8.24.2010

Patersbier (4-ways) - Bottle, Keg, on Tart Cherries, and dry hopped!

I brewed up my first 10 gallon batch about a month ago and now I'm getting ready to start experimenting with this one base beer. I did a pretty crazy traditional Saison step mash to maximize fermentable sugars in order to make sure that I could ferment this out completely, which is what was of utmost importance to the Belgian brewers of old. Now that I have my 9.5 gallons completely fermented out I'm splitting this batch in FOUR different ways in order to do a little experimenting.

I'm doing this in 2.5 gallon increments and the first very simple experiment will be kegging 2.5 gallons, and bottling another 2.25 gallons to see the difference between bottle conditioning and force carbonation and how this changes the finished product that a beer will become. I also am going to prime the beer with Honey that I have from Midwest Brew Supply.   I'm assuming that the kegged beer will be nice and clean and the bottled beer will retain more of the funky Belgian yeast and maybe a little sweetness and honey flavor. For the other 5 gallons, I'm also splitting that up, half on 3 lbs of North Star tart cherries (grown in Golden Valley, MN), pits and all, which I pasteurized at 170 for 30 minutes in about a half gallon of water. I then put the cherries into my secondary FV and racked 2.5 gallons on top of them! It looks beautiful! I left the pits in because I read that the pits can lend an almondy flavor and I think that it will add a nice complexity to this very simple, yet flavorful ale. The last 2.25 gallons I'm going to dry hop with 1 1/4 oz of Celeia hops. I really want to see what these hops are like in the Aroma department. I have a bunch of these Celeia hops in my freezer that I received almost a year ago while on a brewery tour at Pearl Street Brewery in Lacrosse, WI.  Awesome tap room, and always a fun time by the way!  This is a very low Alpha hop, they are rather old at this point, maybe a year and a half to two years. It's not completely unlike something that a Belgian farmer may have had back in the day.

Patersbier Brew Night 7.26.10 

 lft to rt. - Sour Monk(Patersbier + 1 wk on tart cherries), Me, Nacho's Straight up (Patersbier)

2 comments:

  1. We need some pics of the tart! Sounds mighty tasty! Cannot wait to try the chronic again when it is fully carbed!

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  2. I'll take a picture of that tonight. Last night the cherries were all at the bottom. This morning they were all floating at the top and it'll make a pretty cool picure. I'm gonna dry hop the other half tonight and then I'll have a picture with them side by side!

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