Innes
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I wanted to make a fruit beer with figs, so I decided to do a 6 litre test batch to see how it would go.
The recipe was:
OG 1.046
FG 1.012
IBU 16.2
1.0Kg Pale Malt - Marris Otter
60g Munich II
2g Pacific Gem
350g Fig Puree (secondary 12 days)
SafAle S-04
Mashed at 65 degrees.
I bought a packet of dried figs from the supermarket and chopped them up in the food processor, then soaked them in vodka for a week in the fridge. When I drained the vodka from the figs, the figs had rehydrated and I had a dark golden fig flavoured vodka. Fermentation took 4 days at 18 degrees to finish, so I transferred to secondary and added the figs. I didn't want to added the vodka because I thought that the alcohol in the vodka would cause the balance to be wrong, so I put the fig vodka into a saucepan and burnt off the alcohol on the stove. I then added the fig reduction onto the secondary fermenter as well. The sugar in the figs kick started fermentation again and I let it go for 12 days at 18 degrees, reducing the temperature to 7 degrees for the last 2 days. I filtered the beer using a 5 micron filter and bottled with dextrose.
After opening the first one last night, I have to say that I don't really get the fig flavour I was expecting, a full fig flavoured ale. The base beer tasted good from the fermenter before adding the figs. The beer is a nice honey golden colour, nicely carbonated and is still quite drinkable with the slightest hint of figs in the background.
I was thinking that I might get better results with fresh figs. I was reading that the flavour of figs can be easily masked by stronger flavours in cooking, so maybe I just need to add more figs to impart more flavour.
Has anyone else experimented with adding figs or similar fruits to beer?
The recipe was:
OG 1.046
FG 1.012
IBU 16.2
1.0Kg Pale Malt - Marris Otter
60g Munich II
2g Pacific Gem
350g Fig Puree (secondary 12 days)
SafAle S-04
Mashed at 65 degrees.
I bought a packet of dried figs from the supermarket and chopped them up in the food processor, then soaked them in vodka for a week in the fridge. When I drained the vodka from the figs, the figs had rehydrated and I had a dark golden fig flavoured vodka. Fermentation took 4 days at 18 degrees to finish, so I transferred to secondary and added the figs. I didn't want to added the vodka because I thought that the alcohol in the vodka would cause the balance to be wrong, so I put the fig vodka into a saucepan and burnt off the alcohol on the stove. I then added the fig reduction onto the secondary fermenter as well. The sugar in the figs kick started fermentation again and I let it go for 12 days at 18 degrees, reducing the temperature to 7 degrees for the last 2 days. I filtered the beer using a 5 micron filter and bottled with dextrose.
After opening the first one last night, I have to say that I don't really get the fig flavour I was expecting, a full fig flavoured ale. The base beer tasted good from the fermenter before adding the figs. The beer is a nice honey golden colour, nicely carbonated and is still quite drinkable with the slightest hint of figs in the background.
I was thinking that I might get better results with fresh figs. I was reading that the flavour of figs can be easily masked by stronger flavours in cooking, so maybe I just need to add more figs to impart more flavour.
Has anyone else experimented with adding figs or similar fruits to beer?
