Freestone Prince

 

Base Beer Style: Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer (BJCP 28B)

Ingredients: 73.3% TexMalt (Ft. Worth, TX) San Jacinto Heritage 2-Row and 26.7% TexMalt Red River Rye malts. 2020 Rockin' Hops (NY) Yakima Gold and 2019 Egypt Valley Hopyards (MI) Sorachi Ace hops.

Yeast: Jester King Culture from Bootleg Biology 

Specialty Ingredients: ~2 pounds per gallon Texas Peaches, quartered and frozen. Pits included.

ABV: ~2.75%

IBU: 28.1

Bottling Additions: 1.5oz Honey/gallon, targeting 3.0 Volumes CO2. Belle Saison yeast. 

Notes: There were a couple of delays producing this beer. The first batch of wort intended for the peaches used ended up going to the Elysian Chimera as I ran out of fermentation space during the grape harvest last fall. That project was something that I’d intended to do, later and with pomace not whole grapes, but it didn’t work out that way.

I think this beer is better off for it. I’ve done some other beers with peaches and rye with good results and the combination works here too. The TexMalt Rye used in the beer isn’t as ‘spicy’ or ‘sharp’ tasting as most commercial rye malts, allowing the use in greater quantity without unbalancing the beer.

I used Jester King’s La Petit Prince as a jumping off point. The low abv Table Beer offers such a broad canvas, that it’s become a favorite beer to brew. Batches are usually split at least two ways – one dry-hopped and bottled young. The other fruited and aged, then dry-hopped and bottled with a month or so for conditioning.

It may be we that are better off for this beer having been delayed as well. The fresh, slightly tart, peach flavors go well with the warming weather. A prelude to summer, while we wait for the next crop of peaches to grow and ripen.

Photo by Chris from Brewhound Supplies

Esto Quod Es (blended mixed culture ale)

"Be what you are" 

Base Beer Style: Gueuze (BJCP 23E)

Ingredients: 

     2020 (Base #1): Raw Wheat, White Wheat Berries, Soft White Wheat Berries, Flaked Wheat, TexMalt Llano Pilsner Malt, Belgian Pilsner Malt. Saar Bank Farms (Canada) 2018 Cashmere and aged hops.

     2021 (Base #2): Sugar Creek Lambic Wind Malt, Maverick Hard Red Winter Wheat. Kansas Hop Company 2020 Columbus.

     2021 (Base #3): Maverick Palo Duro Pale Malt, TexMalt Soft Red Winter Wheat, TexMalt Raw Triticale. Kansas Hop Company 2020 Comet.

     2022 (Base #5): Maverick Hard Red Winter Wheat, TexMalt Llano Pilsner, TexMalt San Jacinto 2-Row. Aged hops and 2016 Crystal from 47 Hops.

     2023 (Base #6): TexMalt San Jacinto 2-Row, TexMalt Soft Red Winter Wheat, TexMalt Raw Triticale. 2019 harvest Simcoe and Centennial whole cone hops; house aged.

 Yeast: 

     2020 (Base #1): Wild yeast collected in the North Richland Hills Community Garden and Omega "All the Bretts".

     2021 (Base #2): SafAle BE-134 and Omega Brett Blend #3 "Bring on da funk".

     2021 (Base #3): Blended with Base #2 during active fermentation.

     2022 (Base #5): Bootleg Biology Sour Solera Spring 2022 blend.

     2023 (Base #6): Lallemand Wit yeast and Wyeast 3278 "Belgian Lambic Blend".

ABV: 7.06%

IBU: 5.84

Notes: All batches brewed using a Turbid Mash. See this article on Craft Beer & Brewing's website for an explanation of Turbid Mashing.

Brewed, blended and bottled for my daughters' birthday, this will slumber in bottles until she turns 21 in 2024.