Insane/Sane batches

[futurefjp]

On Sunday James Chambers and I did an all grain (6kg pale malts, 100g chocolate malts) brew which we managed about 8gallons.

First 'sane' brew is with a White Lab Pitchable Yeast - Belgian Sour Mix WLP655 - (which is now fermenting in a 5 gallon), and a 'insane' separate 3 gallons (which has been laid on top of 2 gallons mixture of wild 'windfall' fruits, flowers and stems - Fennel, Lavender, Victoria Plums, Blackcurrants and Elderberries) to this we added WLP677 Lactobacillus delbrueckii and a little 'Kombucha'.

We used Mugwort as a substitute for the hops, but will conservatively dry hop in primary and secondary.

My question is how do I prevent too many tannins from leechning out of the Elderberries as the brew matures? I haven't crushed any of the fruit and am allowing mother nature take her time converting fermentables, but I will at some point want to transfer to a secondary ...

 

[cannman]

On Sunday James Chambers and I did an all grain (6kg pale malts, 100g chocolate malts) brew which we managed about 8gallons.

First 'sane' brew is with a White Lab Pitchable Yeast - Belgian Sour Mix WLP655 - (which is now fermenting in a 5 gallon), and a 'insane' separate 3 gallons (which has been laid on top of 2 gallons mixture of wild 'windfall' fruits, flowers and stems - Fennel, Lavender, Victoria Plums, Blackcurrants and Elderberries) to this we added WLP677 Lactobacillus delbrueckii and a little 'Kombucha'.

We used Mugwort as a substitute for the hops, but will conservatively dry hop in primary and secondary.

My question is how do I prevent too many tannins from leechning out of the Elderberries as the brew matures? I haven't crushed any of the fruit and am allowing mother nature take her time converting fermentables, but I will at some point want to transfer to a secondary ...

Its about pH control. I recently saw a product used in brews (wine perhaps?) that controls pH at a food-grade level from one of the major brew stores online. I'd wait for someone with experience with the product to pipe in, but this will at least give you a head start on additional independent research.

:rockin:

 

[kingwood-kid]

Tannins are acids, so they should leach into your beer at high pH, and not at low pH. If the lacto does its job, you should have no worries. Belgian sour brewers do everything in oak, which is as tannic as anything. Hops are pretty tannic, and IPAs with insane amounts of hops aren't too tannic for most of us. So I think the elderberries shouldn't cause any problems.