belgian red recipe

hi all,

a buddy of mine asked me if i had any idea how to make a clone of New Glarus Belgian Red...of course i have no clue, but i figured the best place to start trying to find out would be here!

does anyone have a recipe they can share?

thanks,
rlb

Well, first it is important to use Door County cherries. at least 15lbs in a 5 gallon batch. The numbers actually work out to ~25lbs per five gallons (1lb/750ml bottle). Beyond that, it is a pretty simple brown ale that is secondarily fermented on cherries in oak.

I don’t know that it’s very possible to do a clone on a homebrew scale... but I have a feeling the closest aproximation would have to involve Concentrated Tart Cherry Juice the likes of which are discussed in this thread.

Originally posted by CanIHave4Beers
I don’t know that it’s very possible to do a clone on a homebrew scale... but I have a feeling the closest aproximation would have to involve Concentrated Tart Cherry Juice the likes of which are discussed in this thread.

I concocted this recipe years ago. It gets close-ish.

Wisconsin Belgian Red

3.50 lbs. Pale 2-Row
1.50 lbs. Crystal 20L
2.00 lbs. Wheat
0.50 lbs. Special B

1 oz. Hallertauer leaf hops* (60 min.)
1 ea. Abbey Ale yeast - White Labs WLP 530 - or - Wyeast 1762
32 oz. Montmorency Cherry Juice Concentrate
8 oz. Black Cherry Juice Concentrate
.25 oz. French or Hungarian Oak Chips

* The hops should be aged. If aged hops are not available, substitute by heating new hops in an oven over low heat (150 degrees) for 2 hours, then let them rest for 24 hours before use.

Mash at 154ºF, boil for 60 minutes. Don’t run off more than 5.25 gallons. You’ll need headroom when you add the concentrate.

Ferment at 65ºF for one week. Transfer the wort to a carboy containing cherry juice concentrate, avoiding any aeration. Conduct secondary fermentation at to 65ºF until fermentation is complete. Add oak chips during the final week to ten days.

Total concentrate should be enough to make 2.5 gallons of juice. This translates roughly to the pound of Door County cherries in each 750ml bottle. You could bump the malt up a bit if you want a higher alcohol brew.

Awesome! Thanks guys! Will let you know how it comes out!

No souring bugs?

Originally posted by CLevar
No souring bugs?

The final gravity of the new Glarus fruit beers are around 1.040. With most of that coming from simple sugars. To mimic that sweetness, you’d have to kill/remove the microbes with heat/chemicals/filtration, and then add cherry juice/concentrate.



From things Dan Carey has said I suspect that they start by souring the wort pre-boil to speed things up. Although it does spend some time in large foeders with lactic acid bacteria as well.

Originally posted by OldSock
The final gravity of the new Glarus fruit beers are around 1.040. With most of that coming from simple sugars. To mimic that sweetness, you’d have to kill/remove the microbes with heat/chemicals/filtration, and then add cherry juice/concentrate.



From things Dan Carey has said I suspect that they start by souring the wort pre-boil to speed things up. Although it does spend some time in large foeders with lactic acid bacteria as well.

Originally posted by CLevar

Wow. I knew they were sweet, and suspected pasteurization or something, but 1.040? That’s nuts. If there are lactic bugs at any point like you have indicated, it would be pretty hard to accomplish on a homebrew scale...



With the raspberry tart, it says on the bottle that it is "spontaneously" fermented in oak...pasteurization or the like again?