Flavoured beer!!

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Chods1

Chuggin Charlie.
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Good morning all you brewers. I tried a flavoured beer for the first time the other day [sour beer from the southwest of WA] and thought it might be an idea to try one of my own. If say I wanted to brew a lime flavour would I add a juice/peel/or what to the wort before fermentation or just before bottling and in what quantities/ I'm a kits and bits bloke as I am not that confident or patient to go all grain.:bowdown:
 
From experience sour beers are 'next level' brews. Once you have conquered K & K and blitzed All Grain then move onto Sours.

If you just want to flavour your beers with stuff that you have at hand, try some american websites. This site tends to remain true to Reinheitsgebot.
 
From experience sour beers are 'next level' brews. Once you have conquered K & K and blitzed All Grain then move onto Sours.

If you just want to flavour your beers with stuff that you have at hand, try some american websites. This site tends to remain true to Reinheitsgebot.
OK thanks for that.YAPN. JUst a thought about a different brew. But I will check out the US sites.
 
Hi Chods,

Sour beer is a bit of a dark art, and something that people usually only venture into after many years of brewing.

Flavouring beer however isn't necessarily that difficult, and lots of people do it (particularly with wheat beers and dark beers).

The simplest place to start is adding your flavour directly to the glass (like lime in Corona). You can add pretty much whatever you like. Lemon/lime in a lager, mango puree to a wheat beer etc. You can also add flavours/fruit during the fermentation period, however this often leaves people disappointed, as the sugars a fermented out, and a lot of the flavour is lost during fermentation. If you move into all grain brewing, you can also add flavour to the mash and boil.

I'd recommend adding your flavour in the glass as a start, and then experiment with different fruits/flavours in the fermenter. Lime during the ferment/adding it to bottles might be a challenge, I reckon just add it into the glass and adjust to taste.

JD
 
Good morning all you brewers. I tried a flavoured beer for the first time the other day [sour beer from the southwest of WA] and thought it might be an idea to try one of my own. If say I wanted to brew a lime flavour would I add a juice/peel/or what to the wort before fermentation or just before bottling and in what quantities/ I'm a kits and bits bloke as I am not that confident or patient to go all grain.:bowdown:

Hi there, don't let all the die-hards put you off. I've made some sensational flavoured beers using K+K and whatever's at hand, eg fruits, beetroot (both red and golden), chilli and lemon (not all at once!).
More relevant was a Corona with lemon (why wait until you open the bottle to put the lemon in). All used an industrial filter sock to hold the adjuncts, tied up and left to float around in the ferment.
The only thing to watch is the unwanted micro that might be added to the ferment: citrus is well suited here, as you can quickly dunk the fruit in hot water to 'sterilise' it. Also, things like chilli and citrus will kill some of the yeast, so be prepared to add more yeast to keep the ferment going.
Good luck: I'm off to do a passion fruit beer ...
 
With respect to the commenters before me, I disagree.

Adding fruit 'flavour' is intuitive and easy. Just add fruit. NEVER use the pith from citrus, though. It will over bitter a bitter!

One way to use fruit is to give your fermenting brew at least a week to build up enough yeastie alcohol toughness to be ready to devour the sugars from any additive and pounce on any foreign yeast or bugs that might threaten to take over the brew.

Starsan and usual cleanliness procedures obviously withstanding, chop and freeze the fruit in advance, as freezing breaks down cell walls and enables superior penetration. I prefer to rack onto (the frozen) fruit and clean out that first FV's trub.

Secondary ferment times will differ depending on the fruits' fermentable sugar, et al. Flavour continues to deepen beyond fermentation, though. I've left beer steeping on fruit for months to great effect. Strain the likes of mango and peach, which disintegrate into floaties over time. A cold crash will negate that, though.

The sour note is easily achieved with an (initially expensive) addition of GB110 (or another lactobacillus strain). It's a far slower ferment using the likes of that, but it will get there. AND, get there sour!

You can search plenty of cheaper ways to achieve sourness right here, thanks to the great brewers who have come before us.

WAAAAYYY before I went AG, I had a relatively tidy K+K recipe for a Guava Gose. Even the base Gose is worth sharing, if you would like to have it. Sour German wheat, Sea salt, Coriander seed and Guava (or whichever fruit you would like).

Either way, 'flavour' is king! :)
 
Read this post about the gose I brewed.

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/gose-salt.97018/

You could use 50% Pilsner LME and 50% Wheat LME (NO HOPS at this point), then use lactobacillus probiotic from the chemist about 5 tables for 20 litres and ferment for 3 - 5 days (depend on ambient temp) taste daily until you are happy with the sour.

Then boil the wort to kill the lactobacillus for 20 - 60 minutes ADD HOPS. Then pitch K-97 (Gives a canned fruit/pear aroma) or US-05 and ferment per usual.

Depending on where you life their are many fun and cheap things that you can add to your beer to give you some interesting flavours.

Two of my favourites are:

Dried Hibiscus flowers give you a beautiful red beer with a berry sourness.
Dried lime gives you a lovely sherbet notes

I get them at my local arabic grocer.
 
Charlie - Have you seen Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast's Guide to Brewing Craft Beer at Home by Sam Calagione. It is the perfect book for someone like you moving into extreme beer. Your local library may have a copy if not message me.

Also look for a series of videos he made they are great inspiration or just youtube him.
 
Charlie - Have you seen Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast's Guide to Brewing Craft Beer at Home by Sam Calagione. It is the perfect book for someone like you moving into extreme beer. Your local library may have a copy if not message me.

Also look for a series of videos he made they are great inspiration or just youtube him.
Thanks for that I'll check with the library when they open later in the week. I'll also chase him up on youtube.
 
Hey, Chods.

Apologies for taking so long to respond, I didn't receive a notice of your reply. For some reason, I've been receiving notices for 10 year old threads!

Anywho, my old K+K gose recipe was for a double batch of 46L in a 60L fermenter. Just halve for a single batch.

2 x Morgans Golden Sheaf Wheat cans
2kg of Dextrose
1kg of cracked Carapils/carafoam
30g of Perle hops
30g of Sea salt chunks
40g Coriander Seeds

White Labs Belgian Sour mix - WLP655, with starter*

Steep the grain in a saucepan with 2 liters of hot water, strain grain and sparge with another 1L of boiling water. Bring to the boil for ten minutes and add the sea salt to dissolve. Lightly crack the Coriander seeds and add to the wort, preferably in a hop cage/sock.

*I would prefer GB110 now, but as mentioned earlier there are cheaper options for getting the sour. Maybe use the Lactobacillus IBS support capsules to sour the wort, then ferment with the kit yeast or WB06/M20?

If desired, after ferment is nearly done, rack onto a kg of frozen whichever fruit you would like, or keep as a normal gose.
 
Hey, Chods.

Apologies for taking so long to respond, I didn't receive a notice of your reply. For some reason, I've been receiving notices for 10 year old threads!

Anywho, my old K+K gose recipe was for a double batch of 46L in a 60L fermenter. Just halve for a single batch.

2 x Morgans Golden Sheaf Wheat cans
2kg of Dextrose
1kg of cracked Carapils/carafoam
30g of Perle hops
30g of Sea salt chunks
40g Coriander Seeds

White Labs Belgian Sour mix - WLP655, with starter*

Steep the grain in a saucepan with 2 liters of hot water, strain grain and sparge with another 1L of boiling water. Bring to the boil for ten minutes and add the sea salt to dissolve. Lightly crack the Coriander seeds and add to the wort, preferably in a hop cage/sock.

*I would prefer GB110 now, but as mentioned earlier there are cheaper options for getting the sour. Maybe use the Lactobacillus IBS support capsules to sour the wort, then ferment with the kit yeast or WB06/M20?

If desired, after ferment is nearly done, rack onto a kg of frozen whichever fruit you would like, or keep as a normal gose.
Excellent. I reckon I can go with that one. Thanks heaps.
 
No worries, at all. Let us know how you go!

In addition to Thumbsuckers' book recommendation, see if you can find 'Radical Brewing' by Randy Mosher. It has a smallish fruit section, but it covers all types of beers from around the world, both traditional and 'out there'.

The recipes are both AG and extract based. It's a good read.
 
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