Cranberry Berliner

Source: Luther Leake
Recipe added: 10/15/97
Email: lleake@oceanspray.com

While this is not strictly a "true" Berliner, it attempts to capture the spirit - a light, tart, cloudy, not very bitter summer drink. Berliner worts are normally "soured" to give tartness, and are often served with shots of fruit syrup. This recipe uses cranberry juice cocktail to provide both the tartness and the fruit flavor. The use of commercial cranberry juice cocktail allows this to be made any time of the year with a minimum of fuss. Ocean Spray cranberry cocktail is recommended because of the high quality and quantity of the juice (27% juice in cocktail, 8.1% in Cranberry Berliner), and because it contains no flavors or preservatives. The high fructose corn syrup acts as a neutral adjunct which increases alcohol content while doing very little to flavor. This beer is a cloudy golden color with a hint of pink, especially in the head. It is dry, barely bitter (7.5 IBU), and is a great summer brew, especially with a twist of lemon. Variations could easily be made by substituting other juices or juice drinks, for example a raspberry-cranberry juice drink.

Specifics

Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.036
Finishing Gravity:
Time in Boil: 60 min.
Primary Fermentation: 5 days at 60-65 F
Secondary Fermentation: 5 days at 60-65 F

Ingredients:

14 oz. (390 grams) dried pale malt extract
21 oz. (590 grams) dried wheat malt extract
1.5 gallons (192 fl.oz.) Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail
0.5 oz. Saaz hops (5% alpha - other varieties may be substituted)
Irish moss as directed
Yeast nutrient as directed (probably optional)
Weihenstephan liquid yeast (Wyeast 3068)
1 oz. oak chips
priming sugar

Procedure:

Boil malts, hops and yeast nutrient in 3 gallons of soft water for 60 minutes. Add irish moss for last 15 minutes of boil. Cool wort, add to fermenter, and add cranberry cocktail along with necessary water to make up to 5 gallons. Pitch with yeast, rack after initial fermentation slows. Bottle after yeast has begun to settle (do not wait until clear - this is a cloudy style). Primed with 4 oz. (120 grams) corn sugar which was boiled with 1 oz of oak chips and strained.

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