"bad" Beer Ingredients

[Bribie G]

I once made an aldi-ale with oats, cornflakes, brown sugar and base malt plus a shitload of Caraaroma and some chinese Cluster hops - Turned out great, but got me too pissed compared to my usual breakfast ale.



Maybe some orange juice or cranberries in the next batch for a bit of nutritional balance.

 

[sinkas]

I dont brew any beer with atleast 2 christmas caskes in the mash, and a pack o gravox

seriously, just throw shoe shit in there, itll be fine, if its not then dont do it again

 

[sim]

In Randy Mosher's "radical brewing" book he's got an old old english recipe in their where they add a mix of raw eggs and other stuff into the ferment. I actually think eggs in the mash would do nothing, except effect your efficiency downward if they went in raw.

As for xmas cake, i once dissolved a tin o goop into the water that a xmas pudd was boiled in and fermented that. it was foul.

but hell, give it a whirl ...or just use some ingredients that give the impression of xmas cake, avoid oils, and avoid flour/starch unless its being mashed.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

maybe just answering the question and leaving it up to the brewer to decide if its a great idea or not?

bad - the only thing i can think of in a cake that might be actually bad for your brew is the fats/oils that people have mentioned already. They have the potential to wreck your head retention and perhaps to make the beer one that wont keep so well. Will they "certainly" do those things? No. but they might sp be aware.

as for the rest - whats in a xmas cake?

Flour - starch, no problem
Fruit - Lots of fruit beers out there, no problem
Booze - oh no... not more booze.
Sugar - obviously no problem
eggs - mostly protien, of which there is plenty in a mash already. no problem.
spices - outlandish... whoeverr heard of a beer with spices in it? no problem.

I think you'd actually get a better result by trying to brew a beer that tastes like xmas cake than you would by actually putting in a cake - but will the ingredients hurt the beer? is it "bad"? - beyond maybe killing your head off, not really.

it might taste like crap though.

 

[petesbrew]

I'm interested to read the grainbill & what yeast Pimpsqueak is using.
As long as it's a big belgian, I can see it worth giving a go.
...for shits n giggles I say!

 

[pimpsqueak]

maybe just answering the question and leaving it up to the brewer to decide if its a great idea or not?

bad - the only thing i can think of in a cake that might be actually bad for your brew is the fats/oils that people have mentioned already. They have the potential to wreck your head retention and perhaps to make the beer one that wont keep so well. Will they "certainly" do those things? No. but they might sp be aware.

as for the rest - whats in a xmas cake?

Flour - starch, no problem
Fruit - Lots of fruit beers out there, no problem
Booze - oh no... not more booze.
Sugar - obviously no problem
eggs - mostly protien, of which there is plenty in a mash already. no problem.
spices - outlandish... whoeverr heard of a beer with spices in it? no problem.

I think you'd actually get a better result by trying to brew a beer that tastes like xmas cake than you would by actually putting in a cake - but will the ingredients hurt the beer? is it "bad"? - beyond maybe killing your head off, not really.

it might taste like crap though.

Cheers TB. It was the oils/fats and the egg that I was mostly curious about. Looks like I will go ahead with it then.

I'm interested to read the grainbill & what yeast Pimpsqueak is using.
As long as it's a big belgian, I can see it worth giving a go.
...for shits n giggles I say!

That's exactly where I was going with it. Nice boozy, spicy Belgian of some sort.
After reading about the length of time some people soak their fruit in preparation for making the cake (6 months out or more), I'm going to start the fruit soaking tonight and dredge this thread up in May/June when I brew it.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Is anybody thinking of actually having a crack at a christmas pudding beer?

We've been very late in making the puddings this year, and I'm thinking of saving the water they've been boiled with, cooling over night and skimming the oils off the top the next day, and using it as strike water for a sweet imperial porter. Give it a taste after the mash, and if necessary add some more fruitmix (the 'special' stuff I've had marinating in Inner Circle OP for 2 years) late in the boil and maybe the fermenter?

I have no idea how it will turn out, so I'm making up a grain bill out of leftovers I have, plus some Pacific Gem and WLP002. Aiming for about 9%ABV and 12 months bottle conditioning.

 

[Dave70]

POR hops.

And 'love'.
It causes protein haze.

 

[blakie21]

Nothing too kerrrazy here. I used about 200g of milo in my choc stout because I was too lazy to go back out to the shops after forgetting cocoa. I figured it was malt.. and chocolate.. why the hell not?

Actually turned out great!

 

[pimpsqueak]

I'm interested to read the grainbill & what yeast Pimpsqueak is using.
As long as it's a big belgian, I can see it worth giving a go.
...for shits n giggles I say!

Finally got around to brewing this last night.

Pilsner Malt - (Dingemans) 5800 grams
Special B Malt - (Dingemans) 350 grams
Caramunich I Malt (Weyermann) 470 grams
Munich I Malt (Weyermann) 850 grams
Acidulated Malt (Weyermann) 160 grams
Xmas fruit mix + figs, soaked in brandy, port and muscat since November: 300g

Hops : Galaxy to 22ibu (60min)
Mashed at 66 for an hour, ramp to 78 for 10 mins.

I have been having some major efficiency issues since I moved, so I had a bash at twiddling the water chemistry.
Budgeting an efficiency of 65% I ended up at 87%. Salts FTW!!!
Going to be a bit boozy for a dubbel, but it's a Xmas ale anyway, so who cares.

Going to rev up some 3787 and see how it goes...


Edit: oops, left the spices off the list...
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tap cinnamon
All in at flameout.

I'll also be adding the remaining 300g of fruit mix to the secondary. I'm now undecided on the use of candi sugar :-|

 

[DUANNE]

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel takes the biscuit for weird ingredients, for my money. Won't even try the stuff.

you dont know what youre missing out on, that is an exceptional beer. for me the chicha on the dogfish head show is one i just couldnt bring myself to drink.

 

[bum]

It may very well be the best beer made from ingredients that have passed through the digestive tract of a living creature but I will never know.