Fermented Mango Juice

[Bongchitis]

G'Day all,

Whilst waitng to get my BIAB kit finnished I was looking at hard versions of Ginger beer, Lemonade and Cider and I have found a few promising recipes and then I thought of Mango. Had a quick look around but I haven't found much apart from a couple of references to Mango weizen where you dump some syrup into your beer or oztops on 3L Apple/Mango juice but I want to brew a Wine/cider type thing from 100% juice or similar.

Anyone done it or have some pointers?

I mentioned it to the wife and now she wants some :icon_drunk:

I might give it a crack on a small scale and post a few pics. Ale yeast @ 20 deg, nutrient, malt?

 

[brettprevans]

well it should be like fermenting any other type of juice. i wouldnt add any malt to start with. I'd suggest doing a very small batch to see what flavour it has. it will be interesting to see how dry it comes out and whether that dryness suits the fruit flavour.

if your using syrup (which has added sugar) it will turn out differantly than if you were to use mango juice. i'd use some nutrient in both cases, as it can only help.

i'd ferment a little lower as i dont think you want any extra flavours coming through (unless of course thats the flavour profile that you want).

mango weizen huh? sounds good to me.

 

[yardy]

I'd go with a champagne yeast with nutrient if you're planning 100% juice, mango weizen does sound good, our trees are chokkers with fruit this year so may have to freeze some.

cheers
Dave

 

[Bongchitis]

Thanks guys. No malt, Champagne yeast @ 18deg... sounds good.

I have been searching for 100% Mango Juice but I think that the nature of the fruit dictates that puree is the only option. Would be like trying to juice a Banana I guess. If there is juice available, it is hiding really well. Lots of Puree/pulp getting around though.

I read somewhere that mango puree was the most popular drink in India so I went to the local Indian Grocer and found these:



I opened 1 can to take an OG reading, hahahaha way too thick, not going to happen so I thought I would be clever and dilute it and work backwards. Still too thick after 50% dilution. Would have been a waste of a can if I didn't make the Mango pancakes this morning, I was a popular dad.

So I will just do it and estimate the alcohol content by how much it kicks my arse when I drink it.

My concern now is that it may be too thick for the yeast to do its job properly. There are not going to be any natural convection currents going on within the fermenter as per normal to stir things up.

Anyone have any ideas or worked with super high gravity (or viscosity, not really the same thing) brews?

 

[Tyred]

I can't recall seeing 100% mango juice anywhere. I have seen mango fruit drinks (golden circle ?) and apple and mango fruit juice. You could try mixing the apple and mango juice to thin out the mix a bit.

I don't know the mix of apple to mango in the juice but trying to get more mango than apple in ratio (or just 1:1 if possible) would probably be the way to go.

I would also check what ingredients are in the pulp. You wouldn't want any preservatives in the mix.

 

[seemax]

I got a nice chuckle from reading the can - "Alphonso" Mango Pulp

 

[brettprevans]

viscosity shouldnt matter too much as you can ferment straight (well straightish) honey. ok well slightly diluted honey. so it will ferment. might be an idea to add soem NAP and or nutrient though.

 

[newguy]

Very late to the party but I brewed a mango kolsch once. Given how tart it ended up I'd be leery about trying 100% mango juice. That, and the pulp from the mangoes would make recovering the clear juice nearly impossible. I added 15 mangoes (juiced & pasteurised) to ~18l of kolsch and the bottom ~4l or so of beer was unrecoverable due to the pulp.

 

[Bongchitis]

I am going to sweeten with stevia so tart is good, as long as the fruit profile is accentuated. The juice thing is the problem though, I think it is the pulp that is giving a faux high viscosity and the initial amount I will ferment is too small to be filtered conventionally. If the flavour is promising I will persevere on a larger scale and filter. The problem is that I can't take a OG reading to determine if I am making rocket fuel or a nice fruit wine... or drain unblocker.

I need to get my arse into gear on this. I have chosen a yeast, Red Star EmpernayII for fruit wines. I just finished my 1st solo AG so I am all excited by that atm.

I will post pics and results.

Cheers

Very late to the party but I brewed a mango kolsch once. Given how tart it ended up I'd be leery about trying 100% mango juice. That, and the pulp from the mangoes would make recovering the clear juice nearly impossible. I added 15 mangoes (juiced & pasteurised) to ~18l of kolsch and the bottom ~4l or so of beer was unrecoverable due to the pulp.

 

[Bongchitis]

Hi all,

Quick update time. Yep I finally did something!

I couldn't get the Epernay yeast so I got Endoferm QA23 fruity white wine yeast instead.

I used 2L of mango pulp, 150ml of water boiled up with 1/2 tsp nutrient added and sprinkled the yeast on top. Pitched at 24 deg and fermenting at 17deg. Looks great except for the activity seems to be in the upper half of the container due to the thickness of the pulp and lack of natural convection. There is obvious signs of alcohol now as the pulp is separating from the liquid and appears thinner in the area of activity.

In retrospect I should have blended the yeast properly throughout as my attempts to gently stir through a narrow neck are less than impressive. I probably should have diluted it a bit more also but we will see.

More pics as stuff happens.

 

[RdeVjun]

Fantastic post Bongchitis and a very interesting thread!

The stevia sweetener is quite interesting, it might solve a few residual sugar problems with bottling, is it feasible? How do you go about that, boiled fresh leaves perhaps?

Now this might be a little OT, however is it just me or does that picture of the juice container plus an airlock ring a few bells for anyone regarding fermenters for non- beer brewing trials? I'm thinking of doing a few ciders for spousie and was planning along the lines of bottled supermarket apple and apple & pear juices, I have a pack of 4766, but I also wanted to try a few other ale and mead strains (yes, with Brewer Pete's excellent work in mind) as well.
It looks to me like the bottle that the juice comes in does make an excellent small- scale test batch fermenter- I can do a few strain and +/- LDME trials just straight in the plastic bottle and don't need to fart around tying up larger fermenters with small batches in them. I'd just open the bottle, pour off a little to allow some headspace, recap and shake for oxygenation, open it back up, pitch some yeast & nutrient, clingfilm it and into the fridge for fermentation. After that's done, either pour it off gently and bottle, or maybe syphon to minimise oxidising it. Blending becomes possible too.
So, while the bottle it comes in makes a very convenient fermenter, a bottom- emptying tap would top it off but I'm really not bothered either way, while fitting a heap in the fridge at once will speed this up significantly. I was also reluctant to interrupt my usual ale production and I've been loathe to do full- sized batches with supermarket juice until I can find a recipe which takes SWMBO's fancy, so this looks to me like it hits the nail on the head! Just brilliant, thank you very, very much! :icon_cheers:

Edit: Clarity...

 

[praxis178]

Hi all,

Quick update time. Yep I finally did something!

I couldn't get the Epernay yeast so I got Endoferm QA23 fruity white wine yeast instead.

I used 2L of mango pulp, 150ml of water boiled up with 1/2 tsp nutrient added and sprinkled the yeast on top. Pitched at 24 deg and fermenting at 17deg. Looks great except for the activity seems to be in the upper half of the container due to the thickness of the pulp and lack of natural convection. There is obvious signs of alcohol now as the pulp is separating from the liquid and appears thinner in the area of activity.

In retrospect I should have blended the yeast properly throughout as my attempts to gently stir through a narrow neck are less than impressive. I probably should have diluted it a bit more also but we will see.

More pics as stuff happens.

View attachment 35983

Don't worry too much, I can almost guarantee that the yeast is right through the whole batch!

Oh yeah, the floating pulp is called "the cap" and if it were red grapes I'd suggest that you mix once or twice a day to get better colour, but as you're making a white just leave it. I did a mango brew this year too, mostly bowens plus a couple of commons for that turpy tang. Long since racked and bottled, now it's the hard part waiting for it to pick up some age..... Hoping it will pick up that very dry sherry rancio character that I got last time. :icon_drool2:

 

[Bongchitis]

Fantastic post Bongchitis and a very interesting thread!

The stevia sweetener is quite interesting, it might solve a few residual sugar problems with bottling, is it feasible? How do you go about that, boiled fresh leaves perhaps?..........

Cheers mate. I was eating a mango whilst bored one day and thought I would check it out.

The Stevia sweetening I have already done with some cider and worked beyond my expectations, really nice drop. I didn't use leaves but an extract that has high sweetness and no bitterness or funny aftertaste at standard usage levels. You can tell it is slightly different to sugar but not artificial at all. There is a sweetening with stevia thread in the 'Recipes and Ingredients' sub forum with more info.

... and yes that is a 2.4L juice bottle that I had left over from my cider and it seemed the natural thing to do to go and stick an airlock in the lid. You know that you are a brewer when you analyse everything with respect to its usefulness in the brewery.... My missus is no good in the brewery, not sure what that means :lol: The bottles on the other hand are great, as you say, for trial and comparison brews without too much expense.

Edit: speelink

 

[Bongchitis]

Don't worry too much, I can almost guarantee that the yeast is right through the whole batch!

Oh yeah, the floating pulp is called "the cap" and if it were red grapes I'd suggest that you mix once or twice a day to get better colour, but as you're making a white just leave it. I did a mango brew this year too, mostly bowens plus a couple of commons for that turpy tang. Long since racked and bottled, now it's the hard part waiting for it to pick up some age..... Hoping it will pick up that very dry sherry rancio character that I got last time. :icon_drool2:

Cool, I'm glad someone else here has done it.... so many Q's.


How long are you ageing for? What does it taste like? etc etc

Such a small batch and long ageing means evolving the recipe and method will be slow so any pointers would be fantastic. I don't even know what to aim for as I have never had a beverage that I feel would resemble it. Turpy is turpenes right? :icon_drool2: this yeast is supposed to yield some turpene characters so I'm hoping. I was hoping it wasn't a typo for your sake and you meant turpsy :icon_vomit: .

Cheers for the reply. I'de like to hear how yours is going sometime.

 

[praxis178]

Cool, I'm glad someone else here has done it.... so many Q's.


How long are you ageing for? What does it taste like? etc etc

Such a small batch and long ageing means evolving the recipe and method will be slow so any pointers would be fantastic. I don't even know what to aim for as I have never had a beverage that I feel would resemble it. Turpy is turpenes right? :icon_drool2: this yeast is supposed to yield some turpene characters so I'm hoping. I was hoping it wasn't a typo for your sake and you meant turpsy :icon_vomit: .

Cheers for the reply. I'de like to hear how yours is going sometime.

Last one I aged about 3 months, but it might(must?) have gotten some air contact as the rancio character was quite pronounced, but I wasn't expecting it this soon is all. Might also just be how mangos age, this year is my second batch..... So we'll see what happens!

Yes I meant turpenes, the common mango is quite high in them so a GP wine yeast works well.

As for taste think wine, with a mango/resin hit and a lingering finish. Hard to describe as wine lingo just doesn't fit!

 

[RdeVjun]

This is probably a little bit OT for this thread, but as promised, I started some test batches of cider, just straight in the plastic bottle.

There's two pilot batches comprised of two replicates:
2.5L Supermarket Apple Juice, Wyeast 4766, 2g Yeast Nutrient
2.5L Supermarket Apple Juice, 15g/L DME (pasteurised in some juice, cooled and returned to the bottle), Wyeast 4766, 2g Yeast Nutrient

There's also a batch of Landlord in the big fermenter beside them, keeping a close eye on the young 'uns!
This is such an easy way to trial recipes, I'm likely to keep doing these until SWMBO approves of a recipe and then scale up, while the suggestion of mango and other fruit juices have got her interested even more. This works a treat so far, so many thanks Bongchitis! :beer:

 

[BrenMcgee]

I have a quick question in regards to the above post. In the picture it appears you have used cling wrap as the "lid" for your juice bottles. How does this work, and what is the correct way to do it?

I have 2 supermarket juices fermenting in the cupboard at the moment using OZtops. Can't wait to see how it goes.

 

[RdeVjun]

Hey Bren, clingfilm is hygenic + CO2 (and some water vapor) pressure will find a way out of the minutest gap = no need for an airlock! B)

I've not used an airlock for ages, on my fermenters, these ciders, even starters in Erlenmeyer flasks or Schott bottles- it does away with a world of PITAs and no need to worry about backwash when moving a fermenter or taking a hydrometer sample. Easily replaced, convenient roll, lower clearance in fridges, etc., need I say more? For me, it does make life one hell of a lot easier...

Lots of folks use the seal from the lid of their fermenters to hold the film in place, that's fine but I use mostly pipe cleaners and occasionally rubber bands on the smaller openings. Just lay a fresh sheet over whatever opening it is and secure it in place, job's done!

I shudder at the thought of LHBS proprietors rubbing their hand together with glee when a brewer strides into their shop demanding top- shelf airlocks... :angry:

There was a thread about this here just recently, should be able to google up a few more if you're keen.

 

[BrenMcgee]

Ah sweet, thanks mate!! That makes a lot of sense actually. I'll do a search through the forum and find some info.