I was given a bunch of rhubarb, a lot of which is going in a few pies... but i was thinking beer as well. First thoughts are rhubarb wheat or strawberry-rhubarb wheat, or maybe make a blond with it. The what would be rather straight forward basically being an american wheat with rhubarb in it.
I was thinking making a Belgian blond with a nice estery/phenoly yeast and adding the rhubarb (I'm thinking secondary with all the rhubarb.)
But then I was thinking well hell, if I'm going to make a Belgian rhubarb, shouldn't it be a lambic? Not something you can go buy that's for sure, and the tartness of the rhubarb would not be out of place of off-putting in a lambic. Only thing is, should I freeze the rhubarb and save it until next year when the lambic get close to being done or should I add it to the primary? Or should I use the rest in a pie and get more rhubarb next year?\
Ok well after some research apparently Cantillon already makes a rhubarb lambic. Or did last year anyways.
So the more I think about this the more I think it needs to be a lambic. Traditional grain bill 65% barely and 35% unmalted wheat. I only have American 2-row on hand so I might use that instead of the Belgian Pils I should use. But this does give me a chance to do a turbid mash, which I've been waiting to do for awhile. Probably go with wlp655 as I have a few vials of that on hand, everything else is brett or lacto exclusivly.
I was thinking making a Belgian blond with a nice estery/phenoly yeast and adding the rhubarb (I'm thinking secondary with all the rhubarb.)
But then I was thinking well hell, if I'm going to make a Belgian rhubarb, shouldn't it be a lambic? Not something you can go buy that's for sure, and the tartness of the rhubarb would not be out of place of off-putting in a lambic. Only thing is, should I freeze the rhubarb and save it until next year when the lambic get close to being done or should I add it to the primary? Or should I use the rest in a pie and get more rhubarb next year?\
Ok well after some research apparently Cantillon already makes a rhubarb lambic. Or did last year anyways.
So the more I think about this the more I think it needs to be a lambic. Traditional grain bill 65% barely and 35% unmalted wheat. I only have American 2-row on hand so I might use that instead of the Belgian Pils I should use. But this does give me a chance to do a turbid mash, which I've been waiting to do for awhile. Probably go with wlp655 as I have a few vials of that on hand, everything else is brett or lacto exclusivly.