Tips and Recipies in the quest to brew the perfect beer

All-Day Beer Recipe: Cranberry Madness v0.1

This recipe is part of a fun series we’re doing on “All-Day Beer“. Designed to let you enjoy your favorite beverage throughout the day while still remaining an upright and functional human. You can check out the full series here.

Continuing the theme of breakfasty beers – for this one I was looking to fresh baked muffins for inspiration. Maybe you like blueberry or banana-nut but my favorite are cranberry.

The muffin base has a little sweetness which is balanced by the tartness of the cranberries. So the base beer I think should mirror the muffin base – soft and slightly sweet with some melanoidin or biscuity-ness around the crust.

For the cranberries – I tried adding them in layers. I really like the concept of adding the flavors throughout the recipe instead of all at once. But I think I overshot the mark a bit. As you can see the beer has quite a pink hue to it.

The first cranberry addition was added to the hot wort during cooling – after it had dropped to about 170ºF. Then I also racked them into the primary. Post fermentation there was a hint of cranberry but I wanted a bit more. So I racked the beer off of the yeast and added the second round of cranberries which I lightly crushed. This is where the color came from. All of these were whole frozen cranberries by the way.

The Verdict?

Close – but not quite there. That’s why this is version 0.1!

First, the base beer dried out too much. That kind of killed the sweetness and the tartness overwhelms. While still quite session-able, the extra attenuation also boosted the ABV a touch more than originally planned.

I think next time I’ll use a less attenuative yeast. Maybe something with an English character.

Second, the later cranberry addition should be about half what it was. It needs some character, but I don’t think it should be totally dominant.

On the Bright Side

This is still a really good beer. Even though it’s a bit one sided – it’s also very refreshing. The dryness and the tartness really work to quench your thirst on a hot summer day (like the kind we’ve been having here). Definitely worth a brew even if it wasn’t quite what we were aiming for originally!

Cranberry Madness

Fruit Beer

Type: All Grain

Batch Size: 6.00 gal

Brewer: Jimmy

Boil Size: 8.53 gal

Boil Time: 60 min

Equipment: Brew Pot (10 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)

Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
5.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	55.56 %
3.00 lb	Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)	Grain	33.33 %
0.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM)	Grain	5.56 %
0.50 lb	Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)	Grain	5.56 %
28.30 gm	Fuggles [6.00 %] (60 min)	Hops	22.3 IBU
1.00 oz	Orange Zest, Fresh (Boil 5.0 min)	Misc
20.00 oz	Cranberries (Primary 5.0 min)	Misc
20.00 oz	Cranberries (Secondary 7.0 days)	Misc
1 Pkgs	American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)	Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original
Gravity: 1.041 SG

Measured Original Gravity: 1.040 SG

Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG

Measured Final Gravity: 1.006 SG

Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.03 %

Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.42 %

Bitterness: 22.3 IBU

Calories: 173 cal/pint

Est Color: 5.3 SRM

Color:

Color

Mash Profile

Mash Name:
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge

Total Grain Weight: 9.00 lb

Sparge Water: 7.05 gal

Grain Temperature: 72.0 F

Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F

TunTemperature: 72.0 F

Adjust Temp for Equipment:
TRUE

Mash PH: 5.4 PH

**Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge**
Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
60 min	Mash In	Add 11.25 qt of water at 174.9 F	158.0 F

Carbonation and
Storage

Carbonation Type:
Kegged (Forced CO2)

Volumes of CO2: 2.4

Pressure/Weight: 13.7 PSI

Carbonation Used: -

Keg/Bottling Temperature:

45.0 F

Notes

20 oz frozen cranberry + zest of 1 med orange in whirlpool/primary. another 20oz secondary, 7 days.