Contributing editor Dave Carpenter’s homebrew recipe is inspired by weekend brunch. What began as an experimental oat-based pale ale evolved into the perfect ingredient in a brunchtime beermosa. Featuring three malts and one juicy hops, Multigrain Fruit Juice is an over-the-top fruity beer that could easily pass as an unfiltered sparkling white wine. Beer nerds, here’s the mimosa mixer you’ve been looking for.
Flaked oats in the mash lend a silky texture that is otherwise difficult to achieve, while malted wheat and barley supply the bulk of the fermentable sugars. Four late-kettle additions of Nelson Sauvin hops deliver the classic gooseberry and white wine notes for which that cultivar is known, and the seasonally available Antwerp Ale yeast (look for White Labs WLP515 in November and December) accentuates the hops flavors and bitterness. If you like Nelson Sauvin, you’ll like this beer.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.011
IBUs: 25
ABV: 5.2%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
6 lb (2.7 kg) pale malt
3 lb (1.4 kg) wheat malt
1 lb (454 g) flaked oats
1 lb (454 g) rice hulls (optional lautering aid)
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.5 oz (14 g) Nelson Sauvin [12% AA] at 15 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) Nelson Sauvin [12% AA] at 10 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) Nelson Sauvin [12% AA] at 5 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) Nelson Sauvin [12% AA] at 0 minutes
YEAST
White Labs WLP515 Antwerp Ale
DIRECTIONS
Mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes, optionally starting with a 10-minute protein rest at 122°F (50°C) to reduce the haze in the final beer. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule. Ferment at 67°F (19°C) until the final gravity is reached, then bottle or keg to 3 volumes of CO2.