Framboise

I received a recipe book for Christmas! I was flipping through and by chance my finger landed on a lambic recipe, specifically a Framboise. The making of a lambic, specifically a Framboise, is a very fragile and wonderful process. Traditionally, after a spontaneous wild fermentation produces what is known as lambic, the lambic is refermented along with raspberries to produce Framboise, a fruit beer.

Spontaneous wild fermentation would be very difficult for a homebrewer, so there are yeast strains available on the market to reproduce the fermentation. However, traditional methods of making lambic also require a souring of the mash. The souring of the mash is the random variable in making a lambic for homebrewers. An easy technique (which I hope promotes consistency) for souring is this:

During the sparge, draw off 6 gallons of wort. Let the wort cool to 130 degrees F, then add 1/2 pound pale 2-row crushed malt to the wort, mix thoroughly, seal with a lid, and let sit for 12-24 hours, depending on how sour you want the final product. After 12-24 hours, strain the malt, add hops and boil as usual.

This was my first time "souring mash," and I have to say, the smell and taste of a soured mash is quite unusual and different... exciting!

During the racking of the beer to secondary, the raspberries are heated to 150 degrees in a minimal amount of water for 30 minutes, then the entire mixture is added to the beer. Traditionally the fruit would only be added after several years (1-3) aging of the lambic.

Recipe:

6 lbs Belgian Pils malt
3 lbs Wheat malt
1 lb Flaked Wheat
.5 lb 2-row pale (souring)
10 lbs frozen raspberries
.5 oz Tettnanger
1 pack 5112 Brettanomyces bruxellensis
1 pack 3942 Belgian Wheat

Add both packets of yeast for primary fermentation.

primary: 2 weeks
secondary: 12 weeks
bottle condition: 3 months - 1 year

Milling and Harvesting

It was a big weekend for homebrew production. I built a malt mill and harvested my cascade hops! I based my malt mill on the barebones version of Jack Schmidling's MaltMill.
Barebones Malt Mill (from Jack Schmidling Productions, Inc.)

I had to build the table and the hopper, but the money I saved in doing it myself, I was able to buy an electric drill to motor the whole contraption. I used medium density fiberboard for the table and the sides of the hopper. I used a lightweight smooth fiberboard with staples for the hopper. I added dropped edges on the table so it fits snugly on top of a bucket. I bolted the mill onto the table with 1/4" bolts and the hopper attaches to the top with 1/4" bolts.
This malt mill holds 12.5 pounds of uncrushed grain.

Gorilla glue sealed the edges inside the hopper where I narrowed the chute.

The hop harvest was outstanding. We clipped the vine down and brought it over to the deck where we began picking. There were so many flowers it was quite a chore for two people. I did not expect this quantity! The net product was half a paper grocery bag.

To dry them out we first cut paper bags in the shape of a bin and covered them, leaving plenty of breathing room.

It was a long weekend, so I decided to put together a proper hop bin, with a screened bottom for faster drying. They will sit in the sun room for 3 days or so and then be packed and frozen.

Raisin Abbey Dubbel

My best Abbey Dubbel yet! I have it on tap for special occasions. This will knock you out.

Recipe
10.0 lbs 2-row
2.0 lbs wheat
2.0 lbs cara-pils
1.0 lbs crystal 60L
1.0 lbs brown malt
1.0 lbs rauch malt
1.5 lbs brown sugar
1.5 lbs raisins (puree with hot wort, steep 15 min)
1 pk 1388 Wyeast Belgian Strong Ale
1.5 oz Kent Goldings (60 min)
0.5 oz Saaz (20 min)

On a side note, I was up in Madeline Island for the 4th of July, and I went kayaking through a sea cave, check it out!

Dunkin Coffee Stout

In honor of the drink that America runs on, I made a delicious coffee stout using 2 cups of fresh Dunkin Donuts Original Blend coffee beans, ground with a burr grinder. I used a nylon sack as an extra large tea bag, and just dipped for a period of 5 minutes, immediately after shutting down the boil. The coffee taste in the final product is less than subtle, but delicious and sweet. You know the roast flavor is coming from the coffee and not the roasted barley.

Recipe:
13.0 lbs 2-row
2.5 lbs crystal 60L
0.5 lbs roasted barley
0.25 lbs black patent
0.25 lbs chocolate malt
1.5 oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
0.5 oz Willamette (10 min)
2.0 cups whole Dunkin coffee beans
1 pack Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Second season Hops

I planted my Cascade hops last year, so this is the second growing season for them. They are monsters compared to last year, with about three times the growth. They outgrew my fence so I built a makeshift trellis, allowing them to keep growing tall.

Look at these beauties!


To build the hop trellis, I ran some garden twine from one tree to another above the fence they were growing on, about 10 feet from the ground. Then I hung smaller pieces of twine from it and tied them to the fence. The result was a very inexpensive hop trellis. The vines immediately attached to the twine, and are already maxing out the trellis!

Compare the growth from last year!

Latest cash in from the fermentors: Vanilla Stout and Pale Ale