Prickly Pear cactus fruit mead brew day.

Unfortunately, I was unable to snap photos of this brewday like I wanted to, I was in somewhat of a time crunch, and I was already making a mess.

Despite the lack of photos, I can detail my first mead in script.

First and foremost, A quick lesson about prickly pear cactus fruit. The fuit is commonly referred to as Nopales (which I believe is incorrect as it is more accurate to call the actual prickly pear pads nopales). The fruits are also labeled as Indian Figs, cactus figs, or what I think most natives mexicans would refer to as tunas. The fruits are normally a deep maroon/burgundy color, and covered in glochids (a hairlike spine or needle that easily penetrates the skin, mouth and lips - care must be taken to remove them from the fruits) the cacti are native only to the western hemisphere, but have been introduced to other parts of the globe.

(Hint: a good sign that the fruits are ripe and ready to harvest is when you see the birds eating them, or signs of birds feeding on them.)

Second, the recipe. I basically took Charlie Papazian's Prickly Pear mead Recipe from his book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing 3rd Edition, and put my own spin on it.

20lbs - light honey (mesquite preferred)
5-6lbs - red ripe prickly pear fruits, tunas.
1/4 tsp - yeast nutrient
1 tbsp - pectin enzyme
1 oz - dried, rehydrated, sherry, wine or champagne yeast.

He details an elaborate method of harvesting and cooking the fruit in preparation it for the mead, but what I did is much simpler, and probably a more effective use of the fruit. For what it's worth, boiling the fruit or honey will drive off much of the aromatic qualities; avoid boiling if possible. Last year sometime, I'd guess around August 2009, I harvested some tunas from the cacti behind my home, I don't know exactly how many pounds of fruit I took off the cacti, but it amounted to 64 oz of pure tuna juice.

I picked the fruit from the caci with a pair of tongs, and handled them with leather gloves. I removed all of the glochids by rubbing the fruits vigorously with my gloves. Afterward, I rinsed them under cool water using the tongs. I proceeded to peel them, halved them, and scooped out the seeds with a spoon, and tossed them into the Cuisinart. I pureed the tunas, and strained as much pulp out as I could manage with a funnel and strainer. I fiiled two 32 oz canning jars, and into the freezer they went, and stayed until this July.

(Hint: an excellent strainer media is a paint strianer bag, or even a reusable coffee filter, be warned though the pulp will clog filters quickly, so make certain to stir while straining, and have more than "filter" available in casr of a clog. Also, be aware these fruits will stain almost anything!)

I filled a pot with 2.5 gallonsof water, added the fruit juice, and pasteurized at ~165°F for about 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes expired, I added the 20 lbs of Mesquite honey to the fruit juice/water mixture, and pastuerized for an additonal 30 minutes. While everything was simmering, I skimmed any scum, and pulp from the surface. In the last 10 minutes of the boil I added my yeast nutrient (DAP/diammonium phosphate, and yeast energizer, which I do not know exactly what the contents are since it is generic from my home brew shop.)

After the time was up, I tried chilling the must as best I could, but I was ill prepared. I didn't have anough ice or chilled water, so I did the best I could with what I had (RDWHAHB, right?). While everything was cooling, I rehydrated 25g of Champagne Yeast in 2.5 cups of 100°F water and let it stand for about 15-20 minutes.

Ironically, after I inoculated the must with the Champagne yeast, I found that it is not the best choice for mead...whatever, it's my first attempt, and I'm sure it will still be good, wait ...no...great!

I poured the contents of the kettle (fruit juice, honey and water mix) into my 6.5 gallon fermenter, and topped up with enough cooled water to make 6.25 gallons. I took a gravity reading:

1.130 @ 64°F = OG 1.130

It's hard to tell in the photos, but the must is the color of pink lemonade.

I checked the temperature of the must and it was still 92°F! I had no choice but to pitch my yeast since it was ready.

Stay tuned...

BDSA update #4...racked to keg.

This weekend is the keg tapping party for a fellow brewer, and Tucson Homebrew Club member, who won the National Homebrew Competition's Pro-Am for our area. The event was held at Thunder Canyon Brewery, one of three local brewpubs in our area. It is a Belgian Dark Strong Ale/Belgian Quadruple. The Pro-Am is a category that will be judged at the Great American Beer Festival. I felt that it was a perfect day to make some progress with my BDSA. Therefore, I finally racked my BDSA to the keg after a 5 week primary! It was finished at 4 weeks, but I could not find the time to rack this beer sooner.

While on the topic of racking, I had to purchase a new auto-siphon due to the fact my original siphon finally broke. It had a small crack forming near the plunger end of the racking cane that spanned the circumference of the cane itself, and it  finally came apart.

Having said that, the new auto-siphon cane is a bit smaller than the first, and the tubing I was using no longer fit snug. While racking the siphon continued to break, as well as sucking air in-around the cane through the tubing. I'll assume that some aeration was occuring. This can be problematic with long term beer storage, apparently it can cause a wet cardboard flavor from oxidation.

Once I had the beer in the keg I charged the keg to 30 psi to seal the lid, and I rolled it on the floor back and forth for a couple of minutes in an attempt to counteract any oxidation from the aeration that may have occured during racking. I purged most of the co2, leaving approximatley 2-3 psi in the keg.

Regardless, I took a fFG (final, Final Gravity), it hadn't changed from wek 4 to 5. I will state that the pronounced banana note has subsided and mellowed into the background. From week 4 to week 5 there is a considerable change to the flavor of the beer, the warm alcohol in the back of the throat has also smoothed out considerably.

The FG(note where the meniscus meets the hydrometer, this is the proper place to record the measurement).

1.018 @ 72.6°F = 1.020 corrected for temperature.

Next update will be when I tap the keg, maybe around October. It will be a very good fall/winter warmer.

Stay tuned for BDSA update #5. Tapping and tasting...my favorite part! (If you are following this blog leave a comment and if you are intersted in sampling this beer leave an email contact.)

Cheers!

BDSA update #3, the numbers are in...

The check of my BDSA this evening yielded a SG of 1.018 @ 74°F, which corrected comes in at 1.020. The estimated FG was 1.023, so I pretty much hit my mark after the 2.5 lb turbinado sugar addition. Ironically enough, I used a calculator for the adding the sugar which stated the sugar addition needed to be 2.5lbs, and in a previous post I did the math by "hand" and it showed I only needed 2.25lbs, I wonder if the .25lb is the difference between my estimated FG of 1.023, and my actual FG of 1.020. There is only a 0.5% differnece in the ABV, but I'd rather make my clacs by hand if they are more accurate than the calculator. I used the calculator because it takes into account the volume the sugar adds. Regardless, the numbers are close enough, however I'm still curious.

The numbers:

OG - 1.087

SG - (after 2.5 lb sugar addition) 1.103

FG - 1.020

That's an ABV of 10.91% and 79% Apparent Attennuation!

The sample had the warmth of alcohol in the throat, a nice maltiness and some clove flavor, with a pronounced banana note. It was quite tasty for being as young as the beer is. I'm certain that after a few months of aging this beer will be exceptional, and with its 11% ABV, drinking only one will put you in your place.

I plan to bulk age this beer in a keg for 3 months, then I will use additional yeast and prime a portion of it for bottle conditioning, while leaving the reamider on tap. The advantage of bottle conditioning is that the yeast helps to allow the beer to stay "fresh" longer during the aging/conditoning process, and it isn't uncommon to age a beer this "big" for over a year.

I hope to rack this beer to the keg tomorrow, and I will take a final SG sample to be thorough and make certain the FG hasn't changed. I'm also going to rinse ( I prefer the term "rinse" opposed to "wash", because I'm not actually acid washing the yeast) the yeast, which I may chronicle in my next post if I can remember to snap photos. If not, I will be sure to detail the process in a later post.

I am almost out of the North English Brown that I brewed  May 8th, 2010;  a nice sessionable beer at 4% ABV.  The keg will be kicked any pour now, and I would like to have something on tap, so as usual my plans may change, so stay tuned for update #4.

Cheers!

Sour Project.

A fellow brewer otherwise known as TheSanch, had brewed a batch of ESB that turned out less than ideal. The beer finished with a high SG (FG 1.024, estimated FG 1.014), and has a soapy taste to it, it was almost drinkable with a higher carbonation level, but after about 3 months of conditioning the ESB wasn't showing any sign of improvement. The original recipe can be found here.

I had mentioned adding some Brettanomyces Claussenii to it to drop the gravity and maybe even turn it into a sour beer, after all ESB, Browns, and Milds make great base beers for sours.

Fast forward a month or so, and TheSanch and I had discussed trying an experiment with Brett C., which quickly turned into an experiment involving Brett C., Lactobacillus delbrueckii bacteria, and Belgian Sour Mix I (Includes Brettanomyces, Saccharomyces, and the bacterial strains Lactobacillus and Pediococcus.)
The ESB had been kegged and fully carbed before the experiment began, luckily Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus do not require oxygen, however Brett C. does, although at a much lower level than Saccharomyces C.

The kegged ESB had been brought up to room temperature and the co2 bled off daily until very litte was still coming out of solution.

Yesterday I managed to finally start the experiment. I ended up purchasing White Labs Brett C., Lactobacillus delbrueckii, and Belgian Sour Mix I. I was hoping to also use some Pediococcus bacteria alone, but our local homebrew store was out at the time.

The experiment was originally going to be conducted in three 1 gallon growlers and the remaining beer was going to be placed into a 5 gallon Better Bottle. Each of the three 1 gallon containers were to be inoculated with the bacteria and yeast, and the fourth would have a portion of all three added. It seemed redundant to have the fourth container since the Belgian Sour Mix had both Brett and Lacto included already, the only difference was the Pedio. After putting some thought into it, I wasn't ready to designate one of my plastic carboys to solely making sour beers anyhow.

First was to get the beer out of the keg and into the growlers. This was achieved with a picnic faucet and a section of broken racking cane that came in handy for the transfer.

 

As you can see there is no foam, the beer was realatively flat. I used about 3psi to force it out of the keg.

After all three growlers were filled it was time to inoculate them.

  

 

The deed was done.

  

...and voila!

 

Since the ESB had been carbed and some co2 is still slowly escaping from solution, I went with foil caps rather than airlocks. Although the Lacto only growler doesn't require any oxygen, the Brett C., and Belgian Sour Mix I growlers do have yeasts that require oxygen, albeit lower levels than Saccharomyces C. I think the foil caps will aid in gas exchange, hence the reason I used the foil opposed to airlocks.

Looking back I used an entire White Labs vial per gallon, so there should definitely be enough bacteria and yeast in each fermenter to ensure fermentation, the only concern I have is the Brett C. and the lack of oxygen dissolved in the beer, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the foil cap will allow the gas exchange necessary for the Brett C. to get a foot hold and work it's magic.

Sour fermentations are generally slow, and depending on how sour you want the beer can have a large impact on how long the beer will be allowed ferment.

I'm looking forward to seeing my first pellicle form. I also wonder what each will taste like, and once they are soured if blending them will achieve a better result, only time will tell. Either way I will update on this experimental project when there is something to update, which might take some time. Until then, Cheers!

belgian dark strong ale update #2

There isn't anything too exciting to report this update.

I have been extremely busy with my 3 month old son, and the fact that I will be attending the University of Arizona this fall has left me with little time to brew and update the blog.

However, a check of the specific gravity yielded 1.036 @ 70°F which is 1.037 adjusted for temperature, and the beer is continuing to ferment. The sample tasted very sweet which was a given considereing the SG, but it was very warm with alcohol along with some nice belgian esters in the flavor. I hope to take another gravity sample next week and see how the flavors have progressed. Stay tuned.

Brewing math, a Belgian dark strong ale update:

Calculations are in!
Corn Sugar (Dextrose)
Yield: 100.0 %
Potential: 1.046
Color: 0.0 SRM
Max in Batch: 5.0 %

The estimated OG (Original Gravity) of my BDS Ale was 1.103. After having forgotton to add 1lb of Sucrose (table sugar) to the boil on brew day the actual OG rang in at 1.087.

A little brewing math is in order to figure out how much sugar to add in order to raise the SG (Specific Gravity) of the beer from 1.087 to 1.103.

Dextrose has a Yield of 100% meaning it is 100% fermentable, yeast will completely consume simple sugars such as dextrose, and sucrose.

Dextrose has the Potential of 1.046 p/p/g (points/pound/gallon), this means that for every pound of dextrose added to 1 gallon of water the specific gravity is raised by 46 points. the Specific Gravity of pure water is 1.000. Therefore:

(gravity points)(lbs of sugar)+(sg of water)=
(.046)(1)+1.000= .046+1.000= 1.046.

Now that we know what dextrose will contribute to our SG we need to figure out how much dextrose to add to reach our desired OG.

OG=1.087
Target OG (tOG)=1.103

First let's find out how many points we need to add, some simple subtraction will give us our points needed.

tOG-OG=Points needed or,
1.103-1.087=.016 or to simplify it further,
103-87=16

We need to add 16 points to achieve our target.

(GP)(lbs)/(gw)+OG=tOG

where: GP=Gravity Points, lbs=pounds of sugar, gw=gallons of wort, OG=Original Gravity, and tOG=target Orginal Gravity.

(.046)(2.125)/(6)+1.087=.009775/6+1.087=0.0162916+1.087=1.1032916 or 1.103

The total GP must be divided by the gw since the gravity contribution is points/pound/gallon.

According to the math 2.125 lbs of dextrose is needed to raise the SG to 1.103.

Belgian Dark Strong Ale and Blow-Off

I brewed a Belgian Dark Strong Ale this past Sunday (June 6th). Brew Day went over fairly well despite the 106°F heat. Fermentation began about 3-4 hours after I pitched the yeast and for the most part was steady and normal. Last night the yeast decided to have a little fiesta and the party got out of and hand:

I am normally an advocate of using a blow-off hose for this exact reason, however, my last 2-3 batches did not have any blowoff whatsoever, I'm beginning to think it has to do with the combination of a less flocculent yeast and higher gravity. Having said that, I have had a blow-off with all my belgian beers with the exception of Witbiers.

Problem solved:

On a side note, the recipe called for 1 lb of Sucrose (table sugar) to be added to the boil. Of course I forgot to add it, along with forgetting to take a pre-boil gravity (I have some weird mental block against preboil gravities), and I don't have table sugar, but I do have Dextrose, so I will be adding that soon.. A little research has confirmed that it is better to add simple sugars after the brunt of fermentation is finished. Apparently yeast are lazy, they take the path of least resistence and gobble up simple sugars first, so adding the table sugar to the boil would have made the yeast attack those simple sugars instead of attacking the maltose first which in turn can lead to a stalled and/or incomplete fermentation.

Regardless, I just need to figure out the additional gravity points the sugar will add so I can calculate my ABV% properly.

The Recipe if you are interested:
Belgian Dark Strong Ale

Type: All Grain
Date: 6/5/2010
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Brewer: Broken Glass Brewery
Boil Size: 9.35 gal
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My Equipment - Brew Pot (15 Gal) and Coleman Xtreme Cooler (52 qt)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 79.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
13 lbs 2.1 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 62.20 %
2 lbs 4.5 oz Munich (Dingemans) (5.5 SRM) Grain 10.80 %
1 lbs 2.2 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 5.40 %
1 lbs 2.2 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5.40 %
1 lbs 2.2 oz Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) Grain 5.40 %
9.1 oz Melanoidin (Weyermann) (30.0 SRM) Grain 2.70 %
9.1 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.70 %
2.00 oz Hallertauer [4.70 %] (60 min) Hops 30.9 IBU
1 lbs 2.2 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5.40 %
1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) [Starter 2000 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.103 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.087 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.023 SG Measured Final Gravity: ?
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.46 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: ?
Bitterness: 30.9 IBU Calories: 404 cal/pint
Est Color: 22.8 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 19.97 lb
Sparge Water: 5.54 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 24.96 qt of water at 170.7 F 154.0 F

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Notes:

1st running - 1.096 @ 62.5°=1.096
2nd running - 1.062 @ 65.0°=1.062
3rd running - 1.030 @ 70.0°=1.031

96(4.25)+62(2.25)+31(2.25)=408+139.5+69.75=617.25/8.5=1.073

Pre-Boil Gravity=1.073

I forgot to add the 1lb of Sucrose to the boil per the recipe. I will substiture .8 lb of dextrose dissolved in a small amount of water after fermentation begins to slow.