Red Wine Inspired Sour

[StellmacherBrewing]

I've done quite a few wine inspired beers and beers that had grape juice in them in the past. Hopefully those will serve me well in this latest endeavor. My goal is to mimic the flavors in boldly flavored red wines like Rioja, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

For 5.5 gallons

5 lbs. Munich
5 lbs. Red Wheat
1 lb. CaraMunich
1 lb. Special B

Single infusion mash at 158F for one hour with 1.8 oz. crushed fennel and 8 oz. Hershey's cocoa powder

No hops during a 1 hour boil

Cool and pitch mixed sour culture

Ferment for 1 week, then rack into secondary with:
2 oz. cocoa extract
1 lb. D90 syrup
72 fl. oz. of red grape concentrate
32 fl. oz. dark cherry concentrate
32 fl. oz. blueberry concentrate

Ferment for 8 weeks

Package

[StellmacherBrewing]

I ran off a little more than I thought I might, so I ended up with a little more than 7 gallons split between 2 fermenters on Saturday. By this morning they were bubbling away quite nicely which means that they will be right on schedule to rack onto fruit by this weekend. I've decided to do a blueberry version, a cherry version, and a 50/50 version. Should be interesting to compare and contrast all three.

[StellmacherBrewing]

Ferment for 1 week, then rack into secondary with:
2 oz. cocoa extract
1 lb. D90 syrup
72 fl. oz. of red grape concentrate
32 fl. oz. dark cherry concentrate
32 fl. oz. blueberry concentrate

All this stuff went in last night (along with some pectic enzyme), as fermentation was beginning to slow and I wanted enough yeast in suspension to handle the big bump in sugar.

T-minus 8 weeks to bottling.

[DavisOnAPlane]

This looks really interesting, can't wait to see how it comes out.

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