Buffalo B(rew)log
Back in January, I brewed my first Berliner Weisse, which I named after my friends, the vonWiesensteins (half true). The batch was nearly 7 gallons, which I did on purpose, so that I could do a bit of experimenting.
First - I bottled off a bit less that 2.5 gallons. We’ll call this one Willie vonWiesenstein - the original.
Next - as I posted previously with the idea of - I opted to do 2.5 gallons with Dragon Fruit and Passion Fruit. We’ll call this one Mikey vonWiesenstein, who lives in a tropical(ish) climate.
I can’t take credit for the flavor idea. I read wonderful things about Cigar City’s Pilot Series and couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, I got White (Vietnam) Dragon Fruit (only one available at Wegmans) rather than Red (Costa Rica) Dragon Fruit, so I won’t have the supernatural color that others have alluded to. Thought about using food coloring, but remembered that that’s bullshit.
This is the first time I have picked up a Dragon Fruit, which was expensive, cool and surprisingly easy to work with. Unfortunately, while the flavor is very pleasant, it is weak - much like a watermelon. Passion Fruit is comparatively cheap and pretty gross looking - much like boogers on the inside. Passion Fruit aroma and flavor are much more aggressive.
Ok, so it wasn’t really a party. I hate bottling. Almost quit brewing because it was such a PITA. But.. I built a kegerator, which is much lower maintenance and its only for my “special” brews that I go to the trouble of bottling.
That was certainly the case today, when I bottled my Raspberry Sour Ale. Probably best described as a Bastardized Lambic, this was brewed back in October with a grain bill consisting of mostly Pilsen with some Vienna, Red Wheat and a few dashes of this and that. I mashed hot for a dextrinous wort, fermented normally, then pitched the dregs from a number of bottles of sour beer - mostly Jolly Pumpkin, but also some Ommegang. The raspberries were added in the secondary, when I pitched the bugs.
Best I can tell, the sediment contains Sacch, Brett, Acetobacter, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and probably some other bugs. Six(ish) months in, It’s already quite sour. The gravity was down to 1.002, so I decided to go ahead and get it bottled. I had a need for the fermenter.
Raspberry Sour - ready for racking
