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I've got leftover oak chips and nelson sauvin hops from making the (awesome) Big Island IPA ...

 

... I'm going to try and make a "Sauvignon Blager".

 

So, I've been speaking to my boss who is a complete wine wanker and he's informed me that there's no oak in sauvingnon blancs. Oh well, I'm going to use a bit anyway. He's also told me ones from New Zealand have fruity characteristics including white peach and kiwi fruit, so I'm going to chuck kiwi fruit in there too somehow.

 

The other more confusing thing though is that while beers are kind of bitter, wines are more acidic. I know that the bitterness in beer comes from the acids, but is there any way to replicate a more wine-like acidity? Perhaps more simple sugar instead of malt?

 

Haven't really delved into the recipe yet, but it will no doubt go something like this ...

 

1.5kg light LME

Perhas some light DME?

Up to 1kg of dextrose, raw or white sugar (suggestions?)

200g super-light crystal

10g oak chips (it has to be bugger all)

Kiwi fruit

Bittered with citra

Flavoured with nelson

S23 or S04 (weather forecast dependent) yeast

23L

 

I just hope the kiwifruit doesn't turn it green! I've never made a mango beer but I'll be using whatever technique people use for that with the kiwis I reckon.

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Nice idea KR. Sauvignon Blancs from the Marlborough region in NZ have been the go to wines in my household for the last 18 months at least. So delicious.

 

This might sound like a dumb question BUT have you drank any Sauvignon Blancs lately for some inspiration? They're all good, a favourite of mine is called "The Ned".

 

I had a similar idea a little while back about doing a wheat beer kit with NS after I read on my LHBS website that wheat beers are "Considered to be the champagne of beers’ by many. Pale, cloudy and refreshingly spritzy with a delicious creamy frothiness" haha wink

 

I've read that NS has a gooseberry like flavour to it (I've never brewed with it), this should go a long way to get the Sauvignon Blanc taste you're after, more so than kiwi or peach IMO.

 

Cheers + beers,

Mark

 

 

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Alright, time to get experiMENTAL w00t !!! I've got ...

 

1.7kg Black Rock light LME (no Coopers in stock anywhere)

1kg White sugar (bit of a risk - anyonet?)

200g CaraPils

 

10g Citra @35

15g Nelson @15

15g Nelson @5

10-15g Nelson dry (not sure how much I've got exactly)

 

30g oak chips

Saflager yeast

23L

 

Once the krausen collapses I'm going to add two or three thinly sliced kiwi fruits

 

And for the numbers:

OG: 1.042

FG: 1.006

IBU: 24.9

EBC: 6.7

ABV: 5.1%

 

Thoughts and comments please!!

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The vast majority of NZ and Aussie sauvignon blanc and French sancerre is unoaked, but there are plenty of experimental winemakers who are barrel fermenting or maturing in oak to impart more texture and character to the wines, especially when blending with semillon. So the oak chips when used in moderation should add a bit of extra character to your brew happy

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Ok, got an adjustment based on a discussion in the Brew Day thread. It was suggested that simple sugars do nothing for the balance so my original would've been way too hoppy

 

1.7kg Black Rock light LME (no Coopers in stock anywhere)

500g light DME (new)

500g dextrose (down from 1kg of white sugar)

200g CaraPils

 

5g Citra @35 (down from 10)

12g Nelson @15 (down from 15)

12g Nelson @5 (down from 15)

10g Nelson dry (not sure how much I've got exactly)

 

20g oak chips (down from 30)

Saflager yeast

23L

 

Once the krausen collapses I'm going to add two or three thinly sliced kiwi fruits

 

And for the numbers:

OG: 1.042 (no change)

FG: 1.008 (up by 0.002 ... d'oh)

IBU: 16.4 (down from 25)

EBC: 7.8 (up a touch)

ABV: 4.8%

 

Using IanH's spreadsheet it sits right in the middle of "balance" without the dextrose included, and just inside "malty" with it in. If I increase the first Nelson addition (@15) from 12 to 15 it sits just inside "hoppy", which probably wouldn't be a bad thing considering what I'm going for with this one. Hmmm ... yeah, I think I'll do that.

 

This is fun smile

 

[edit] scratch that too - I'm going to make the first nelson addition 12@20 instead of 15@15 (or 12@15)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bottled this thing last night. It's the one that I had the infection scare with for those keeping track.

 

Basically I've made kiwi-fruit-beer - 1kg was clearly too much (I added a lot because I didn't think kiwi fruit had a strong flavour). The oak was there but barely.

 

It's going to be a refreshing summer lager. Not entirely what I'd planned, but still a good result.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...

Alrighty, time to make another of these crowd-pleasing brews, with the following differences:

 

- More oak

- Less kiwifruit

- All grain

- Bigger batch, because that's how I roll with no-chill BIABs

 

Here's what I've got on the drawing board (or spreadsheet) ...

 

5.0 kg pilsner malt

0.5 kg something (victory?)

 

8g magnum @60

15g nelson @5 (adjusted for no-chill)

15g nelson dry

 

28L

Undecided lager yeast

 

30g oak chips and 0.5 kg kiwi fruit after 1 week

 

OG: 1.045

FG: 1.010

IBU: 20.3

EBC: 11.5

ABV: 4.8% (after bulk priming with 160g dex)

 

Good times ahead smile

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Hi Ruddy. smile

Damn it' date=' Beerbelly are out of Nelson Sauvin. Can anyone recommend another good supplier I might be able to get them from?[/quote']

At a point a few weeks back I couldn't get Galaxy from Beerbelly, so had to look elsewhere. I ended up acquiring it locally from the Brewcraft store nearest me, albeit at a slightly higher cost per gram. They are a big group & seem to buy collectively, & as such, hold larger volumes of hops in storage for distribution.

 

Outside of that, you might have to look at an online supplier for that hop at this time of year.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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That doesn't look like much priming sugar for a lager batch of 28 litres. Or is the 28 litres a typo?

 

As a comparison I use about 8g/L of dex to bulk prime my lagers because otherwise they just aren't fizzy enough. So for a 25 litre batch that would be around 200g dex.

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