Rhinegeist Wowie Clone Recipe

[dsis42]

Hello all, I would want nothing more than to make a Wowie Clone Recipe. Rhinegeist, a brewery from here in Cincinnati, makes this "fruited ale" that's sour and pineapple-y and absolutely amazing. They describe it as "This ale pairs bright pineapple with apple and tart passionfruit in a sensual carimbo." I was just wondering if anyone has experimented with making a clone of this beer and could give a recipe or some guidance? I spoke with Jim Matt, the Chief Scientific Officer at Rhinegeist, and he gave me pretty much the procedure and ingredients. The gist of it is you ferment a mixture of apple juice/cider and wort, and then you add fruit juice concentrates to flavor it (and backsweeten it). The issue arises because, while I have not actually done it yet, when I do, I will be bottle conditioning, whereas they keg it. So they don't have to worry about bottle bombs or anything like that. I've been doing the math and determining what's the maximum amount of sugar that can be added (from the juice concentrates) while still being within a safe range. I have also done a lot of research in potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite, but it's quite confusing, especially trying to find information with using that in beer making. I think I've got a general recipe in mind, but I just wanted to see if anyone here has happened to have made a clone of this beer or their other fruited ales (Zango, Bubbles, Slangria, Blizzberry) because they're all made with the same general process. Hopefully someone has done this and used bottle conditioning. If anyone has any general insight on fruited ales (I guess technically this is a graf), backsweetening with fruit juice concentrates, or bottle conditioning, please reply and let me know!