I have a standard kettle-soured berliner recipe I use, but I've found it a bit too sour for my taste in the summer. Coincidentally I happen to have about 5kg/10lbs of rhubarb in my freezer I'd been saving for brewing and thought the two might make a good match. Does anyone have any advice or thoughts on a rhubarb berliner? My recipe calls for a 15' boil just to extract a touch of hop oils, so I guess add the rhubarb at flame-out? How much should I be using for a 5.5g/19l batch? Will rhubarb be too strong on its own? So many questions, so little time...
Rhubarb Berliner?
- Thread starter rmeskill
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I've been thinking about making a rhubarb berliner someday as well.
I've made rhubarb wine where I've used around 5lbs rhubarb per gallon of wine I want to finish with. @Yooper 's rhubarb wine recipe uses a lot less. I have also made a rhubarb saison (based on this) where I use 3-5 pounds of rhubarb for 3 gallons of beer.
I've heard that for sours you can add a surprising amount of fruit and it will still turn out ok, but I think for such a low gravity beer you wouldn't want to get too carried away. I think that adding a little less than the rhubarb saison recipe calls for would be a good place to start.
I've made rhubarb wine where I've used around 5lbs rhubarb per gallon of wine I want to finish with. @Yooper 's rhubarb wine recipe uses a lot less. I have also made a rhubarb saison (based on this) where I use 3-5 pounds of rhubarb for 3 gallons of beer.
I've heard that for sours you can add a surprising amount of fruit and it will still turn out ok, but I think for such a low gravity beer you wouldn't want to get too carried away. I think that adding a little less than the rhubarb saison recipe calls for would be a good place to start.
Ended up making a rhubarb saison based off that recipe-I'll double back and make a rhubarb Berliner at some point. Only did a 12L batch, I'll post my recipe once I see how it comes out and if anyone's interested. Still keeping an eye out for a rhubarb berliner recipe, though...
If its too sour alone, adding rhubarb will only increase the tartness. I'd think adding rhubarb would replace the need for kettle souring.
Strawberry, raspberry or hibiscus may be other considerations as well.
That saison is fantastic.
