Brew Day: Ephemeral Cranberry Wit

Its time for another summer brew - this time a Wit brewed with cranberries. This recipe is formulated roughly along the lines of Unibroue's Éphémère Cranberry, although in no way is this a clone. If you haven't had this beer, you should try it - its fantastic! My recipe is aiming to achieve a similar beer, but is far from a clone. In fact, its essentially a leftovers beer - i.e. its been formulated as best as I can manage based on the grains & hops & yeast I have on hand.

In addition, I'm trying a split brew-day, where I'm mashing in late at night on Friday and then getting up at 6AM Saturday morning to finish the brew (not my choice - SWIMBO planned family events without mentioning them to me). I'm looking forward to seeing how well the split brew session works, because it may get me brewing more than my current busy schedule allows.

Recipe and brew-days notes below the fold.

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Ephemeral Cranberry Wit

Witbier

Type: All Grain	Date: 12-13 Jul 2014
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 l	Boil Size: 25.49 l
Boil Time: 60 min	End of Boil Volume 21.84 l
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 1.75 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 36.8 % 1.25 kg Rye Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 26.3 % 1.25 kg Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 26.3 % 0.25 kg Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.3 % 0.25 kg Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 5 5.3 % 5.00 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 9.1 IBUs 21.26 g Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 5.1 IBUs 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 - 1.0 pkg Canadian Belgian Ale (Wyeast/LYB #3864-PC) Yeast 9 - 600 g Cranberries (Secondary 10.0 days) Other 10 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG	Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 %	Bitterness: 14.3 IBUs
Est Color: 5.4 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 4.75 kg
Sparge Water: 17.86 l	Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C	Tun Temperature: 22.2 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Mash In Add 12.64 l of water at 75.6 C 67.8 C O/N
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (4.99l, 12.87l) of 75.6 C water
***first step added boiling to re-warm mash after overnight
Created with BeerSmith

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Brewday Notes

Pre Brew-Day Prep:

• Yeast were grown up from the bank a week in advance, all grain and water measured out mid-week.

Friday Night:

• Mash-in went as per usual; it was odd ending a brew day after only 30 minutes...

Saturday Morning:

• 6AM was not the best of ideas, but at least its getting done.  
• Mash dropped about 10C over the night, even though I insulated with a blanket - but it remaind warm enough to prevent bacterial growth/off-flavours
• Added first 5L of sparge water at boiling to bring temperature up
• Completed sparge
• Boiled, cooled and into the fermenter with plenty of time to spare!
• I overshot the mash gravity massively - gravity of the pre-boiled wort should have been 1.041, and I got 1.048
• I ended 15 points over where I wanted to be - 1.065 instead of 1.050!  I'm wondering if the overnight mash did it?