Cranberry Holidaze
This is the Cranberry Holiday beer I’ve been talking about. I’ve made this for several years and it always goes over well. After all, if we can have blueberry, raspberry, and cherry beer…why not have a cranberry one? Use this to wash down your turkey
Ingredients
3 gallons of your favorite bottled water
1 package of Booster
12oz package of cranberries
1 can Whispering Wheat Weizenbier
Liquid Yeast (German Ale Yeast works pretty well #1007 from Wyeast) - this is optional. A lot of beer mixes come with a packet of dry yeast, but the liquid yeast makes for a better taste. I’ve tried both and prefer liquid yeast.
Directions
1) At least one day before brewing, put one of the gallons of water in the refrigerator to chill it. Also, if you’re using the liquid yeast smack pack, take the packet out of the refrigerator and break the inner pouch by placing the packet on a flat surface and pressing down on the packet with your hand until you feel the inner pouch break.
2) Sanitize the beer barrel (preferably with One Step).
3) Put six cups of water (from one of the bottles you didn’t put in the refrigerator) into a pot (2-3 gallon size is preferable, so you have room). Add the Booster to the water.
4) Stir with a spoon until the Booster is blended. This will take a little while, as the Booster can get a little thick when it hits the water. I usually press the Booster against the side of the pot with a spoon, rubbing back and forth to get the Booster to dissolve.
5) Once the Booster is completely dissolved into the water, bring the mixture to a boil.
6) Puree the Cranberries in a blender or food processor while the water/Booster mixture is being heated to a boil.
7) As the mixture gets close to boiling, take the gallon of water from the refrigerator and pour it into the Beer Barrel.
Once the water/Booster mixture gets to a boil, remove from the heat and add the Whispering Wheat Weizenbeer and cranberries. Stir until mixed and let this sit for 5 minutes. This is now known as your wort (Pronounced “wert”).
9) Pour the wort into the beer barrel. Add water until the water level reaches 8.5 gallons on the barrel.
10) Add the yeast. Wait five minutes, and then stir the wort thoroughly.
11) That’s it - you’re done until its ready to be bottled!