DakotaRules
Well-Known Member
Im glad this went well for this clone. Is there anything you would do differently next time? Additions or subtractions to the recipe?
Im glad this went well for this clone. Is there anything you would do differently next time? Additions or subtractions to the recipe?
HopBomb said:I racked mine to a secondary after about a month. I brewed it back in April, and just hit it with with 4 lbs of canned sour cherries last month. I couldn't find fresh sour cherries in the fall, and was torn between the using canned or dried. All of the dried cherries seem to have sunflower oil on them, which I really didn't want to dump into my beer, so ended up with the canned.
I'll admit to sneaking a taste when I added the cherries and it was a very tastey sour brown ale. I'm really looking forward to this one being done in early summer.
Have you seen signs of refermentation since the addition of cherries?
So the one that I brewed October of last year (10/2010) was bottled 5 weeks ago. We cork finished it, and while it's not as pretty as it could be, it's been effective. Anyways, we had tried two or three bottles around 2-3 weeks after bottling, and while the beer was good it was very light, even thing. Strange, because the flat sample we drank at bottling was delicious. Anyways, in what seems to have been a drastic change in the beer after 3.5 weeks, all bottles are tasting delicious. They have a beautiful cherry bretty nose, with a flavor very similar, I'd say, to supplication. It's not bitingly sour, but it's definitely notable. Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out, and it's polled very well among my friends, who seem to love it as well. I feel like we were very fortunate, but I'm also grateful for the advice Vinny gave. I think anyone considering it should give it a go.
If using dried cherries, does anyone have suggestions about a) good vendors (no preservatives, other stuff that will mess w/ the beer) and b) dosage? It would seem that a dry # goes farther than a fresh #, but who knows. Thanks.
I was just listening to the NHC keynote speech that Vinnie gave this year, it was mostly a history of his brewing, but he mentioned something I hadn't heard before... that at Russian River they use only dried fruit. Anyone else heard that before?
Edit: At least one blog I found confirmed it: http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2010/03/easter_beers_russian_river_los.php at first I was thinking he meant frozen since he was talking about how they buy them in large blocks and use a cement mixer to break them up before adding to the beer.
If you use dried fruit you have to be careful and look for cherries or whatever that are not oiled for packaging. That might be hard to find depending on where you live.
I just purchased a 10# bulk box from Shoreline Fruit ($82.50), I emailed about 5 vendors and they all seem to use Sunflower/Safflower Oil on their dried cherries since it helps in the drying process. However, Shoreline has assured me nothing is added to their "unsweetened" tart cherries. It was also the cheapest per pound price I found online, though you need to email them to find the 10# bulk box. I am still awaiting for my shipment, so I can't tell you yet how they taste. However shoreline was very quick with responses and Kristen was a pleasure to talk with on the phone. I have also been told that 1# of dried cherries is equivalent to 6-8#'s of fresh cherries. And the unsweet dried cherries cost more/pound because they contain more fruit per pound. The sweetened ones have a significant amount of sugar that adds to its weight.
Should i only age the beer on the cherries for a few months and then rerack to another carboy? Or, is it ok to age this for the 12+ months on the cherries the whole time? Any thoughts?
Thanks! I will update through the process. Another question, is it necessary to crush the dried fruits? Or just go with whole Dried fruits.
Was there a mention as to which cherry works the best?
What about bottling? After sitting for over a year, will there be enough yeasties left to carbonate with priming sugar? I will be cold crashing this thing when the Sach is finished up.
I bottled 8 gallons of this last night out of my bourbon barrel. It was tasting amazing as I bottled and this may be one of the best beer I have made and by far the best sour. I cant wait for it to carbonate so I can have the first real taste in a month or so.
Chromados
Brett (Brux & Lamb) - .0055 gal (pitch)/gal (wort) = .0275 g (aka .1 L or .44 cups) per 5g batch
That pitch rate seems somewhat low to me but then again I have no sense of proper pitching rates for bugs.
I would hold off on using RR dregs because they use wine yeast on all but Supplication for priming.
I actually looked into this in the fall and emailed Vinnie, etc. I brewed the beer at the end of September, and will probably consider starting to taste it later in the spring. I got similar information regarding the malt schedule, and formulated a recipe based on that.
I'm about to bottle my Supplication clone this weekend. I can't believe it's been 18 months since I started this project. From the one sample that I've drawn, it tastes great. Great vinous complexity. Will have to do a side by side taste test this fall sometime, after the bottles have had some time to mellow.
Also, I'm corking and caging the bottles to mimic the real thing. Once I get everything bottled I'll start another thread and detail my process and technique if anyone wants to try their own hand at this.
Fun project overall. I get a kick out of showing my non-beer drinking friends the awesomely disgusting pellicle this thing has formed.
Next up: Consecration kit from MoreBeer.
BK
I'm about to bottle my Supplication clone this weekend. I can't believe it's been 18 months since I started this project. From the one sample that I've drawn, it tastes great. Great vinous complexity. Will have to do a side by side taste test this fall sometime, after the bottles have had some time to mellow.
Also, I'm corking and caging the bottles to mimic the real thing. Once I get everything bottled I'll start another thread and detail my process and technique if anyone wants to try their own hand at this.
Fun project overall. I get a kick out of showing my non-beer drinking friends the awesomely disgusting pellicle this thing has formed.
Next up: Consecration kit from MoreBeer.
BK
Care to Share how many Lbs of cherries and how many Oz of oak you used? Seems to be a lot of mixed amounts in this thread. I have had mine infected for about 2 months and still figuring out when and how much cherries and oak to put in. Here is my pellicle That has finally started to grow.
I for one would be very interested in your grain bill, recipe, and process.
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