"Avec crayon" cran-framboise

Source: Ben Newman
Recipe added: 02/06/00
Email: benewman@netscape.net

While brewing this beer I dropped my mechanical pencil into the sweet wort, thereby gluing one of the leads in place and destroying the pencil. Hence the beer is with pencil = "avec crayon". Good thing only the pencil was destroyed and not the beer. I brewed a half-batch-test-batch. Next time I'm doing a full 23 litres because I love it. The sour mash and cranberries create a very sharp flavour which mellows in a few months. Most of the hop flavour will be lost. The "bubble gum" esters of 1214 add some complexity to the aroma. It prefers stable temperatures and a large starter. You may get some wild yeast/bacteria from the fruit adding to the mix in a few months time. Save some for over a year and see how the flavour changes over time. For more info on 1214, framboise and brewing in general, check out the Homebrew Digest at hbd.org/. Free daily brewing forum and years of knowledge accumulated through their search engine.

Specifics

Recipe type: All Grain
Batch Size: ~11 litre
Starting Gravity: 1051
Finishing Gravity: 1009
Time in Boil: 65 minutes
Primary Fermentation: 4 days ~18 C
Secondary Fermentation: 8 days with fruit
Additional Fermentation: 12 weeks in bottles

Ingredients:

1.8 kg Gambrinus Pale 1.9L
0.7 kg Wheat malt 2.5L
0.14 kg DWC Caramel Pilsner 1.9L
0.06 kg DWC Biscuit malt 25L
10 g Fuggles 90 minutes
17 g Liberty 90 minutes
11 g Liberty 3 minutes
Irish moss
Wyeast 1214 - Belgian Abbey Ale - 1.5 litre starter
1.5 kg frozen raspberries
0.3 kg frozen cranberries (with broken skins)
0.850 litres of 1.040 sg wort for priming

Procedure:

Sour-mash 400 g of malt with 1.25 litres of water. Saccharify for 30 minutes. Hold at 35-50 C with a handful of fresh crushed malt for 4 days. Dough - in main mash for 35 C acid rest, pull decoction, infuse soured mash. Saccharify decoction for 30 minutes at 69 C. Raise main mash to 55 C for short rest. Boil decoction 15 minutes, remix to main mash. Saccharify at 65-68 C for full conversion. Mash out, sparge, boil 15 minutes. Add hops, boil another 50 minutes. Whirlpool, collect wort, cool, pitch yeast. 1214 should produce a thick velvety krausen, ferment quickly and smell wonderful. Add fruit to the secondary and watch it gush. I always leave the wild organisms intact on the fruit. The fruit should lose its colour and most of the raspberries will disappear. Bottle young and let the flavours develop.

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