A couple of questions about ingredients

[catdaddy66]

I have an american wheat ale that I plan on adding cherry puree to in a day or two. I wonder how much will be needed for a 5 gallon batch? I have two cans that are 49ozs each (3# each).

Also, I wonder how would I sterilize the puree? Should I boil the contents and cool before adding to the primary? Should I boil it in the can (immersed in boiling water) or boil the contents in a pot?

Last question... I am brewing a cream of three crops recipe which I have done before. It will have 7.5# of pale malt, 1# of flaked maize and 1.5# of rice that will need to be cooked first. How do I measure the rice, pre or post boil weight?

Thanks again for the knowledge!

 

[IslandLizard]

A pound a gallon will give a prominent cherry flavor. So use both cans. Or bag and freeze the leftover. Are you adding this to a (prepared) cold keg of beer, or are you adding it to the fermentor for a secondary fermentation? That makes a huge difference in outcome.

The content of the cans IS sterile. Just add it in a sanitary way.

Never boil fruit! It ruins the flavor and aroma.
Even heat pasteurization at 160F leaves a bad mark. Freezing fresh fruit kills most organisms, and breaks down cell walls for better/quicker extraction. The beer does the rest.

 

[IslandLizard]

Last question... I am brewing a cream of three crops recipe which I have done before. It will have 7.5# of pale malt, 1# of flaked maize and 1.5# of rice that will need to be cooked first. How do I measure the rice, pre or post boil weight?

Thanks again for the knowledge!

All grain amounts are weighed dry.

The rice needs to be cooked (boiled) first with enough water to fully gelatinize, I find that the easiest. You could cereal mash it, but boiling only takes 30-45 minutes. Low simmer, stir occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. It should be quite thin to prevent scorching.

The flaked maize (corn) can be added directly in the mash, but I always mill it on a narrow gap to get the bits smaller for quicker hydration. I always boil that corn for 30 minutes with enough water to make a thin polenta. That becomes my strike water.

I guess you could boil both together.

One of my Saisons has 30% flaked corn in it. That amount needs 3-4 gallons of water for a 5 gallon batch. Hence, that's my strike water.

 

[catdaddy66]

Thanks Lizard! You're the King!
(See what I did there?!)

The fruit will go into the primary for a week before bottling. If I use both cans of puree will the flavor be prominent (good) or overpowering (bad)? It just seems like a lot though I recall others using the lb/gal ratio also... Screw it, both cans it is!!

At $19 per can the fruit is double the cost of the normal beer ingredients.

I may have to up my prices for my friends.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks Lizard! You're the King!
(See what I did there?!)

The fruit will go into the primary for a week before bottling. If I use both cans of puree will the flavor be prominent (good) or overpowering (bad)? It just seems like a lot though I recall others using the lb/gal ratio also... Screw it, both cans it is!!

At $19 per can the fruit is double the cost of the normal beer ingredients.

I may have to up my prices for my friends.

I know there was a band called that. I'd rather take the Crimson reference.

It's the sweetness that carries most of the flavor.

Fermentation will eat up most sugars from the puree, leaving mere acidity and flavor compounds. Using a pound per gallon is definitely going to taste like cherries. Using half (one can), it will be much more subtle. It depends on how much cherry character you're after in the final beer. You could add one can, give it a week and taste. If not enough, add more and give it another week.

If you like some residual sweetness to sustain the cherry flavor, you could/can brew a beer at higher mash temps, add extra caramel malt (like C10), and/or use a low attenuating yeast. That means you fully integrate the cherry character into your recipe, not just as an afterthought, as in "let's add some cherries..."

On the other side, if you were to add the cherries to a (prepared) cold keg, and kept it cold, there won't be any or much fermentation, at least in the short run, since yeast is mostly dormant at those temps. The sweetness remains, and the flavor is more pronounced. 1 pound would be subtle, 2 pounds very noticeable, 3 profound. But you miss out on how fermentation and bio transformation changes the cherry flavor and aroma.

In that last vein, I had a few fruit wheats last weekend, where brewers added a can of pineapple or other fruit juice to a completed keg of wheat beer. They taste fruity, but complexity/integration is lacking. It's like a beermosa.

 

[catdaddy66]

Alright, I added the fruit to the wheat ale. Immediately there was a great change in color from light gold to a burgundy. Within the hour the fermentation has ramped up noticeably! The puree left me less than a gallon of head space so I will rig a blowoff before bedtime. The cream ale is waiting on the yeast to be pitched.

All in all a good brew day!

 

[catdaddy66]

Bottled this yesterday. Tasted phenomenally good! Great cherry hue. Also great clarity. I am glad I took the advice here and used both cans of puree. I will come and discuss my tasting notes in 2 weeks.

 

[catdaddy66]

52 bottles...

 

[catdaddy66]

Cracked open the first bottle today at my lhbs' tasting. Had minimal carbing to that point so mouthfeel was a bit thin. Awesome color and clarity (which was unexpected in a wheat recipe). Flavor was good but it should mature into a really nice summer drinker!