Epic Brainless on Peaches recipe?

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CBMbrewer

CBMbrewer

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So I want to do a strong golden Belgian and incorporate one of my favorite fruits, peaches.
one classic example, and one of my favorite beers, is Epic's Brainless on Peaches.
I'm assuming that they start off with a basic strong trippel and add fruit at the end of the boil and/or in the secondary.
So I'm thinking:

12 lb's Belgian Pilsner
.5 lb's Belgian carapils
1.5 lb's Clear candi sugar
projected OG 1.073 at 72% efficiency

I'm hoping the OG will go up with the addition of the peaches.
I was also wondering about the yeast they use and if they used any bugs such as brett or lacto.

I'll stick with noble hops and keep 'um light, I really want to make the peaches present.

any thoughts on the malt bill or yeast?
 
From my experience brewing with fruit and more specifically a cherry Belgian strong ale, it is better to first brew the ale and let age for a couple of months, then add the peaches and let sit for another month, then remove bottle/keg and let age a little more. Adding the peaches to the primary fermentation will ferment the peach flavor right out of your beer.

Be careful with your gravity as if you are too high your beer will be more dry and the alcohol will be harder to hide in the light body beer.
 
if youre trying to clone epic's beer, id cut the sugar down to 1 lb, add .5 lbs each of wheat malt and flaked oats. then add enough Marris Otter to bring the starting gravity up to 20P. i believe epic moves the beer to french oak chardonnay barrels after fermentation, then adds the peaches (probably about 1.5lbs per gallon) and ferments it out with champagne yeast. if i had to guess id say they used WLP550 for primary fermentation
 
7b46 said:
if youre trying to clone epic's beer, id cut the sugar down to 1 lb, add .5 lbs each of wheat malt and flaked oats. then add enough Marris Otter to bring the starting gravity up to 20P. i believe epic moves the beer to french oak chardonnay barrels after fermentation, then adds the peaches (probably about 1.5lbs per gallon) and ferments it out with champagne yeast. if i had to guess id say they used WLP550 for primary fermentation
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Thank you! I'm gonna just up the pilsner instead of adding the MO, just to keep the color down. But you may have finished my recipe.
 
It's good to see some love for a Utah microbrewery. I've had the chance to talk to the head brewer, Kevin Crompton, at a couple of local events including most recently at a beer/cheese pairing. I know Brainless doesn't normally have brett or lacto...at least not intentionally. I say that because at the tasting he brought out a Brainless on Cherries that had been accidentally aged in a barrel that had been inoculated with brett (mis-labeled barrel).

Re the yeast for Brainless on Peaches (BoP), at another event, I had him try a Blanche de Chambly clone that I had brewed. He asked what yeast I used and what temp I fermented at. I told him it was WLP400 and he said that's the same that he uses on his Belgians. I'm not sure if he meant all his Belgians or just for some of them. We'd been talking about the BoP before he tried mine, so I assumed he was referring to BoP, but I don't want to put words in his mouth. If I remember correctly, he said he ferments it as 72F.

BTW, I know they're working on a Flanders Red right now. I believe he said they brewed it in November or December, so keep an eye out for that one in the future.
 
I got a personal tour of the place on a recent ski trip to utah. Epic was great, and Kevin was really nice and informative.

I can confirm what microbus said and that they age all of their Belgians in oak barrels, and typically do not use any brett or lacto.
 
It's good to see some love for a Utah microbrewery. I've had the chance to talk to the head brewer, Kevin Crompton, at a couple of local events including most recently at a beer/cheese pairing. I know Brainless doesn't normally have brett or lacto...at least not intentionally. I say that because at the tasting he brought out a Brainless on Cherries that had been accidentally aged in a barrel that had been inoculated with brett (mis-labeled barrel).

Re the yeast for Brainless on Peaches (BoP), at another event, I had him try a Blanche de Chambly clone that I had brewed. He asked what yeast I used and what temp I fermented at. I told him it was WLP400 and he said that's the same that he uses on his Belgians. I'm not sure if he meant all his Belgians or just for some of them. We'd been talking about the BoP before he tried mine, so I assumed he was referring to BoP, but I don't want to put words in his mouth. If I remember correctly, he said he ferments it as 72F.

BTW, I know they're working on a Flanders Red right now. I believe he said they brewed it in November or December, so keep an eye out for that one in the future.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info man, its looking more and more like I'm gonna have a nice clone of BoP (Sweet!)
Thats great that there doing a flanders! Epic is one of my favorite breweries and flanders reds are one of my favorite styles. I'll have to keep an eye out for it
 
Any thoughts on the hop schedule.
I was thinking of using styrian goldings at FWH and then at KO but i'm not sure about amounts.
any suggestions?
 
I have had brainless on peaches, big bad baptist, smoked and Oaked (my favorite) and a few others and they are all excellent beers. I can't wait to make a trip over there.
If this is a successful brew I would love to give it a try. Subbed...
 
microbusbrewery said:
It's good to see some love for a Utah microbrewery. I've had the chance to talk to the head brewer, Kevin Crompton, at a couple of local events including most recently at a beer/cheese pairing. I know Brainless doesn't normally have brett or lacto...at least not intentionally. I say that because at the tasting he brought out a Brainless on Cherries that had been accidentally aged in a barrel that had been inoculated with brett (mis-labeled barrel).

Re the yeast for Brainless on Peaches (BoP), at another event, I had him try a Blanche de Chambly clone that I had brewed. He asked what yeast I used and what temp I fermented at. I told him it was WLP400 and he said that's the same that he uses on his Belgians. I'm not sure if he meant all his Belgians or just for some of them. We'd been talking about the BoP before he tried mine, so I assumed he was referring to BoP, but I don't want to put words in his mouth. If I remember correctly, he said he ferments it as 72F.

BTW, I know they're working on a Flanders Red right now. I believe he said they brewed it in November or December, so keep an eye out for that one in the future.
Click to expand...

WLP400 is only used for their witbier, the yeast used for brainless (and peaches, cherries, and smoked and oaked) is WLP550, fermented at 72/73, with a rise to 75 at 60% attenuation.

as for the hops they use premiant @60min, tettnang @30min, and saaz @5min, but for the fruit version it probably doesnt matter, that beer doesnt have a ton of hop character
 
7b46 said:
WLP400 is only used for their witbier, the yeast used for brainless (and peaches, cherries, and smoked and oaked) is WLP550, fermented at 72/73, with a rise to 75 at 60% attenuation.

as for the hops they use premiant @60min, tettnang @30min, and saaz @5min, but for the fruit version it probably doesnt matter, that beer doesnt have a ton of hop character
Click to expand...

Great info!
 
I love Epic! They are the best of the Utah Beers, in my view. Great guys who own it as well, they are doing a lot to change Utahs antiquated BS liquor laws. If you have not tried them yet, give them a go, you won't be disappointed.
 
"at 60% attenuation" do you mean once the gravity has come 60% of the way to FG? or am I getting this wrong? could you clarify for me?
 
Just opened the first bottle after aging on 8 pounds of peaches and it likely the best beer that I have yet to brew:rockin:
I could not be more happy with my homebrewing right now.
 
CBMbrewer said:
Just opened the first bottle after aging on 8 pounds of peaches and it likely the best beer that I have yet to brew:rockin:
I could not be more happy with my homebrewing right now.
Click to expand...

So what did you go with as your recipe?
 
SLCRebellion said:
I love Epic! They are the best of the Utah Beers, in my view. Great guys who own it as well, they are doing a lot to change Utahs antiquated BS liquor laws. If you have not tried them yet, give them a go, you won't be disappointed.
Click to expand...

Uinta (Crooked line) is miles better imo. Epic's belgians that I've had have a subtle but noticeable mint flavor that I find quite offputting, and the rest of the lineup all that exciting. Brainless on Peaches and Fermentation Without Representation are good, and the Rye was decent, but for a brewery named Epic I expect more.
 
So what did you go with as your recipe?
TNGabe is offline
Click to expand...

13 # Belgian Pilsner Malt
.5 # White Wheat
.5 # Carapills
.5 # Flaked Oats
1 # Clear Candi Sugar

90 min boil
.25 oz Styrian Goldings for 60 min

WLP550
Aged for a month in primary, then was racked onto eight pounds of pitted, blanched and pealed Peaches and sat for two months. It was then racked to a third fermentor and fresh yeast was pitched. bottled three days later. sat at room temp for a month.
Could use more time in the bottle. But its delicious!
 

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