Hibiscus Gose

I had discussion on this recipe in the ingredients section and have finalized the recipe. I was asked to share so here it is. I am planning on brewing this up over the weekend and will try to remember to follow up once packaged and tasted. If you brew this up let me know what you think.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Hibiscus Gose
Brewer: Commune Brewing Company
Asst Brewer:
Style: Weizen/Weissbier
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications

Boil Size: 9.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.25 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.25 gal 
Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 5.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 12.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.2 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:

Amt                  Name                                    Type          #        %/IBU       
6.25 gal              Chicago, IL                              Water        1        -           
12.00 g              Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent  2        -           
5 lbs 8.5 oz          Wheat (3.0 SRM)                          Grain        3        47.9 %       
2 lbs                Acidulated (Weyermann) (1.8 SRM)        Grain        4        17.3 %       
2 lbs                Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                    Grain        5        17.4 %       
2 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain        6        17.4 %       
1.00 oz              Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil  Hop          7        12.9 IBUs   
0.31 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)              Fining        8        -           
0.50 tbsp            Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins)          Other        9        -           
20.00 g              Sea Salt (Boil 5.0 mins)                Other        10      -           
2.00 g                Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)          Spice        11      -           
45.00 g              Hibiscus Flower-Dried (Boil 0.0 mins)    Spice        12      -           
1.0 pkg              German Ale (Wyeast Labs #1007) [124.21 m Yeast        13      -

Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 8.5 oz

Name              Description                            Step Temperat Step Time   
Protein Rest      Add 2.84 gal of water at 131.2 F        122.0 F      30 min       
Saccharification  Add 2.31 gal of water at 186.0 F        148.0 F      30 min       
Mash Out          Add 2.59 gal of water at 211.8 F        168.0 F      10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 2.89 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:

Conduct First Mash traditionally for conversion then add Acidulated Malt and perform second mash for 30 minutes or until pH drops to 3.75-3.8, sparge and boil

Gravity without Acidulated Malt=1.046 (anticipated)

Boulevard Amounts:
199g Hibiscus/31.5gallons
300g Coriander/33bbls
100g Sea Salt/31.5 gallons

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Thanks for posting this. If I brew this it will be in a month or so although it may be scaled down and I may or may not be adding lactic acid in the end of the mash instead of the acidulated malt…depending on if I have it on hand for my cheesemaking endeavor.

So to update-bottled this up today and it came in at 5.8%. The sample was delicious, just slightly sour as predicted and the color was sort of a pale pink lemonade from the flowers. Crisp taste but not overly dry and well balanced. This should be great when conditioned and carbonated in a week or two. I see this going fast

Here it is and it’s really great! The floral aroma and slight crisp and tart finish are exactly what I was shooting for!

How much sea salt g/gal?

That color is AWESOME! All from the flowers?

looks to be just over 2 grams/gallon

The reason I wonder is because on his original recipe development thread there was a question about the salt addition amount in one the recipes in the Wheat book by Stan.  I believe there was an error and Stan provided duboman with the corrected amount per gallon. But that original thread seems to have disappeared or been eaten by forum gremlins?

I love the color hibiscus provides to beer!

Stan did provide the numbers for the salt and I did use 20 grams for the 6.25 gallon batch or 3.2 grams per gallon roughly.

Yes, the color is amazing and it is all from the Hibiscus flowers! When it went to primary it looked like pink lemonade. It has mellowed a bit now and that picture is pretty true still. I must say I am totally pleased with the way this beer turned out. It has amazing floral aroma and taste and is sour just enough with a balance of the salt. I keep drinking it trying to find something that could improve it but after each glass I come up with nothing:) Getting set to brew it again next month!

That looks great. I have been thinking about doing something like this with hibiscus.

In my plan I split my batch up a few different ways, and add stuff like hibiscus and different fruits post boil. I am getting a little hung up on the hibiscus, though. I suppose I could just make a strong tea and add it post-boil.

If you plan on splitting the wort into separate beers then yes, make the tea and add it.

When do you add the hops?

Thanks

I would guess at either 90 or 60 minutes left in the boil. they are really only there as a preservative and mild source of bitterness.

My recipe only has one bitter charge and its at the 60 minute mark for IIRC about 20 IBU and the hibiscus goes in with 10 minutes left in the boil

The color alone makes me want to brew this!  Looks and sounds awesome. I assume the acid malt is to drop your pH.  I have such soft water that I am in the unusual position of having to UP my pH.  I’ll probably drop the acid malt and add more base malt.  Thanks for sharing!  This will probably be fantastic on our hot Georgia afternoons in late July!

hey Rhoobarb,
The large amoint of acidulated malt was actually used to sour the mash by dropping the pH.

A small amount was used to drop initial pH, the rest was used at the end of the mash to drop thr pH to around 3.5. At the time I had no experience using bacteria to make a sour wort and was nervous so I thought I would try with the malt as noted at the bottom of the recipe.

In all the initial beer turned out well but having received good feedback some changes are in the mix for the next batch as follows.

Gypsum will be removed as it brought out too much hop presence detracting from the beer. A traditional sour wort process using lacto will be employed to get a true sourness(in the yeast and ferm forum I inquired sbout this and will follow that process). The rest will be about the same but perhaps bumping the salt up to 25 grams since the beer will be more sour.

When judged the comments advised it needed to be more sour and the bright hop presence needed to be toned down , hence the changes noted. If you brew this I’d love to hear how yours turns out!

Well done! That looks like a fantastic beer. I can really see the salt and hibiscus working really nicely together.

I’m going to give this recipe a go.  I would love to see/try you new recipe if you don’t mind sharing that.

Thanks.

Yeah, that is a pretty interesting sounding beer. The hibiscus itself is already pretty tart, and then you throw in the lacto element - sounds tasty.