Safely backsweetening a beer with liqueur

Everyone:

I'm working on a Kasteel Rouge clone (main thread here). The recipe I'm going with calls for making an 8% base Belgian beer, and then backsweetening it with a cherry-cordial liqueur.

The Nutrition Facts I could find for such liqueurs have an ABV of 20%, and ~11g of sugar per fluid ounce.

I'm stressing out over the best way to add this to the beer. I want to meet all these goals:

• No bottle bombs
• Carbonated
• Sweet character of the liqueur preserved
• Oh, and NO bottle bombs!!

I've got these options as to process:

• Calc the sugar of the liqueur and prime with both the liqueur and corn sugar if needed (safe, but won't preserve the sweetness of the liqueur)
• Ferment the Belgian as dry as I can, stabilize with k-meta and sorbate, add liqueur, force carb in keg, bottle from keg, pray for no bottle bombs
• As above, but don't stabilize, bottle from force-carbed keg, then pasteurize on stove a la this cider thread

Just for process' sake, I'd prefer to stabilize chemically, but my brew buddy had a we-thought-properly-stabilized batch of cider in wine bottles go from still to carbed to exploding a bottle over the course of two months. He wound up dumping the remainder of the batch and then calling the friends he'd given bottles to and telling them to throw their bottles out.

Can anyone help me understand the stabilization process to the point I'm comfortable with it? I've done several wine kits and not had problems, but it seems like the cider and mead people have lots of trouble with bottle bombs, and I just don't want that as a possibility.

FWIW, I'm not crazy about the stovetop pasteurization process either; the linked thread has example after example of people experiencing blown caps or broken bottles on the stove. Still, I suppose better on the stove than in my wife's face or hand.

-Rich

PS. Another option would be making my own cherry cordial liqueur with nonfermentable sugar a la Splenda or lactose, and then priming the bottles normally with corn sugar. Somehow the flavor with this doesn't sound like it'd be right.

*bump*

*bump*

How about sterile filtering the fermented beer prior to addition of the liqueur? You would need to filter down to less that 0.5 micron (0.22 would be better), so a plate filter rig would be best. What you are doing is essentially what is done with fortified wines like ports and sherries, but in that case, the final ABV is high enough (about 20% ABV) to effectively kill off the yeast without requiring sterile filtration. Since your final ABV will not be sufficient, you need an alternative approach that won't lead to secondary fermentation upon addition of the high sugar content in the liqueur.

craigmw said:

How about sterile filtering the fermented beer prior to addition of the liqueur? You would need to filter down to less that 0.5 micron (0.22 would be better), so a plate filter rig would be best. What you are doing is essentially what is done with fortified wines like ports and sherries, but in that case, the final ABV is high enough (about 20% ABV) to effectively kill off the yeast without requiring sterile filtration. Since your final ABV will not be sufficient, you need an alternative approach that won't lead to secondary fermentation upon addition of the high sugar content in the liqueur.

Click to expand...

Now this is an approach that hadn't occurred to me was feasible on a homebrew budget.

After a quick search on Austin Homebrew, I found these:

• http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1419 (filter mechanism)
• http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1410 (AF5 filter pads, 0.4 to 0.6 micron; would these be sufficient?)

Grand total: about $65ish, shipped. Maybe less, given possible discounts. And of course the plate filter itself would be reusable, just not (necessarily) the pads. Hmm. Expensive, but possibly more reliable than other methods.

-Rich

Morebeer has one kit at about the same price:

http://morebeer.com/products/beer-wine-plate-filter-kit.html

and proper sterile filters:

http://morebeer.com/products/beer-wine-plate-filter-kit.html

Yeah, this is more expensive than other filters, but the filter pads are cheap. There are those times where filtration can be useful, especially for this or for cleaning up beers without having to do long conditioning. So, while I don't use one (yet), a filtration system like this could come in handy.

Echoloc8 said:

[*]http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1410 (AF5 filter pads, 0.4 to 0.6 micron; would these be sufficient?)
[/LIST]

Click to expand...

Yes, those should be fine for removing yeast cells, as they are typically about 2-5 micron in size. This would not be sufficient for some bacteria though. I believe with membrane filters, the quoted size is an average of the filter pore size, not an absolute cutoff. So while a 2 micron filter might eliminate most yeast cells from fermented beer or wine, enough live cells would go through the filter to begin additional fermentation. With a .4 to .6 micron filter, the passage of viable yeast cells is so rare that it effectively sterilizes the beer.

craigmw said:

Yes, those should be fine for removing yeast cells, as they are typically about 2-5 micron in size. This would not be sufficient for some bacteria though. I believe with membrane filters, the quoted size is an average of the filter pore size, not an absolute cutoff. So while a 2 micron filter might eliminate most yeast cells from fermented beer or wine, enough live cells would go through the filter to begin additional fermentation. With a .4 to .6 micron filter, the passage of viable yeast cells is so rare that it effectively sterilizes the beer.

Click to expand...

Excellent. If I decide to bottle instead of just kegging the batch, I think filtering will be the way to go.

-Rich

Echoloc8 said:

Excellent. If I decide to bottle instead of just kegging the batch, I think filtering will be the way to go.

-Rich

Click to expand...

Unfortunately you would be missing out on one of your original goals of having it carbonated if bottling a sterile beer......

501irishred said:

Unfortunately you would be missing out on one of your original goals of having it carbonated if bottling a sterile beer......

Click to expand...

Except I could force carbonate in the keg and bottle from the keg as well.

-Rich