Licorice

[Pandreas]

I put down a quick Toucan stout last night. I'm a naturopath so have a large range of herbal medicines and extracts at my disposal, including a licorice extract.

I noticed that many stout recipes use licorice extract, powdered licorice or Irish moss..... I thought I'd put a bit of my medicinal licorice extract into my brew. I used about 15ml at a guess, didn't measure it, just splashed it in.

My question is.... will my herbal licorice extract have the same effect as HBS licorice extracts?? The licorice extract used by naturopaths is held in an alcohol solution of between 40-60% and is manufactured to retain as closely as possible the active chemicals of the fresh plants.

Also, why do people use licorice extracts?? is it just for flavour or does licorice have another effect on the brew? I remember reading somewhere that licorice can and should be added to nearly every brew....why would this claim be made?

Also, what is the difference between the different forms of licorice used in home brewing? just curious...

Cheers all!

 

[bakkerman]

I have used shredded and dried licorice root in brews with good result, but to add it to nearly every brew???

I have only heard of it used as a flavouring, no other reason.

For stout and porter you can also add some treacle, and that give's a licorice taste.

 

[Boozy the clown]

I've heard somewhere along the line it helps with head retention.

I dunno the diff between your stuf and hbs stuff. I use hbs stuff for taste only.

 

[frogman]

I used to just drop 1 large black jelly bean in each tallie when bottling carbs and flavors it nicely.
Eat the white slug left in the bottle to upset your mates.

FROGMAN.

 

[Pandreas]

Frogman... I've heard about using black jelly beans for this purpose and would like to try it when I bottle my toucan....

I have a couple of questions about using them though....
How strong was the licorice flavour?
Did you use JUST the jelly bean for carbing? (1 bean per longneck??) ...
Also, why didn't the yeast eat the 'white slug'...isn't this pure glucose?

Cheers!

 

[xtrabyte]

Frogman... I've heard about using black jelly beans for this purpose and would like to try it when I bottle my toucan....

I have a couple of questions about using them though....
How strong was the licorice flavour?
Did you use JUST the jelly bean for carbing? (1 bean per longneck??) ...
Also, why didn't the yeast eat the 'white slug'...isn't this pure glucose?

Cheers!

Jelly beans also contain starch and gelatin, yeast cant metabolize these.