

12oz bottles with 5 conditioning tablets: 3

12oz bottles with 4 conditioning tablets: 12

I also didn't get as many bottles as I usually do from a 5 gallon batch because some of the Rhubarb didn't get totally pureed and was clogging the tubing and bottling wand.   This  made it difficult to fill the bottles since the pieces Rhubarb were preventing the tip on the end of the wand from closing.  I ended up tossing the bottling wand (needed a new one anyway) along with the tubing

Overall my initial tasting of the beer is promising and I can't wait to try it once it is conditioned. This batch has also made me want to do 3 gallon batches and move to kegging as soon as possible.

West Virginia Brewing

Front of Mountain State Brewing growler

First off I haven't forgot about this blog. 

Not much has been going on brewing wise here because over the past month or so my mom came up to visit before having knee surgery, I went over to Connecticut to dog sit for my brother the next weekend and then we just got back from going down to WV for vacation.

All this time the Raspberry and Rhubarb has been in the beer hopefully making what will eventually be a very tasty brew.  I will try to bottle it within the next week or so.

My vacation to WV was however not without so beer related stops. 

First some background...
When I was in graduate school at WVU the only place in WV that actually brewed their own beer was the WV Brew Pub.  It was a great place to go and the atmosphere was great (and I used to have an awesome growler which I took to get filled here in Albany and the idiot waitress gave to someone else).   When I was in the Political Science graduate program we would always go there after Friday afternoon colloquiums and just sit around drinking and shooting the bull with the professors who joined us.  One of my professors even held the final class down there when presented our research papers for the Bureaucracy Seminar, he bought the beer but you couldn't drink until you had presented your paper.

After moving to Albany I had heard that the WV Brew Pub had closed ...this saddened me greatly but as it turned out they did reopen under new management and a new name: The Morgantown Brewing Company which had beers on par with the original.  It wasn't until this past Christmas when I was home and went out to dinner with family and friends that I learned about a new brewery Bridge Brew Works which is located near the New River Gorge Bridge and sampled the one brew that the restaurant had on tap (and I remember enjoying it greatly).  About a month prior to my journey down to WV I saw a friend had posted about the Mountain State Brewing Company which has three locations one of which is located in Morgantown.  It also turns out there are also 4 other brewing companies in the state for a total of 7 brewing companies in the state.

My goal while in WV was to go to as many of these new brew pubs as possible. 
Our fourth day in WV my girlfriend and I did the New River Bridge Walk where you walk the entire length of the bridge on the 24 inch cat walk that runs under the bridge.

876 ft up in the air on a 24'' catwalk...FUN!

Afterwards we drove down to the Bridge Brew Works brewery which is basically a medium sized building, we didn't go in because I don't think they give tours (sad puppy).  I did however pick these two beauties up at the Capitol Market in Charleston and can't wait to taste them.

Belgian Style Dubbel and Tripel

On our way back North we stayed with my college roommate in Morgantown and met one of my other buddies for drinks at the Mountain State Brewing Company where I got this growler (didn't get anything in it due to not wanting to worry about it spilling while traveling) but they too had some really nice beers to enjoy.

Back of Mountain St Brewing growler

While I am glad that there these new Brewing Companies in the state recently my post retirement dreams (I figured by then I would be a much better homebrewer) was to move back to WV and open up my own Brew Pub...I guess I still could as of right now there are none located in the Southern part of the state but then again it could only be a fanciful dream that will never see fruition...

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

Brew Day: Starting the Summer HefeWiezen

Summer is right around the corner so today was the day I had the free time to start my summer hefewiezen being that it is Memorial Day and having the day off from work.

My Recipe was a basic hefewiezen I found online at HomeBrew Talk

The Brew Sheet:
Type: Extract w. Specialty Grains
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min   
Ingredients:

Amount       Item                                                                         %                               
5.00 lb         Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)       Dry Extract     83.33 %
1.00 lb         Cara Hell                (2.0 SRM)       Grain              16.67 %

Hops
1.00 oz      Tettnang [4.80 %]    (60 min)         18.2 IBU

Beer Profile:
Est Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Measured Original Gravity:  12% BRIX = 1.039 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.30 %

I got to use my early B-Day present from my AWESOME girlfriend : The Refractometer

Anyway after the primary fermentation I plan to add something stuff during the secondary ... you will have to stay tuned and see...

Pictures

Watermelon Wheat

Batch #: 8
Brew Type: Extract Kit with Specialty Grain
Style: American Wheat
Date Brewed: 6/20/2010
Date Bottled: 7/18/2010

Ingredients
Amount       Item                                                   Type             %
6.60 lb         Wheat Liquid Extract  (8.0 SRM)     Extract        86.84 %
1.00 lb         Wheat, Torrified          (1.7 SRM)      Grain         13.16 %
Hops
2.00 oz    Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min)   32.8 IBU
1.00 oz    Tettnang [4.50 %] (60 min)    15.4 IBU
Yeast   
1 Pkgs    American Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP320)
Secondary:
5.00 lb    Organic Watermelon (2.0 weeks)

Measured Original Gravity: 1.044 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.009 SG   
ABV: 4.56%


Photo Album

Background:
This was my second time adding fruit to the beer during the secondary fermentation.  My inspiration for this one came from both the Amer. Craft Brewing Scene and from my friend Craig who got me hooked on homebrewing.  The craft brewing influences Hooker Brewery's Watermelon Ale and 21st Amendments Hell or High Watermelon Wheat both which used the artificial watermelon flavoring which in my opinion can be at times to sweet for me.  My friend Craig had previously done a Watermelon of his own and used sugar to sweeten it.  My goal was to try and only use the watermelon in hopes the natural flavor came through without sweetening it.

Thoughts:
I was pleasantly surprised with how well this batch turned out.  Unlike the my Raspberry Ale where all the color was drawn out of the berries when I went to bottle it the watermelon pieces retained their color and tasted almost normal yet imparted a nice finish to the beer.  Almost 1 year later the taste still holds up and makes a nice refreshing drink.