Calgary Carrot Rednut

[Forever Wort]

Remember: This is my first thread, I am a beginner! Trying for a sweet, clear, high-alcohol orange ale. Go easy!

I brewed a kit beer with carrots. It is currently fermenting.

I prepared the carrots the following way:

First, I grated three carrots into a pot with twelve litres of water and boiled it down to 50% of its original volume, that is, six litres (about three hours simmering). I then strained the carrot out and put the solution aside to cool.

I also prepared caramelised carrots by skinning twelve carrots and wrapping each one, together with one tablespoon of sugar, in foil. I roasted these at 100°C for four hours and also set them aside to cool to room temperature. The total volume of carrots was 2.25kg and they came out soft and sweet.

I used a Coopers Canadian Blonde kit and the kit yeast. Fermentable sugars were 500g Coopers Brew Enhancer #1, 1kg Cane Sugar (this includes that used on the carrots) and 250g dextrose. Also a teaspoon of non-fermentable sweetener. The caramelised carrots were added to the bottom of the fermenter and the boiled carrot extract was used to fill out the brew.

Original gravity sat at 1.050, fermenter is glad wrapped and now three of the carrots are floating in the krausen.

Comments? Advice? I am thinking of a longer than normal fermentation. Adjuncts?

I am thinking ... ginger? (to go with the rednut theme)

 

[Mardoo]

fermenter is glad wrapped
and now three of the carrots are
floating in the krausen.

That's practically a brewer's haiku. Weirdo
Nothing helpful to add I'm afraid. I do really want to know how it comes out though. Cool experiment.

 

[carniebrew]

Definitely the weirdest recipe I've seen in my time on AHB. Sounds like something Sam Caligione would try. I'm subscribing to this thread so I can hear how it comes out too...please let us know.

 

[jyo]

My carrot mild is drinking ok. I caramelised 2 kg and blended them, then threw them in the mash. I didn't add any into the fermenter. I can just taste the carrots if I screw my face the right way. It's more of a slight roastiness. Will update that thread soon.

I think you should get some flavour coming through having them sitting in the fermenter. I don't think I got very much in the way of fermentables from the mash.

Good luck!

 

[Forever Wort]

Well, thirty six hours in at 24°C and I am pleased to say it is going gangbusters. About eight carrots are floating in the krausen, which is thick and a mottled creme brown. The fermentation is loud, crackling away with a beautiful fizz. And it smells strongly through the glad wrap. Bring it on.

Definitely the weirdest recipe I've seen in my time on AHB. Sounds like something Sam Caligione would try. I'm subscribing to this thread so I can hear how it comes out too...please let us know.

Thanks for the compliment. Your reference to Sam Calagione sent me off on a Wikipedia adventure; the documentary Beer Wars will be watched tomorrow evening!

My carrot mild is drinking ok. I caramelised 2 kg and blended them, then threw them in the mash. I didn't add any into the fermenter. I can just taste the carrots if I screw my face the right way. It's more of a slight roastiness. Will update that thread soon.

I think you should get some flavour coming through having them sitting in the fermenter. I don't think I got very much in the way of fermentables from the mash.

Cool. I did check out your carrot thread and took inspiration from the caramelisation. It adds the kind of richness I am going for; the boiled carrot juice is fairly tart. Hopefully both flavours will come through in the finished product.

That's practically a brewer's haiku. Weirdo
Nothing helpful to add I'm afraid. I do really want to know how it comes out though. Cool experiment.

I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.

 

[carniebrew]

Brew Masters is well worth a look too. Shame they never did more than one season/6 eps.

 

[Forever Wort]

Cheers, I will get onto it.

I transferred it to secondary fermentation yesterday. The carrots were soft, yeasty and smelled delicious. Even so I wasn't keen to do anything with them - just turfed them into the bin. Gravity is sitting at 1010, giving an ABV of 5.2%. I will probably bottle on Wednesday if still stable, or this weekend if gravity is decreasing.

The taste is very interesting - more sweet than tart from the carrots I think. Colour is only a little more orange than a normal blonde, I might add some red food dye before bottling to give it that carrot edge. I guess if I wanted to get more colour from the carrots I would need to use twice the amount or more, but that's heading into six kilogram territory. No secondary adjuncts apart from about 500ml of weak cinnamon extract, left over from another brew. Can't taste it.

 

[rheffera]

How did this turn out?

 

[Forever Wort]

It is decent - if not entirely to my taste - we've still got about ten litres left. A little sweet, the tiniest hint of cinnamon, and I added a tiny bit of red food dye at bottling to give it an orange, carrotty tinge.

Interestingly it has been popular with the ladies. One female taster referred to it multiple times as "very marketable" - I'm not so sure!