As promised, today I will announce the brewery for the month of February.  Without further delay, I am declaring February to be “Great Divide Brewing Co. Month!”  Kudos to any of you that guessed and/or expected that.  I will be posting as much information as possible about the brewery throughout the month (probably starting Tuesday).  The one constant will be that each Tuesday and Friday the beer review will be of a beer from Great Divide.  The reviews will certainly be fun for me, but I also look forward to learning a bit more about one of my favorites.  Hopefully you will enjoy it as well!

Now on to bottling the Cherry Dunkelweizen . . .

Letting the bottles air dry a bit.

Since I posted a video of the bottling process for the Blueberry Chocolate Stout a few days ago, I will again just provide details for this beer on what was not shown.  Be sure to take a look at that video for the other processes that went on or if you haven’t already done so.

The cherries left behind.

As usual I boiled 4.5 oz of corn sugar in 2 cups of water, cooled it, then added it to the bottling bucket before racking the wort over.  The carbonation levels have varied a bit with the batches, so I may start experimenting with the amount of corn sugar.  However, I think that I will take a beer that is slightly under carbonated to exploding bottles, so I don’t plan on adjusting too much.

Racking to the bottling bucket.

The final hydrometer reading left it with a specific gravity of about 1.0142, giving it approximately 4.56% ABV.  It was down only slightly from when it was transferred to secondary, so I guess adding the cherries did not affect that aspect much.  This was my first time using real fruit in secondary fermentation only, so I was not sure what exactly to expect.

My very scientific labeling system.

After tasting the sample that was pulled off, the nose had a bit of fruit and it was very smooth with some sweetness to it.  The cherries definitely imparted much of their character and I think it will be pretty darn good when carbonated.  It should be ready for a sampling in the very near future.

Sample help up to the light.

Stay tuned for the official review!

Do you remember when I said that it was probably time to do another video for the process of racking to secondary fermentation a few days ago?  Well I will say it again because I didn’t do it for this batch either and it will continue to stay at the top of the list of things to do for the next brew.  So as usual, if you are interested in the specifics of racking the wort from a primary to secondary fermenter check out the video in “Pumpkin Ale – Part 2” on the “Brewing” page above.  In this post I will just highlight the specifics of this batch to keep you up to date on the progress.

The Chief of Sanitation is serious about his job.

This step was where I could begin my attempt to turn this recipe into a Cherry Dunkelweizen as I called it from the beginning.  Before racking I took 60 oz of frozen, dark sweet cherries and set them out to thaw.  Frozen cherries work nicely because the freezing punctures the skin a bit, making them extra juicy as they come to room temperature and perfect for steeping during secondary fermentation.  I would have liked to get some sour cherries for the mix as well, but I did not have that option where I bought them.  If this turns out well (and even if it doesn’t), there will be many other opportunities for that.

Watching cherries thaw is exciting

A large funnel would have been helpful.

The (soon to be) Cherry Dunkelweizen came in with a specific gravity of about 1.0139 at the time of transfer.  That leaves it with a current ABV of approximately 4.6% and I will just have to wait and see what the addition of cherries ultimately does to that number.

Adding the wort

The sample (without the cherries yet added) was pretty tasty, but I think the cherries will be a great addition.  With that, the cherries were added to the secondary fermenter before racking.  My (basic) understanding is that adding the room temperature fruit at this time is OK because the mix now should be acidic and alcoholic enough to keep any bacteria from doing damage.  In the future I would certainly do secondary fermentation for a beer like this in a bucket rather than a carboy (more room), but I wanted to be able to see what was going on this first time through.

It all got a bit frothy

After the wort was racked and the airlock was in place, the cherries slowly started to float to the top.  In a very short time the fermentation became much more violent than it ever was during primary and I quickly switched the airlock with a blow off tub for that first night.  When things calmed down a bit the airlock was implemented again as fermentation continued on.

So now the batch is still in the bathtub and is still showing some signs of active fermentation.  Though in the future I might let the cherries sit for longer in secondary, I think I will end up bottling this batch sometime soon just to see what the impact was.  That will give me a better guide for what to do with future fruit infused batches.

Until bottling . . .

Sometimes a batch of beer just does not want to cooperate.  I have every intention of taking a very nice Dunkelweizen recipe and infusing it with some cherries, but it seems extra effort will be involved if there is to be any chance of success.  Dealing with unexpected results is just another part of the fun of brewing beer at home.

Again taking for granted that I have done my very best to ensure that everything used for my brewing has been sanitized to the best of my ability, I again brought 2.5 gallons of water to about 160 degrees and put the following into the grain bag:

• .5 lb Crystal 60L Malt
• 4 oz Special B Malt
• 4 oz Cara Wheat
• 1.25 lb Red Wheat Malt
• 2 oz Chocolate Malt
• 1.25 lb German Pilsner Malt

Not to be mistaken for bird food.

The grains were then soaked for 45 minutes while maintaining the temperature at about 155 degrees.  The grain bag was then pulled out and I poured 2 quarts of 170 degree water over it to ensure all of the grainy goodness was not lost. I removed the pot from the heat and then added:

• 5 lb Dark Wheat Extract

My first taste of wheat extract.

Once the malt extract was stirred in, the pot went back on the heat until there was a good rolling (controlled) boil.  I set the timer for 60 minutes and then it was time for:

• Bittering hops – 1 oz Tradition
• Flavoring hops – None this time
• Aroma hops – None this time

That is all for this one.

After the 60 minutes of boiling I was able to get everything pretty quickly down to below 80 degrees with the help of my (very near ice cold) pool.  Until I build myself a proper wort chiller (that I keep putting off) I am going to take advantage of what I have on hand during the winter months.  That is part of the fun for me.

Slowly through the strainer.

When the temperature was at 78 degrees (with water added to about 5.25 gallons) I pitched in the Munich German Wheat dry yeast that I was using.  As with the Blueberry Chocolate Stout, I just threw it in and gave it a stir as the package directed rather than blooming the yeast before pitching it.  Unlike the Blueberry Chocolate Stout the yeast did not seem to work all that well this time.  After four days of no real signs of fermentation via the airlock I pitched more yeast (Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen this time) into the bucket and gave it a vigorous stir.  Relatively soon there were signs of life, but not all that much since that time.  Maybe these yeast have decided to only work at night when I am sleeping?

In this corner we have . . .

If at first you don't succeed . . .

The original specific gravity came in at approximately 1.049, which was a bit lower than expected, but pretty close.  I am keeping a close eye on this one in hopes that it will still turn into something excellent.  Today I might pull the lid off to see where the specific gravity is at and if I can go ahead and transfer to secondary.

Stay tuned . . .