# Priming With Cordial?



## Neill (24/4/09)

So i'm brewing a summer ale with S-04, cascade and amarillo. Have been toying with the idea of doing a raspberry ale in the future, and have seen mention of people simply priming with cordial to give it the raspberry kick. I'm wanting to try this in various quantities with a few bottles of this brew to see if it's any good. So where should I start? What sort of amounts are needed to give the right flavour and carbonation?

Cheers!


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## Fourstar (24/4/09)

ONe of the guys here used the Cascase Raspberry cordial in a raspberry beer. I think it was added to secondary (so it didn't give off allot of fusel alcohol). I could be wrong. 

As for bottling you really need to focus on the level of carbonation it will give you, not the flavour. As you are using it to 'prime' and you increase the CO2 level, you will have Gallipoli going off within a few weeks of aging your bottles.


Personally, i would wait for primary to finish, dump the cordial in, ferment out, then prime as normal.


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## Neill (24/4/09)

I would do that too, if i wanted a whole batch of the stuff. I'm more interested in trying a few to see if it's worthwhile/tasty/crap rather than potentially ruining a whole batch. 

I guess i could bottle 20L of beer, then add some cordial to the leftovers and let it go for another week then bottle that. But i'm trying to get the right proportions before i make a whole batch of it


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## A3k (24/4/09)

If you want to prime with it Id be looking at the percentage of sugar in the cordial. Im guessing 20-50% but I actually have no idea.

The work out how much weight of sugar you would normally put in a bottle. I dont bottle, but I think a teaspoon may be 5gm (check this).

Then work out how much cordial is required to give that much sugar.

Assuming 20% sugar in cordial, and 5gm in a teaspoon and you usually use a teaspoon, you would need 25gm of cordial.

If you want to do lots of different bottles, use say half a teaspoon of sugar with 12gm of cordial, etc.



Or just get diet cordial. As it doesnt have sugar, it wont add to the fiz. So use sugar as usual.


Cheers
Al


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## A3k (24/4/09)

Actually, the diet cordial will add artificial sweetness to the beer. Worth a try I guess, but probably dont just use it.


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## Neill (24/4/09)

that's a good idea about the diet cordial actually. i'll have a look at some various types in the shops next time and see what i can get. i guess you could work it out from the % of sugar hey. i wonder if it will taste any good though.


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## Fourstar (24/4/09)

Neill said:


> i wonder if it will taste any good though.



Mmmmmm Phenylalanine.... :icon_vomit:


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## manticle (24/4/09)

Not that I want to knock anyone's ideas for experimentation but couldn't you get a better raspberry flavour using raspberries at some point of fermentation?

Try a kg of frozen raspberries in primary or something? I reckon cordial will just taste artificial. Have a glass of beer with some raspberry cordial in it and see what you think.

Aren't there some brewers of raspberry hefeweizens on here? maybe check out their recipes.


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## bum (24/4/09)

I think most guys who do this rack onto the raspberries. I remember reading that putting them in primary strips the fruit flavours.

Sorry if I've got this arse about.


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## buttersd70 (24/4/09)

manticle said:


> Have a glass of beer with some raspberry cordial in it and see what you think.



Most sensible suggestion I've heard in a long time....

Always remember that mixing (in this case with the cordial), is always an option to test a concept. Like putting a hop pelet in a bottle of bland mega something, recapping and leaving for a week, then tasting, to get an idea of the flavour....similar things can be done with so many different ingredients, to get an idea of what kind of flavours it will impart.


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## Bribie G (24/4/09)

Slightly off topic, I have brewed a beer so lacking in malt characteristics and so low in any hop aroma or flavour that I swear I have replicated Toohey's Extra Dry. 

I bottled the whole lot in Bavaria 660s so I'm currently drinking through it by chilling it to just frozen, tipping out a little bit then putting a shot of Bickfords Lime Juice Cordial down the neck and swigging the beer Corona Style straight from the bottle. Bloody refreshing although lager n lime is really what you buy for your lass down the snug hey Butters :lol: 





Might give it a whirl with Raspberry  

Is there a 'cocktail quality' gourmet raspberry available, as opposed to Cottees kids variety?


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## Steve (24/4/09)

Ive also had lager n lime, lager n black (blackcurrent). Neill if you want an idea of the flavours the easiest and quickest way is to just buy some cordial and put a dash in your glass.
Cheers
Steve


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## chappo1970 (24/4/09)

I say have a go and experiment with it. FFS you only live once. It's only a few of bottles right? Your keeping the rest for session's so I see no harm what so ever experimenting on a few good marines with raspberry cordial. Agree with all about being wary of bottle bombs. And +1 for a shot of cordial in a beer. I would be interested in the results.

Cheers

Chappo

(Surprised PoMo hasn't seen this one yet he loves putting all sorts of weird stuff in his beers!) h34r:


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## Pollux (24/4/09)

I wonder what the preservatives would do to the yeasties??

I know this came up somewhere else once where we were discussing make alcohol sarsaparilla using cordial, it was declared to not work.


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## Neill (26/4/09)

OK i'm definately going to give it a try i think. I'll let you know the results. Will try 3-5 stubbies with various quantities of cordial and see what happens. 

FWIW as a young lad i went a pub in carindale once or twice who served these things called "snake bites". it was a schooner half full of beer, half full of strongbow cider with a dash of raspberry cordial through the top as well. They were tasty and allowed extreme rates of panty-dropping to become possible with the ladies.


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