GROUP BREW??? Cranberry zinger--from BYO

JillC25 said:

Sweet! Thanks for the recipe

Did you take an OG?

Mine was 1.06

Cheers!

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I didn't take a SG.
This stuff has been steadily fermenting for 5 days! I guess its the honey that is making it take longer.

Have you been able to find cranberries?

ORRELSE said:

Have you been able to find cranberries?

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Is there some reason you can't use dried cranberries?

El Pistolero said:

Is there some reason you can't use dried cranberries?

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I don't know. I racked it over today, and after I get back form the cruise next week, hopefully our local stores will have fresh cranberries. I'm in no hurry for this one so letting it sit in secondary without the cranberry relish won't hurt it in the least.

I'm going to break out this one around turkey day. I think Sam75 swayed me into kegging it too, so now there is definitley no hurry cause I can have it properly carbed in less than a week vs. 2-3 for bottles.

Speaking of--this sucker is sweet. I'm hoping some of that honey continues to ferment out. We'll see.

El Pistolero said:

Is there some reason you can't use dried cranberries?

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I doubt that would work very well. Consider the difference between a plum and a prune, for instance. Need I say more?

I just racked my zinger over to the secondary.

It was ALOT more relish than I thought it would be. & it definetly was not as smooth going as the 30 min boil. I am concerned about contamination with this beer. Adding all of the raw fruit made me nervous. My blender is a peice of crap so it took some manuvering to get the relish to the right consistency. Some came out pureed and some came out in big peices. I used a carboy so it was hard to get it all inside. Once filled, I racked the beer overtop & added the pectic enzyme. The relish all floated right to the top & it is still sitting on top of the beer. I stuck a blow off tube on this bc I figure it is goign to undergo a strong 2nd ferment. I am hoping it turns out ok. I have not been having the best brew-luck lately

keep me posted on how the rest turn out

So you were able to find cranberries?

Anyway, I know what you mean about chopping the crap in a blender. I had to force feed most of it, and wound up taking a couple nice chunks out of my brew spoon. Hell, making the relish and racking the beer on top of it took way longer than the brew itself.

I racked mine to the keg today. When I cracked the top on my fermenter, all I could smell was oranges. The sample tasted.....interesting. The raspberry and orange is very apparent, but overall it's OK. Finished pretty dry. I think it'll be pretty nice once it's carbed up. Oh yeah....it's nifty pink color, too.

I wish I could have done this with cranberry, but I think it's going to be pretty good as it is.

I found cranberries at Trader Joes. Sucks that you could find any.
Glad the rain looks to be over!

another pic

JillC25 said:

I found cranberries at Trader Joes. Sucks that you could find any.
Glad the rain looks to be over!

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Looks like some pretty big chunks of apples in there!

I found cranberries as well so I made the relish and racked it up yesterday. I'm going to repitch some more yeast because I don't see the slightest bit of fermentation today--and judging by the fact that when I sampled this one when I first racked it to secondary last week, it was too sweet. We'll see what happens with this.

Making that relish was a royal PITA.

I racked this off of the relish last night and put it into a glass secondary to filter out more of the chunks.

I took out a 2 liter sample and forced carbed it. I got a taste a little while later and was highly satisfied--IF that is how this one was supposed to turn out. I would almost consider this a poor man's lambic. It is very tart, pretty sweet, and highly enjoyable. I'll definitely brew this one again--in fact it is going to be a fall classic from here on out I presume.

With the raspberries and hopped extract, mine is wierd. Funny, it has lost it's pink hue and raspberry flavor. It tastes more like a sweet IPA! It's not bad, but the little tweaks really changed it from what it was supposed to be.

Orrelse,

Yup- My apples didn't really seem to want to downsize. After a pretty good fight with the blender, I gave in and just threw the big chunks in.

I will be bottling this brew friday at the latest. I did get a nice whiff when I racked to my tertiary. Smells so good- really a tart aroma, but pleasant.

JillC25 said:

Orrelse,

Yup- My apples didn't really seem to want to downsize. After a pretty good fight with the blender, I gave in and just threw the big chunks in.

I will be bottling this brew friday at the latest. I did get a nice whiff when I racked to my tertiary. Smells so good- really a tart aroma, but pleasant.

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I can't wait until you try this stuff. I really want your opinion on it.

I got some feedback from the editor of BYO (who came up with the Zinger recipe) and it sounds like mine turned out pretty much exactly what it is supposed to be like. I was concerned that it didn't have much "beerness" to it--and that it almost resembled champagne. He reassured me that this was the way it was supposed to turn out.

Like I said before--I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I just wasn't sure how close I got to the target.

I bottled by Cranberry Zinger on Sunday... It's interesting. Seems light and tart. I think the flavor will go well with the recommended high carbonation. The color is great, a deep pink color from what I remember. I'm looking foreward to opening one, or more, of these in about three weeks.

Whats the recomended CO2 level on this one?

Denny's Brew said:

Whats the recomended CO2 level on this one?

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I'm not sure on that actually....I would think 2-2.5 volumes would be sufficient.

The recipe calls for 1.2 cups priming suger and for the beer to be carbonated so that it is "fizzy." I ended up with just over 4 gal. after racking on and off of the cran relish. I calculated .96 cups priming suger for 4 gallons. I don't know how this translates to volumes CO2 but either amount is more then I'm used to using to bottle condition. I went with a middle of the road amount and added .75 cups for 4 gallons.

I'm not sure what to think of this one after bottling tonight. I lost some beer and only can up with about 40 bottles . It smelled like citrus and wine notes, and the taste of the cranberries was very apparent with a sharp after-bite. I am hoping that it just needs its time to mellow out, as most of the beers I taste out of the secondary. great color!