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Recipe: Foam Constant Conversations
From Foam Brewers in Burlington, Vermont, comes this recipe for a mixed-culture plum beer—also featuring lavender and lemon zest—that gets its vibrant hue from the addition of butterfly pea flowers.
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Courtesy of Bob Grim, head brewer and cofounder at Foam Brewers in Burlington, Vermont, this recipe was inspired by numerous conversations with a friend of Foam. Their house mixed culture handles the fermentation, with flavors from black plums, Meyer lemon zest, lavender, and—for the color—butterfly pea flowers. The brewery’s tasting notes describe the beer as “lightly tart” with “Concord grape” and “effervescent hints of mint and rosemary.”
For more about brewing with these colorful petals, see Special Ingredient: Butterfly Pea Flowers. For much more about Foam, see our Breakout Brewer profile. Plus: See the recipe for their Like Clockwork hazy double IPA.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.005
IBUs: N/A
ABV: 6.2%
Courtesy of Bob Grim, head brewer and cofounder at Foam Brewers in Burlington, Vermont, this recipe was inspired by numerous conversations with a friend of Foam. Their house mixed culture handles the fermentation, with flavors from black plums, Meyer lemon zest, lavender, and—for the color—butterfly pea flowers. The brewery’s tasting notes describe the beer as “lightly tart” with “Concord grape” and “effervescent hints of mint and rosemary.”
For more about brewing with these colorful petals, see Special Ingredient: Butterfly Pea Flowers. For much more about Foam, see our Breakout Brewer profile. Plus: See the recipe for their Like Clockwork hazy double IPA.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.005
IBUs: N/A
ABV: 6.2%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
5 lb (2.3 kg) pilsner
2 lb (907 g) flaked wheat
2 lb (907 g) raw wheat
ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
1 tablet Whirlfloc at 15 minutes
1 lb (454 g) dextrose at flameout
9 oz (255 g) puréed black plums at primary
1 oz (28 g) butterfly pea flower powder, 0.35 oz (10 g) dried lavender, 1 g fresh lemon zest at secondary
YEAST
House mixed culture including saison yeast, Brettanomyces, and Lactobacillus* (see Brewer’s Notes for alternatives)
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 148°F (64°C) for 30 minutes. Recirculate until your wort runs clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 75 minutes, adding Whirlfloc and dextrose according to the schedule. After the boil, stir or recirculate to create a vortex, allowing enough time to settle and separate the protein break from the wort. Chill to 75°F (24°C), aerate the wort, and pitch the yeast. Start fermentation at 75°F (24°C) and allow it to free rise, to encourage fruity esters. About halfway through fermentation, add the plum purée, then allow fermentation to continue until complete. Add butterfly pea flower, lavender, and lemon zest and steep 1 day before crashing, packaging, and carbonating to about 2.8 volumes.
BREWER’S NOTES
Remember, everyone’s process and setup are different, so this is just a guide; change whatever works best for you. Never be afraid to play around, tweak, and try new things.
Malt: We use locally grown craft malt from Vermont Malthouse and NEK Grains.
Mash pH: At mash-in we add calcium chloride and lactic acid, to target a mash pH of 5.2, and amylase enzyme to aid conversion.
Hops & Beer pH: Most strains of lactic bacteria are hop-sensitive. I recommend you not add any hops and, using lactic or citric acid, adjust the wort to a pH of 4.8 before fermentation. This should help you achieve a finished beer pH of 3.2, which will help the butterfly pea flower present a vibrant purple hue.
Mixed Culture: We use our own house culture. A good alternative would be Bootleg Biology’s Embrace The Funk Culture or your own preferred mix of saison yeast, Brett, and Lacto.
Adjuncts: I recommend organic, to avoid any unwanted chemicals. Optionally, you can hydrate the butterfly pea flower with beer or carbonated water before adding. With the lavender, you can use vodka or other neutral spirit to make a tincture; otherwise, the dried flowers will soak up some beer. To make the tincture, heat the spirit to about 120°F (49°C) and add the lavender, then steep several minutes before straining.
