My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat

This post is updates on several beers, first this previous post  when I brewed an American Wheat half of which is destined for cucumbers. Well the time has come! I racked it onto about 3 pounds or so of peeled and sliced cucumbers. I'll give it a week or two depending on the taste and then bottle it. Should be delicious if it tastes like I imagine it will.

The other update is I finally have my first pelicle and I spy a second one on the way. My dark Cherry Saison has formed a nice whitish pelicle and my Rye Farmhouse Saison has some white dots floating around which I am sure is the start of one. The Rye Saison had fermentation issues and had a bubblegum taste, hopefully this will diminish with time and with the Brettanomyces working on it.

Brewing Notes - American Cucumber Wheat, Dark Cherry Saison, Rye Farmhouse Saison

Session By Session Witbier

Alot of my friends drink Bluemoon. I've introduced some of them to Hoegaarden which was well received. This beer should be enjoyed by all. I decided to brew session strength so that I could get that grey/white color instead of the darker witbiers that come from extract. I also didn't want an alcohol bomb. I couldn't find indian coriander and just used orange from the grocery store. I wish I used marmalade instead which I read about right before the brew session. A tablespoon of wheat flour was added to the boil to get a permanent haze. The bittering hops were a combination of hops I had left in my fridge that needed to be used and I added a small portion of Amarillo to put a different dimension of citrus into the beer. Safbrew T-58 was pitched and should work well within the style, but what it may add well be seen. I've heard mostly pepper/spicy and or a slight fruityness, but also some banana/cloves like a Hefeweisen. Hopefully this fermentation will stay on the Belgian side and not like a German wheat.

Specifics 
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 4.7
Anticipated IBU: 17.3
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.039

Grain
 2 lbs Extra Light DME
2 lbs Wheat Dme @ 15 min
8 oz  Table Sugar
1 lb Red Wheat
3 oz Munich Malt
8 oz Flaked Oats
3 oz Torrified Wheat

Hops
.75 oz Hallertauer (4.8%) @ 60 min
.15 oz Williamette(4.6%) @ 60 min
.25 oz Spalt(.2.6%) @ 60 min
.50 oz Amarillo(8.5%) @ 15 min
.50 oz Spalt(2.6%) @ 5 min

Yeast
Safbrew T-58

Misc
.25 oz Orange Peel @ 5 min
.25 Crushed Coriander Seed @ 5 min
.25 oz Orange Peel @ 0 min

Dark Cherry Saison

I racked my first Saison into secondary to let some bubblegum off flavors that dominated it hopefully clear off. But before I did that I brewed up another beer to put on the yeast cake, a Dark Cherry Saison. I still had a couple pounds of tart cherries I had picked and frozen earlier in the summer and though they would be interesting with a roasty and smoky malt bill. Also this beer is very much in the traditional saison idea as with farmhouse ales they would use what they had on hand. I am very excited to taste this beer which should be a complex beer perfect for cold winter nights.
 After transferring the wort onto the yeast cake fermentation took off after a couple hours. I put the cherries into primary at flameout because the flavors would meld more with the beer itself and would  not just be a cherry beer. 

UPDATE- My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat
 
Specifics 
Batch Size: 4 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 16.1
Anticipated IBU: 27.5
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.047

Grain
 3 lbs Light DME
4 oz Chocolate Malt
4 oz Torrified Wheat
4 oz Flaked Oats
10 oz Table Sugar
4 oz Smoked Malt

Hops
.75 oz Northern Brewer (9.6%) @ 45 min
.25 oz Northern Brewer(9.6%) @ 5 min
.25 oz Strisslespalt (2.3%) @ 5 min

Yeast
White Labs American Farmhouse Blend WLP670  Yeast cake

Rye Farmhouse Saison

This should turn out slightly funky and refreshing. Just a blonde ale malt bill with flaked rye and White Labs new American Farmhouse Blend with Brett should add the complexity and refreshing beer I'm looking for. I plan on putting a another beer on the yeast cake after this is done. Eventually I will start pitching the dregs from bottled sours and build up the bugs. I figure I can evolve this into a house sour.
I also tried out a new hop. Strisselspalt is a french hop that seems little used but comes highly recommended.

UPDATE- My First Pelicle and A Cucumber Wheat


Specifics 
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Anticipated SRM: 9.1
Anticipated IBU: 23.5
Wort Boil Time: 60
Original Gravity:  1.046

Grain
2 lbs Amber LME
.5 lb Wheat DME
1 lb Light DME
4 oz Flaked Rye
4 oz Table Sugar
5 oz Honey Malt
2 oz Biscuit Malt

Hops
.75 oz Strisslespalt(4%) @ 5 min
.35 oz Centennial(10%) @ 60 min

Yeast
White Labs American Farmhouse Blend WLP670