Prickly Pear Blonde All-Grain

[mrmedic0]

Hey all,

So this is actually going to be my first all-grain brew. I wanted to get some input on how my recipe looks to some more experienced brewers. I gathered the prickly pear myself in West Texas near Junction, TX. They will be sliced and put into the secondary. Here's the recipe:

6lbs Pale Malt (6-row)
3lbs Pilsner (2-row)
1lb Munich I (Weyermann)
0.50 Hallertauer [4.80%] First Wort 60 min
0.50 Saaz [4.00%] 40 min
0.50 Willamette [5.50%] 20 min
German Kolsch (WLP029)
10 Prickly Pear (Sliced and added to secondary)

Thanks for your help!

 

[bajaedition]

I do not know why you are using 2 types of base grain, just go with all one kind of malt
and munich is going to darken your beer, it is a blonde right, instead us a 10L chrystal.
also being a blond, I would use just the first and last hops, blondes are light and the hops are suppose to accent that.
good luck

 

[mrmedic0]

Thanks for the input. I was wondering myself if it was a bad idea to mix the 6-row and 2-row. I've made a few adjustments:

8lbs Pale Malt (2-row)
1lb Munich I (Weyermann)
8 oz Carapils (Briess)
0.50 Hallertauer [4.80%] First Wort 60 min
0.50 Willamette [5.50%] 20 min
German Kolsch (WLP029)
10 Prickly Pear (Sliced or pureed and added to secondary)

Hopefully this will be a bit more balanced.

 

[daveooph131]

The revision looks good keep us posted on the results

 

[smertz001]

Any update on how this beer turned out?

 

[khkman22]

When you say prickly pear, are you talking about the normal cactus that grows up in the hill country? We have some land up around Harper with tons of cactus that I could use. How long was it from the time you cut the prickly pear to the time you put it in the secondary? Did you have to do anything to it to keep it fresh during that period? How did you pull the big thorns and little needles out? You say 10 pieces, but approximately how many pounds do you think it was, seeing as how the size of pieces I harvest could be different?

 

[mrmedic0]

Hey fellas, sorry it's been so long. I've been terrible about posting but wanted to give yall an update. I brewed this beer a little less than a year ago (my first all-grain batch), and I have to say, this has been one of my best beers. Here's the recipe:


Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 72.7 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
1 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 9.1 %
1 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 9.1 %
0.50 Hallertauer [4.80%] First Wort 60 min
0.50 Willamette [5.50%] 20 min
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 9 -
12.00 Items Prickly Pear (Secondary 12.0 days) Other 10 -


Unfortunately I didn't weigh them, but I did quarter the 12 prickly pears then added to secondary for about two weeks. Honestly, you probably don't need that long. I just got busy and had no time to rack it off to keg so they were in there for 2 weeks. Hops and hop times don't matter much. As long as they are low AA you're good. The bitterness may overpower the prickly pear taste/aroma. Excellent mid-summer day beer. Cheers!

 

[mrmedic0]

When you say prickly pear, are you talking about the normal cactus that grows up in the hill country? We have some land up around Harper with tons of cactus that I could use. How long was it from the time you cut the prickly pear to the time you put it in the secondary? Did you have to do anything to it to keep it fresh during that period? How did you pull the big thorns and little needles out? You say 10 pieces, but approximately how many pounds do you think it was, seeing as how the size of pieces I harvest could be different?

Unfortunately I didn't weigh them. Being an over-anxious new brewer I just counted and threw them in haha. Yes, they are the prickly pears you get out in the hill country. Make sure they are fully ripe (completely purple). Green prickly's will give astringent bitterness and taste more like a leafy cactus. I stored them in the freezer for about a month, thawed, sliced, added. I didn't mess around with pulling all those stickers out. No, you won't be swallowing thorns. Just wear gloves when cutting them and adding to secondary. Any "thorns" that may be in the beer will either 1) stay on the pear or 2) sink to the bottom when you cold crash.

Edit: I just harvested some pears recently. I will pull 12 out of the freezer and weigh them to give you an estimate on what was used in that batch. Plus or minus a pear won't severely affect the flavor. Just make sure they are ripe.