two fruit witbiers (blackcurrant and gooseberry)

[TheMumbler]

Done a few weeks back and just about finished priming in the bottles.
23l
predicted OG 1053 (not taking fruit into account)
actual OG 1051 (before fruit addtitions)
Predicted FG 1013
Actual FG 1010

Mash
2500g weyermann pilsner
500g Munich malt (not sure which maltser)

Cereal Mash
1400g flaked wheat
500g weyermann wheat malt
500g porridge oats

19g Northern Brewer 90 mins
30g Hallertauer 30 mins
15g coriander crushed 10 mins
30g Hallertauer 0 mins

yeast wlp 400 Belgian Wit
I think I added some yeast nutrient but I may have forgotton.

Split in secondary and added (one to each half)
~1kg gooseberries bought frozen from Booths
~1kg blackberries from a friends allotment, cleaned, frozen and then defrosted.

The mash schedule was as follows
Main mash 40*C - 30 mins
add water to raise to 50*C - 1 hour
add cereal mash (at boiling) to raise to 68.5*C for 45 mins
add water to raise to 77*C 30 mins

The cereal mash followed the schedule below and was started after the main mash had been on for about 30 mins
mash in at 50*C - 15 mins
raise to 66*C for - 15 mins
raise to boiling - 15 mins

In the end I couldn't raise the mash to 77, it was only 72 so I pulled another decotction to get it up to 75 and then mashed out. It was a long day and quite a lot of hassle. Still good to do these things, if only the once.

This was then fermented for a 2 or 3 days before splitting into two batches and adding 1kg of fruit which had been washed and then frozen to each half. The wort had only dropped about 20 points (I was expecting more tbh as it had a decent looking head on it) so it was all given a really good stir at this point to get the yeast going strongly and to mash up and mix in the fruit.

pics in the next post

 

[TheMumbler]

I ended up brewing a few days later than I intended and so kept the yeast starter going by adding some more wort and a tiny bit of yeast nutrient. It went so mental I had to split the 3l starter into 2 demijohns to prevent it climbing out of the top.

getting the cereal mash to then raising to 66*C

Boiling the cereal mash, probably need a bigger pan.

I don't have any photos of the regular mash or boil as I was pretty rushed with all the unfamiliar stuff to do. Same set up and kit as I usually use and can be seen in other brewdays if you are interested, nothing shiney or exciting.

coriander, no pics of the hops which looked green and leafy as they generally do.

1kg defrosted gooseberries and ~1kg blackberries ready for the partially fermented witbier

half of the partially fermented witbier ready for the fruit.

fruity gunge exhibits A and B

On sampling both seem pretty nice if rather tart, the gooseberry was so tart I added 1tsp of splenda per 500ml at bottling. The blackberry was left as it was. I think the splenda has improved the gooseberry but I'm glad I didn't add any to the blackcurrant.

carbonated in the bottle and pretty much ready to drink gooseberry and blackcurrant witbier

 

[Titch]

bravo :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[TheMumbler]

Cheers Titch, I had the almighty fear that after such a long brewday making the wit base it would just get infected when the fruit went in. They are rather tart but I'm pretty pleased with them. I reckon I would go for an easier base recipe using wheat malt and a single infusion mash if I do another fruit beer.

 

[TheMumbler]

tasting notes that I had put on Jim's since pittsy asked about how the kiwi wit turned out and I referred to this one.

I should think that some people will hate them. They are both tart (or sour depending on your point of view) but I'm pretty confident it isn't an off sour. I could be wrong though, I guess time will tell. Certainly I had no ill effects from drinking one small bottle of each and they taste good to me, lancssteve seemed to like the flat sample from the FV when I was bottling and I think the fizz improves it. SWMBO seemed suitably impressed so I think all is well. They'll probably get drunk young in any case so hopefully any issues won't have too much time to develop.

You can really taste the fruit especially in the blackcurrant one and you get the taste of fresh fruit as opposed to a concentrate or something, hard to describe really but it tastes really of fruit as opposed to something processed from fruit if you get my drift. I think they will be nice chilled on a hot day. The gooseberry one is definitely better for the addition of splenda as it was just too sour IMO, the blackberry was less so and I'm glad I didn't add any sweetner to that. You could always make a shandy if you have a sweet tooth or add some gomme or something. I'm not sure that I'd make the gooseberry one again, but I'd certainly make the blackcurrant again if my friend with the allotment had more fruit. He does have redcurrants but I imagine that would be very tart like the gooseberry. I would be tempted to try with raspberry in the future.

In the long run I wished that I hadn't sweetened the gooseberry, although it was savagely tart. I think adding some sugar or gomme when drinking would be the better plan as you really get that sweetner taste which I am not a fan of, even with only 1tsp in 650ml.

 

[mattybabsy]

hi mumbler

jusst got a buch of freshly picked gooseberrys frm a friend. never tried them before, don't know what they taste like. but he offered them and i thought of beer...

I googled it and found this-

...so any suggestions or advice apart from what it above? should I freeze them first? (think I rem something about cell walls)

thanks

Matthew

 

[TheMumbler]

The fruit was all frozen when I got it so it wasn't something I did deliberately. I think freezing them will burst some of the cell walls as the water expands which should make it easier to get the juice out. I guess it reduce any wild yeast and bacteria populations, although spores will survive freezing.

If you want to reduce the chance of infection you could put the fruit in at the end of the boil. My experience of that with jamesb's kiwi wit was that the fruit character was more restrained. Of course that might be a difference between fruits. I haven't tried the two methods with the same fruit to make a direct comparison. The brewday is here.

I would be tempted to try the end of the boil approach with gooseberry using 2kg for a 23l brew. You might have a look in the wine making part of the forum as those guys will have more experience of using fruit.

 

[mattybabsy]

brilliant- thanks!