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Gahan Homebrewer Challenge 2014 - PEI Cranberry Wit

Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:33 pm
by rypalmer
This recipe won the Gahan House Homebrewer Challenge this year.

Belgian White w/ Cranberry Gahan Comp
16-A Witbier
Author: Ryan Palmer
Brewhouse: BigYellow Electric Brewery
Date: 2014-02-18

Image

Size: 72.0 L
Efficiency: 77%
Attenuation: 75.0%

Original Gravity: 1.044 (1.044 - 1.052)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 - 1.012)
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Color: 3.18 (2.0 - 4.0)
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Alcohol: 4.31% (4.5% - 5.5%)
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Bitterness: 16.5 (10.0 - 20.0)
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Ingredients:
1 ea 1 ea Campden tablet - added to strike
8.2 kg (58.6%) Canadian 2-Row Malt - added during mash
3.9 kg (27.9%) Wheat Malt - added during mash
1.9 kg (13.6%) Oats Flaked - added during mash
45 g (69.2%) Amarillo® (8.7%) - added during boil, boiled 90 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 m
20 g (30.8%) Amarillo® (8.7%) - added during boil, boiled 15 m
3 tsp Corriander cracked - added during boil, boiled 5 m
3 oz Bitter Curacao/Bitter Orange (Peel) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
1 oz Orange Peel (dried) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
1 ea WYeast 1056 American Ale™ (make starter to reach 700B cells)
3 kg Cranberries (frozen) - added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:

Mash In - Liquor: 35.0 L; Strike: 76.57 °C; Target: 68.9 °C
Mash rest - Rest: 60 m; Final: 68.9 °C
Mash out - Target: 77 °C
Batch Sparge - First runnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 77 °C, 5 m; Continuous Sparge: 68.49 L sparge @ 77 °C, 20 m; Total Runoff: 90.25 L

Fermentation - 18ºC for 14 days, rack to secondary, add frozen cranberries, 18ºC for 7 days. (temperatures and dates approximate, but a cool fermentation made this beer a winner. Our friend fermented a bucket of this in the mid-20s Celsius and "it tastes like homebrew").

Packaging - Bottled conditioned, 2.5 volumes

Notes
Turned out quite tart initially. We contemplated "fixing" this at bottling by back-sweetening it but couldn't decide how. Thankfully the tartness subsided after a few weeks in the bottle. May consider adding some caramel malt next time to add sweetness. Mash temp was already as high as possible and was achieved.

We tested cranberries on only a small portion of this batch - 600g in 16L. On a whim, we added 500ml of Van Dyk's Pure Wild Blueberry Juice to a separate 16L portion, and this turned out very very good. Almost like a pink grapefruit taste I'd experienced in Ottawa earlier this winter (Pink Fuzz: http://beyondthepale.ca/home.html#beers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Next time I would not add it to secondary, but during kegging.

Re: Gahan Homebrewer Challenge 2014 - PEI Cranberry Wit

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:50 am
by GasMD30
Congrats on the win!! Sounds like a tasty recipe. I'm impressed with the batch size!!
:rockin:

Re: Gahan Homebrewer Challenge 2014 - PEI Cranberry Wit

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:59 am
by mr x
FWIW, my pomegranate wheat was also very tart, and mellowed to a much better beer after 5 weeks.