Final Gravity

Final Gravity (Dark Berry Champagne Kolsch)
Brewed by Big Red Brewing on 2/7/20

Final Gravity is the perfect beer for summer sipping! Bursting with candied fruit aromas, the mix of strawberries, blackberries, cherries, and blueberries gives rise to a pleasantly tart beer with an extremely smooth finish. Champagne yeast really kicks up the effervescence and gives rise to a crisp beer that'll leave you wanting more!

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 (added at beginning of boil)
0.33 oz. Huell Melon (added at end of boil)
LALVIN EC-1118 (vidal blanc grape juice was used to grow the cells, with cell density of around 106 /ml)
16 oz. frozen mixed berries
24 oz. blueberry pie filling
2 oz. Brewer’s Best Blackberry Extract
2 oz. Corn sugar for priming
8 oz. Lactose

Brew Day

In the brewpot, heat 2 gallons of water to 154 °F. Turn off heat.
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 grain bag for 1 hour in brewpot. Keep covered. This is the partial mash. The mash liquid temperature should be 150°. 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.
In a separate pot heat 1.5 gallons water to 170 °F for sparge.
After an hour take the grain bag out of the brew pot and let it drain, do not squeeze. This is now called wort. Put the grain bag into a 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.
Bring wort to a boil. Watch out for boilover when the hot break occurs (foamy stuff floating at the top). Turn down heat if boil over occurs.
Turn off heat, add 4 lbs. Pilsen Dry Malt Extract to brewpot and stir till dissolved.
Bring back to a boil and add 0.33 oz. Huell Melon hops. Stir occasionally and leave cover off while boiling.
Boil for a total of 60 minutes.
Turn off heat. Add 0.33 oz. Huell Melon hops.
Grab brewpot with pot holders and submerge in bath of ice and water. From this point on everything that comes in contact with the wort must be sanitized.
After about 45 minutes, the temperature of wort should be 65˚F (make sure your thermometer is sanitized).
Pour out the sanitizer in your fermenter.
Transfer wort to a sanitized fermenter (straining through sanitized strainer to strain out hops). Add enough clean water to bring wort to 5 gallons.
Shake fermenter vigorously to oxygenate.
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.
Add yeast into fermenter.
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

Add pie filling and allow to sit for one week.
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

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.
Pour beer into a sanitized bucket using a mesh strainer as a filter for berry solids.
Dissolve 8 oz. of lactose in 3/4 c. water.
Dissolve 2.5 oz. priming sugar in 1/2 c. water. Add 2 oz. blackberry flavoring. Add mixture and lactose solution to beer and mix well with a sanitized paddle.
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.
Move the bottles to a dark, temperature-stable area (approx. 64º - 72ºF). Over the next two weeks, beer will naturally carbonate in bottles.