Cranberry question for Holiday Saison

[steinflg]

Hi all....

I'm attempting to brew a cranberry saison for the holiday season and am stuck on the best way to get cranberry flavoring into the beer. Here is my recipe so far:

5 gallon extract brew

Steep
1lb. biscuit malt
1lb. caramel / crystal malt

Boil
3lbs. DME golden light
6lbs. 9oz. amber liquid extract
1 oz. Saaz at start (60 min)
1 oz. orange peel at start (60 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (30 min)
1 tbsp. cinnamon (30 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (10 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (5 min)

Fermantation
Belle Saison

Dry Hop
1 oz. Saaz

My struggle is with the cranberry flavoring / tart taste. I am planning on using fresh cranberries, but am lost with the amount and at what time to add.

Any thoughts?????

Cheers

 

[jerbrew]

Freeze your cranberries and thaw them. This will cause little ice crystals to pierce the cell walls and give you that goopy fruit sauce effect without having to cook them (since they would float raw). Cooking them will release pectins into the sauce and form a gelatin like blob (similar to that canned stuff or when you leave cranberry sauce in the fridge) so you'd have to use pectic enzyme and wait a while for it to clear. Of course you could do that just make sure to add your pectic enzyme or it will probably never clear. However you decide to do it I'd start with 3-4 pounds of cranberries in secondary wait two weeks taste and add more if you'd like.

 

[botigol]

Definitely agree with jerbrew on the freezing and pectic enzyme. 1/2 to 3/4 lb of cranberries per gallon is probably a good starting place.

On a separate note, a tablespoon of cinnamon might be a bit much. Especially since the yeast will make the beer pretty dry to start and you have a relatively high IBU count. Making a tincture or boiling the cinnamon separately and then adding small amounts to taste would be a safer route.

 

[Sillybilly]

What about dried cranberries? TheMadFermentationist has a Winter Saison recipe that uses currants in secondary which he explains his procedure.

Edit: I should note that he actually has quite few recipes with dried fruit, that one in particular was on my mind.

 

[steinflg]

Thanks for the responses. @jerbrew this might be a dumb question, but how much pectin enzyme should I use and should I get the tabs or liquid?

 

[jerbrew]

I would follow the usage rate on the pectinase and add it to the fruit goop before adding it to the fermentor. It doens't matter whether it's dry or liquid.

Edit: This is a decent Mr. Wizard response about pectin.

http://byo.com/hops/item/1602-what-is-the-purpose-of-pectic-enzyme-in-many-fruit-beer-recipes

 

[Sillybilly]

Hi all....

I'm attempting to brew a cranberry saison for the holiday season and am stuck on the best way to get cranberry flavoring into the beer. Here is my recipe so far:

5 gallon extract brew

Steep
1lb. biscuit malt
1lb. caramel / crystal malt

Boil
3lbs. DME golden light
6lbs. 9oz. amber liquid extract
1 oz. Saaz at start (60 min)
1 oz. orange peel at start (60 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (30 min)
1 tbsp. cinnamon (30 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (10 min)
0.5 oz Simcoe (5 min)

Fermantation
Belle Saison

Dry Hop
1 oz. Saaz

My struggle is with the cranberry flavoring / tart taste. I am planning on using fresh cranberries, but am lost with the amount and at what time to add.

Any thoughts?????

Cheers

Just saw this recipe today on HBA's website for a Cranberry Saison:

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/fall-cranberry-saison/

Looks like they used it in the mash though

 

[steinflg]

Thanks @sillybilly. looks like they have some advice for an extract brew near bottom of the page. I think I am going to pull the trigger on 3-3.5 lbs fresh cranberries (freeze then thaw) and add pectin enzyme and throw them in the secondary. I will make sure to provide the results for those that are interested. I appreciate all of the input!

 

[steinflg]

Just a quick update. I kegged the Saison tonight. Smells great. It's at 8% abv which is stronger than anticipated. Not much cranberry taste...looks like next time I will have to cook the cranberries. The freeze then thaw method we discussed never punctured the fruit wall. Thanks again for the help everyone. I can't wait until the beer is carbed up!

Can't wait for my next brew (next weekend)! Thinking a vanilla coffee porter. Any advice?????