Beetroot in a Saison?

[sinkas]

I think the more earthy flavours are achive by cooking,
the raw juice was bright and sweet

 

[Fat Bastard]

Fermenter sample after adding 1.5kg of beetroot & approx 750ml water (boiled from cold for 10 min) to 22 litres of saison tonight.

Looks nuclear. A sample of the water used to boil the beets measured 1.030 sg,but Crom only knows how much of that is fermentable. The liquor tasted incredibly sweet, but had a strong beetroot taste. When I re-measured the beer, it was actually lower than the original sample of 0.999 (calculated)sg. The finished beer pre 'rooting actually finished lower than I wanted despite me mashing higher than the test saison.

It certainly tastes like a saison mixed with beetroot juice. You can definately taste the 'root in it, but who knows what it will be like by the time the sugars have fermented. Got it sitting at 28 tonight and will ramp to 30 tomorrow. If it has finished by Sunday, I'll commence to cold crash, and keg the following Sunday after 3 or 4 days below 4c. It'll end up being stored in the keg a few weeks before drinking.

A point. 1.5kg of julienned beetroot is a shitload. Hope it doesn't get much of a krausen!

 

[boonchu]

Beetroots are what beet sugar / belgium candy sugar comes from.

They are one of the original sugar sources before sugar cane.

 

[stakka82]

Yeah I reckon the 'root will totally ferment out.

 

[bum]

Beetroots are what beet sugar / belgium candy sugar comes from.

Nope. Sugar beets.

I agree that it will probably be highly fermentable though. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[EDIT: original picture was way too big]

 

[nu_brew]

Holy shit FB that looks incredible!

 

[TimT]

Yeah sugar beets are a type of beetroot that have been bred for sweetness (sucrose).

 

[Not For Horses]

Beetroot is 6.76% total sugars according to the USDA.
So you've added 100g of sugar to your 22L.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Cheers NFH. Looking at it now, there's no evidence of a krausen. Judging by the rate it chewed through the primary (1.056 to 0.999 in 3 days) 100 odd g wouldn't have touched the sides. Or shown on the refract.

Haven't taken a sample tonight, but I'm hoping it'll taste ready to crash by Sunday. The julliened root (heh... etc.) has a pretty large surface area and hopefully has had all the sugaz extracted by then. Once the yeast has dropped out it should be a less lurid shade too!

 

[nu_brew]

Once the yeast has dropped out it should be a less lurid shade too!

Damn shame!

 

[Not For Horses]

Can't wait to see it when it's finished.
Should be real purdy.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Hurrr... Purdy!

She's down to an incredible 0.995 now. Possibly super attenuation, possibly refractometer user error when taking the O.G. Don't think she'll go lower, so cold crashing now.
Beetroot aroma is amazing, it overpowers anything from the yeast or late Saaz. Hope this will fade a little. Beetroot taste is there, but not overpowering or anything. Should look incredible when it's gassed up.

 

[Bizier]

The fabulous fuschia flame-thrower!

That is colour is nuts!

 

[winkle]

Does it stain teeth? It'd be the natural enemy of a white shirt.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Bit darker than I hoped for, but the beetroot aroma and flavour have backed off a bit. I think half the amount of beetroot would be adequate for next time.

Outre.

Totally.

 

[surly]

That's pretty

Enjoying it?

 

[Fat Bastard]

The beetroot is a bit cloying and tends to mask the saison flavour a bit, but yeah, I'm enjoying it! It's only very new and should improve over the next few weeks.

 

[surly]

Sounds like a perfect situation FB, you have made an enjoyable and interesting beer. But, there is obvious room for improvement so you get to go back and tinker some more.
:beer:

 

[Fat Bastard]

Clearing up a little now:

I'm starting to revise my opinions about the amount of beetroot too. The aroma & flavour seems to be fading quite rapidly and the beer tastes alltogether more "complete". May need to revise the base saison recipe a little as this one is very dry and a little bland. It's a good opportunity to tinker with that as I need to culture up some more 3711, as I did not even try to save the stuff from this batch.

When I first tried the beer, I was concerned that the beetroot was a little too cloyingly earthy, but it's fine now. I'm 3 glasses into an experiment to see if it turns my wee red. In case you were wondering, the answer is "not yet."

Anyway, a facebook mate sent me this picture of a beer (possibly a belgian or a saison) with spinach extract and green tea.

I have no spinach, but I've got masses of Cavolo Nero, and my rocket has gone completely feral. Hmm....