Bitterness Index - Temperature Control - Raspberry Wheat
Posted by:
Makebeer
on
6/19/2008
Rob - Love my Coopers kit! My “beer tastes” tend to run the gamut: I like trying ALL kinds of beer…from heavy stouts to light bodied every day types. That being said, my girlfriend (who also loves beer…thank God!), only seems to like the light-bodied beer types. For her, the less hoppy, the better! (Her favorite beers are: Blue Moon, Miller Chill, Yuenling, Amber Bock, Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat, in that order.)
Brewmaster - For your beer loving girlfriend (I'm quite envious!), here are my two recommendations - the Mexican Cerveza and the Canadian Blonde. They are tied for 1a and 1b on the bitterness scale. Another thing you might try is the Wheat Beer, and add in about 4-5 pounds of puried raspberries in the fermenter just before you add your yeast.
Rob - So, how about a hop bitterness, and malty rating? Perhaps using a 1-10 scale…something simple to understand, unlike “I.B.U.’s”.
BMaster - A ranking of bitterness, and maltiness from lowest to highest is a very good idea. I'll see what I can do about putting something like that together and put it on our website
Rob - Oh, also I notice that different mixes require different fermentation temperature ranges. Here’s my situation: I live in sunny (and very hot now!) southwest Florida. The original series has done very well stored in my closet in the house kept at around 73 degrees F. I have read that other mixes need lower temps to ferment. What would happen if I try to ferment them at the 73 degrees, but give them more time? Is this a do-able idea? I’m not sure how I could effectively keep the temp low enough for those brews.
BMaster - On the temperature, I would not recommend fermenting the specialty kits at 73'F. There, however, is a simple solution - put your fermenter somewhere cool, on something that can get damp (like a concrete floor), and wrap your fermenter in a large wet towel. Keep it wet through the fermentation. The evaporation of the water acts like a swamp cooler. If that's not getting the fermentation cool enough, direct a fan at the towel-wrapped fermenter to speed up evaporation. That should knock 5-8'F off your fermentation temp.