Brew Year's Eve

​Concept
For this brew, we wanted to highlight the contribution of yeast to the final beer. Here, we used a champagne yeast (LALVIN EC-1118), which was first isolated and validated by the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). EC1118 tolerates alcohol quite well (up to 18%) and ferments well over a wide temperature range. These characteristics fit well with our goal of producing a higher alcohol percentage beer and conducting the fermentation in a cooler environment for maximizing the aroma retention. This champagne yeast is quite competitive and gives good flocculation, which makes our fermentation more straightforward and yield high quality results. 

Ingredients

• 4 oz. Vienna malt
• 4 oz. White Wheat malt
• 4 oz. Caramel 10˚L malt
• 4 oz. Carapils malt
• 4 oz. Flaked barley
• 4 oz. German Pilsner malt
• 2 lbs. Pilsen dry malt extract
• 0.33 oz. Huell Melon hops (added at beginning of boil)
• 0.33 oz. Huell Melon hops (added at end of boil)
• LALVIN EC-1118 yeast (Vidal Blanc grape juice was used to grow the cells, with cell density of around 10^6/ml)
• 16 oz. frozen strawberries
• 16 oz. frozen raspberries
• 12 oz. strawberry pie filling
• 12 oz. raspberry pie filling
• 2 oz. corn sugar for priming

Method
Utilizing wine yeast in brewing to increase alcohol of final beer and express wine-like aromas. Addition of frozen fruit to the wort prior to fermentation allows for more fermented fruit aromas to be present in the final beer. Use of canned pie filling supplies yeast with additional sugar in order to increase the alcohol of the final beer.

Brew Day

1. In a brew pot, heat 2 gallons of water to 154°F. Turn off heat. 
2. Steep malts (8 oz. Vienna Malt, 8 oz. White Wheat Malt, 8 oz. Caramel 10˚L Malt, 8 oz. Carapils Malt, 8 oz. Flaked Barley, 8 oz. German Pilsner Malt) in a grain bag for 1 hour in brew pot. Keep covered. This is the partial mash. The mash liquid temperature should be 150°F. Add hot or cold water to stay within +/- 1 degree. A loss of 5 °F or so by the end of the hour is fine. The water will change color and smell delicious. 
3. In a separate pot, heat 1.5 gallons water to 170°F for sparge. 
4. After an hour, take grain bag out of brew pot and let drain. Do not squeeze. This is now called wort. Put grain bag into strainer or colander and slowly pour 170°F water over mash to bring wort up to 3 gallons. This is called sparging. Try not to splash. 
5. Bring wort to a boil. Watch out for boilover when the hot break occurs (foam floating at the top). Turn down heat if boilover occurs. 
6. Turn off heat, add 4 lbs. Pilsen Dry Malt Extract to brew pot and stir until dissolved. 
7. Bring back to a boil and add 0.33 oz. Huell Melon hops. Stir occasionally and leave cover off while boiling. 
8. Boil for a total of 60 minutes. 
9. Turn off heat. Add 0.33 oz. Huell Melon hops. 
10. Grab the brew pot with pot holders and submerge in a bath of ice and water. Do this in your sink or cooler. From this point on, everything that comes in contact with the wort must be sanitized. 
11. After about 45 minutes, the temperature of wort should be 65˚F (make sure your thermometer is sanitized). 
12. Pour out the sanitizer in your fermenter. You can save it for the bottling day. Do not worry about any foam left in the fermenter. Do not rinse. 
13. Transfer wort to a sanitized fermenter (through a sanitized strainer to strain out hops). Add enough clean water to bring wort to 2.5 gallons. 
14. Shake fermenter vigorously to oxygenate. 
15. Collect enough wort to take hydrometer reading. This can be done using the spigot on the fermenter or a sanitized turkey baster or wine thief. 
16. Add yeast into fermenter. 
17. Cover fermenter, add sanitized airlock (with sanitizer in it) and allow beer to sit and ferment in 60 to 65˚F area away from light for 1 week. 

​Secondary

1. Add pie fillings and allow to sit for 1 week.
2. Lager (bring temperature down to 35 to 40˚F) for one week. Try a small sample of your beer, and if the beer tastes good, you are ready to bottle. If not to your liking, lager for up to 2 more weeks, taking samples every few days until it reaches your preference.

Bottling Day

1. Thoroughly clean and sanitize ALL brewing equipment, utensils, and bottles that will come in contact with any ingredients, wort or beer with a certified sanitizer.
2. Pour beer into a sanitized bucket using a mesh strainer as a filter for berry solids.
3. Dissolve 8 oz. lactose in 3/4 c. water.
4. Dissolve 2.5 oz. priming sugar in 1/2 c. water. Add 2 oz. strawberry flavoring. Add mixture and lactose solution to beer and mix well with a sanitized paddle.
5. Using the spigot on your bucket, fill the bottles to within approximately one inch of the top of the bottle. Use a bottle capper to apply sanitized crown caps. 
6. Move the bottles to a dark, temperature-stable area (approx. 64º - 72ºF). Over the next two weeks, beer will naturally carbonate in bottles.