Liberty Pale Ale (batch 44) and bottling Framboise (batch 43)

Saturday (May 21st), I decided to do two things at once: Brew a 10 gallon batch of beer and bottle my wife’s Framboise.  Well, they don’t call be crazy for nothing.

I decided to redo my Liberty Pale Ale, since the first time I did it it was so stinking good.  Alas, I didn’t have any Centennials for bittering hops, so instead of .75oz of Centennials I did 1oz of Cascades.  I like Cascade hops anyways.

Liberty Pale Ale Ingredients

Liberty Pale Ale Ingredients

I doubled my original recipe, and being lazy rather than doing the whole thing in my great big new pot I just did two separate batches in two separate pots, with the exception of the mashing, which I did in one pot.

Josiah, My Little Helper

Josiah, My Little Helper

Grains Mashing

Grains Mashing

If you want my original recipe, go here.  I did the standard 45 minute single temp mash, sparged my grains the lazy man’s method, since I didn’t have enough grains to justify using my lauder tun.  Then I divided the wort between my two pots, added water, and brought to a boil.

Two pots of wort

Two pots of wort

While things were waiting, I got ready to bottle.  I sanitized my bottling bucket and bottling equipment and my beer bottles.  Then I pulled the Framboise out.

Framboise in the fermenter

Framboise in the fermenter

I transferred it into my bottling bucket, and it was a magnificent color.  I would call it a rose color.

The color of Framboise

The color of Framboise

Now, here was the interesting part.  I was given some advice from the helpful people at Steinbarts.  They suggested using some Torrani syrup at bottling time.  I bought an entire bottle of raspberry torrani syrup, and not knowing how much to add, I added the entire bottle to my 5 gallons.  Then, in a moment of insanity, I added 1/2 cup of corn sugar as well.

Now, some of you may know that the #1 ingredient in Torrani syrup is cane sugar, but I was in such a rush that I didn’t read this until after the fact.  I figured it had some sugar, but not that much!  I’m pretty nervous now about how carbonated my bottles will be, and whether any of them will burst.  Plus, all that sugar made it taste way too sweet.  I really hope it mellows out over time.

Framboise in the bottle

Framboise in the bottle

Final gravity turned out to be 1.012.  Original was 1.068, leaving me with an alcohol percentage of 7.35%.

Now, after rushing ahead (bottling was the last thing I finished), let’s get back to the brewing.

I added my 7lbs of light malt extract to my pots and 1oz of Cascade hops to each.  After 45 minutes I added .75oz of Liberty hops to each along with the last of the Irish Moss I have.  Then with 5 minutes remaining I added another .75oz of Liberty hops.

I transferred both to fermenters, topped them off to 5 gallons, and waited till Sunday to pitch the yeast.  Initial gravity was slightly different between both (1.056 and 1.060), so I’m going to average it out to 1.058.  Obviously there’s a lack of consistency here between the two.  Guess I should have taken the time and used my big pot.

Along with the yeast I pitched my Clarity Ferm, which will give it a nice clear look and lower the gluten levels in my beer.  This will be one I can share with my gluten free friends.

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