The base beer was taken from my excellent Belgian Wit. I removed and cooled half of the wort before adding the spices and other adjuncts for the witbier. I then filled a small 160 oz (4.7 L) carboy with the unadulterated wort and later added the rest to the spiced wort in the main fermenter.

The Chanterelle beer fermented with the same Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit yeast as the Belgian Wit. I then added 0.4 lbs (180 g) of fresh Chanterelle mushrooms that had been washed, patted dry, and pulled apart to the secondary and let it sit for two weeks.

Tasting Notes

There is a lot of sediment in the beer including what I suspect are small chunks of mushroom. This is partly because smaller batches are harder to work with so the sediment gets agitated more than in larger batches. If the beer is left at room temperature, the beer is cloudy with yeast and mushrooms.

Apricot and fungal notes are evident in the nose, but overall the aroma is a little weak.

The beer has a little spiciness and sweetness to it along with a fruity blend of mushroom and yeast flavours. Like with my previous Winter Chanterelle beer that used a similar quantity of mushroom, on a rare sip the Chanterelles in this beer will really stand out and assert their flavour only to blend back in to the beer.

My main objection to this beer is the aftertaste which is long and somewhat reminiscent of pine detergent (an unintended adjunct?).

Brewing Notes for Future Recipes

I think the Chanterelles and Belgian Wit yeast ended up competing with each other rather than complementing each other. I thought their different fruit flavours would work well together, but I was wrong.

I think maybe mushrooms do better in stronger beers where unpleasant or unusual flavours are masked. When they work well, the mushroom flavours round out and complement the yeast flavours.

Chanterelle Belgian Wheat Recipe

Grains

Hops and Adjuncts

Yeast

Wyeast 3944: Belgian Witbier harvested from lees

Brewing Schedule

Brewed: 10/07/2008
Racked: 10/30/2008
Bottled:  11/14/2008

Water

No water adjustments to local Pilsen-like water.

Brewing Stats

OG: 1.048
IBU: approx. 17
Ferment Temp: 71°F 22°C
FG: 1.007
ABV: 4.9%

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Chanterelle Belgian Wheat Beer Recipe and Tasting Notes

Photo Credit: soggydan

String of Setbacks

At first I thought the beer was ruined by some sort of infection. It was actually the inspiration for my Halloween Fermentation Friday post which is actually a piece of fiction because still haven’t lost a beer to infection.

What had happened was that the mushroom’s thin, whispy gills separated from the rest of the mushroom and floated to the top. Additionally, there was an oil-like film that eventually evapourated off. I presume the film also came from the mushroom, but I haven’t seen anything like it brewing with other mushrooms.

Taken together, the gills looked like mold growing on a slimy film.

Then last night, when I went to sample the beer, I discovered that I’d made a big miscalculation and badly over-carbonated the beer. When I opened the first beer I sent a foamy plume high in to the air and on to some recently washed dishes sitting next to the sink.

Worried that I had some potential beer bombs sitting in my apartment and wanting to try more than the mouthfull of beer, I quickly chilled the other two bottles.

To catch the anticipated fountain of beer, I set out a large measuring cup in one of the sinks and made more of a mess. But I was able to salvage a pint’s-worth of beer.

Sampling my First Matsutake Beer

The base beer wasn’t very good to begin with so I didn’t have very high hopes for this beer. Actually it was one of the worst beers that I’d made in a long time. It lacked flavour except for the hint of peat and seemed quite watery. But it was a beer made of leftovers solely for the purpose of seeing how the Matsutake sits in beer so that I can properly formulate a recipe for next time.

The Matsutakes added some of the same yeast-like flavours as the Winter Chanterelles did in my previous mushroom beers, but they weren’t as fruity as the Chanterelles and had a slightly unpleasant, but mild, bitter flavour. The flavour was quite robust and, like other mushrooms, mostly sits well in beer not really competing with other flavours.

Brewing With My Eyes Open

Now that I know how Matsutakes taste in beer, I’d like to try using Matsutakes in a bitter stout. The beer’s bitterness would mask the unpleasant bitterness from the Matsutakes and the yeast-like flavours would complement a full-bodied, full-flavoured beer.

I don’t think it was a mistake to use the Matsutakes in a peated beer either, but I think they would probably work better in a more strongly-flavoured beer. I used about 2oz (60g) of mushroom in this small batch which, when scaled up, would be about 1.3lbs (600g). I wouldn’t recommend adding more than this, but I suspect you could get noticable results with 0.9lbs (400g) of Matsutakes.

In my test batch, I boiled the mushrooms and then added the liquid with the boiled mushrooms to the beer and then left the mushrooms to sit on the beer for a couple of weeks.

I think, in retrospect, that this was a mistake. Having cooked with Matsutakes, they have a very strong flavour and aroma when you first cook them. But the flavour almost disappears from leftovers the next day.

The next time I make a beer with Matsutakes, right before bottling, I plan make a Matsutake tea, strain it through a coffee filter, and then add it to the beer right away before bottling. Hopefully, this will help seal the mushroom flavour in.

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Peated Matsutake Porter Post-Mortem

Most people live their lives safely: without ever knowing the random terrors that can suddenly infect the unsuspecting. They go through their comfortable, daily drudge: eating, working, loving, hating, drinking beer…without an inkling.

But ill events have torn that blissful torpor from my eyes. I may have been a little careless, but I’m not wholly at fault. I took precautions and presumed the fungal adjunct safe and sanitary after a couple minutes boiling.

The water, splendid with aroma of pine mushroom, was quickly cooled in accordance with standard brewing rules and practice. Soon after, I added it to the remaining portion of nearly fermented wort.

Looking back…I don’t know where I brought this foul horror upon myself.

The container, though not completely sealed, left but a little space under one rim where a foreign organism might introduce itself.

The wort, really closer to beer, was not the sort of place an alien could survive and thrive. And it was still active so it should have quickly formed a safe blanket of gas keeping invasion at bay.

The aromas of peated porter and pine mushrooms mixed in some primal part of my brain awakening anticipation like some feral desire soon to be satiated. But my conscious mind blocked these thoughts lest thirst and anticipation lead me to arrest the transmutation too soon and ruin my great drink.

Days passed and I left my concoction to mix and settle. But trouble was brewing and I remained unaware. My experiment birthed a side-effect: life.

My hidden bastards grew and multiplied feeding on the sugars that remained. Perhaps spited by my lack of acknowledgement, they ran amok.

Weeks later, when my attention finally turned to my now spoilt aqua vitae, it was too late. Intoxicated by anticipation, my inattention resulted in the death of all that I ever loved. And I’m left questioning what went wrong, fearing to reach beyond for fear of fouling my noble spirit.

For more Halloween homebrewing stories check out this month’s Fermentation Friday hosted by Pfiff!.

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The Terror that Infects the Noble Spirit

For the first beer, I used 0.9 kgs (2 lbs) of Winter Chanterelles soaked the mushrooms in vodka for three weeks. I then added the vodka to the 23 L (6 gal) batch of beer before bottling. The final beer was a wonderful Belgian Ale with some strange yeast-like characteristics that would (very) occasionally hit you with the full mushroom aroma.

For the second beer, I used 2.3 kgs (5 lbs) of Winter Chanterelles added directly to the secondary and let it soak for several weeks. The resulting beer tasted like (big surprise) Winter Chanterelles and Belgian Ale.

Here in Vancouver we’ve had some great mushroom weather over the last two months. That means it’s been wet. So, while I’m not too happy about the weather, I am happy to be planning some more mushroom beers. It should be a good year for Chanterelles, Hedgehog Mushrooms, and maybe Matsutakes (aka Pine Mushrooms).

I expect to be able to achieve roughly the same effects as I achieved with Winter Chanterelles using the same proportions of Chanterelles and Hedgehog Mushrooms in my brews.

Chanterelle Beers for This Year

Based on how the cousin-of-yeast flavours blended with the Abbey yeast flavours in the first beer, I’ll be trying to see how Chanterelles sit on a Belgian Blanche. I really loved the interplay between yeast and mushroom and want to try different combinations of tasty yeasts with mushrooms. I will probably try the Blanche with 0.9 kgs (2 lbs) of Chanterelles.

I’d also like to see how the flavours sit in an even stronger beer than the original 7% Belgian Ale. So I’m planning on making my first Barley Wine. Based on mostly on style, alcohol tolerance, and past experience I’d like to try Wyeast’s London Ale III for this beer. I also think I’ll increase the amount of mushrooms so they don’t get lost in a stronger beer. I’ll probably try 1.2 kgs (2.7 lbs) of mushrooms.

Matsutake Beers (Depending on Availability)

The Matsutake is more strongly flavoured. I estimate that no more the 0.5 kgs (1.1 lbs) would be necessary, or even appropriate. I have only cooked with these mushrooms a limited number of times, but their flavour tends to taint everything they are cooked with and disappears if they are overcooked or re-heated. Based on this, I think the best thing to do is make some mushroom tea and add it to the secondary right before bottling. I might try a small side-batch with the mushrooms added right at the very end of the boil for comparison.

Using Hedgehog Mushrooms in Beer

I probably won’t get around to using Hedgehog Mushrooms this fall. There are just too many beers that I want to make (I like standard beer-styles too). Although there are clear differences, there are also a lot of similarities between Chanterelles, Winter Chanterelles, and Hedgehog Mushrooms. I freely switch between these three types of mushrooms when cooking and can’t really tell the difference unless they are served on their own.

My current set of Belgian Blanches are taking forever to finish fermenting, so I’ll probably start something that uses London Ale III before doing the Chanterelle beers.

If you are interested in learning what interesting ingredients other home-brewers are using, check out this month’s Fermentation Friday hosted by Final Gravity.

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Chanterelle Season | Fermentation Friday

I kept the same grain bill and used the same yeast varying only the hops and the procedure for getting raw mushroom flavour in to the beer for both batches.

Image Credit: Colris

Warning Before Brewing with Mushrooms

All raw mushrooms are poisonous to some extent. You can eat some raw mushrooms without any noticeable effect, while others will kill you. Get a good book about mushrooms and check if there is a real danger before brewing a mushroom beer. You have been warned.

Bottom Line: I polished off plenty of mushroom beer without any ill effect and I’ll polish off plenty more.

Getting the Mushroom into the Beer

For the first batch, I soaked 0.9kg (2lbs) of winter chanterelles in vodka for 3 weeks, per Mosher, before adding the chanterelle-flavoured vodka to the secondary. When I bottled the beer, you could taste the vodka quite clearly. But after 3 weeks in the bottle, the vodka flavour completely disappeared.

For the second batch, I added 2.0 kg (4.5lbs) of winter chanterelles directly to the secondary and let the mushrooms sit in the beer for three weeks before bottling.

I was worried that the second batch would get contaminated, wild mushrooms aren’t exactly the cleanest thing you can put in your mouth. I figured the extended time with vodka would be enough to keep undesirables from the beer.

As it turned out, both beers were fine, but I’d worry about using raw wild mushrooms in a weaker beer.

The Base Beer

I used the same decoction mash for both beers, or at least tried. They were among my first decoction mashes and were a little messy, but I hit rests of 45, 62, and 68 before mashing out.

• 4.3 kgs (9.5 lbs) 2-Row
• 0.9 kgs (2lbs) ESB Malt
• 0.7 kgs (1.5lbs) Munich
• 0.7 kgs (1.5lbs) Wheat Malt
• 0.2 kgs (0.5 lbs) Biscuit Malt
• 28 g (1oz) Hallertau (boil)
• Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abby

For the first beer, I adjusted Mosher’s recipe for low alpha-acid pellet hops.

For the second beer, I switched up the hops so I could use whole hops instead of the pellets.

OG = 1.070
FG = 1.016

Tasting Notes

The first beer was exquisite. Mostly the mushrooms added a cousin-of-yeast flavour that stood up very well to the full-bodied beer. It didn’t taste like mushrooms, but every now and again the full aroma of winter chanterelles would really hit you. I’ve never tasted anything like it, sometimes you could drink a whole glass without the blast of chanterelle, but suddenly it would come out only to disappear again in an instant.

I actually won an award for this beer at CAMRA BC’s home brewing competition. Before you shower me with accolades, I was the only one entered in my category. But I got some great feedback on the beer.

Both judges had a difficulty detecting mushroom flavours. I can’t say I’m surprised given the ephemeral aroma and the very yeast-like flavours. I get a lot of wild mushrooms, so I’m probably a little more sensitive to their flavour. I think the beer’s mushroom flavours really complemented the yeast flavours, but it wasn’t easy to tell them apart.

The second beer was good, but not great. I used more than double the mushrooms and their flavour was very evident. I’m sure the CAMRA judges would have agreed that the first beer surpassed the second even though the mushrooms weren’t obvious.

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Winter Chanterelle Belgian Ale Recipe 2008