Mint Beer, Inspiration Needed.

[mika]

Belgian Saison, Wyeast Labs, 3724 - Thats the yeast i was thinking about but im open to ideas.

You have to be a patient man if using that yeast, 9 weeks and counting <_<

 

[mckenry]

when I asked him what beer he would like to brew he said a mint beer. Im a little bit stuck and Im having a hard time imagining the flavors.

Hey Tao,
Here's a link to one I did by accident when I was doing kits & bits. I wasnt too keen on it, but your mate may like it. It was done with temp control, so if it is def out of the question (i.e. you cant use ice bottles/fan etc) then forget it.
mckenry

My mint beer

 

[boingk]

Anyone catch the Malt Shovel Rasberry Wit release? It had a subtle background mint to it, which I thought worked well with the rest of the beer. Perhaps that'd be the weay to go...

- boingk

 

[newguy]

In the UK my dad had a fantasy about putting a scoop of curry powder in a brew. Passed away before he had a chance to try it out.

A scoop is a tad too much. I used only 1/2 tsp of medium curry powder in 20l and while it wasn't in your face, it was definitely 'there'.

Heatsikher (42l finished volume, kind of a Southern English Brown base):

Grist:
4.52kg 2 row
1.73kg munich
1.73kg caramel 60
173g chocolate malt
86g brown malt

Mashed @ 68C for 60 minutes.

Hops:
21g Chinook (11.6%) 90 minutes (~13.5 IBU)

Wyeast 1318 London III pitched @ 16C, fermented @ ~18C for 16 days. [Normally this would have only fermented for about 7-10 days, so I must have been lazy in kegging it.]

Added to the keg: 4 cups coconut stewed in 4 cups water + 1/2 tsp medium curry powder. Stewed on low heat for 60 minutes (but it did actually boil), then strained to remove the coconut. Only the 'juice' was added to the keg.

Not a bad beer but not something I'll brew again. Was nice as an experiment.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Steep a measured quantity of some mint in boiled water for 10 minutes.
Pour a pint of beer you think it might suit.
With a steady hand and a medicine glass, add ten mls at a time.
That will give you an idea of how much to throw in the 2ndary.

I can imageine a heap of Mint Hopped Low Carb Blondes at Bondi next year. ..

 

[Fermented]

Maybe you could make a mint sugar syrup, dump it in secondary and rack onto it before bottling? Kill two birds with one stone.

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[Tao]

mika - Mine took three weeks to get to 1.006, so i don't mind that yeast. I'm liking the sounds of hopping for mint character and then if it's not enough adding some mint to the secondary. As a side note i remember reading somewhere that soaking mint/herbs in vodka extracts the flavor so that you can add it to a brew in small amounts in order to get a desired flavor. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[rclemmett]

Anyone catch the Malt Shovel Rasberry Wit release? It had a subtle background mint to it, which I thought worked well with the rest of the beer. Perhaps that'd be the weay to go...

- boingk

Subtle? Do you mean the mad brewers one?

 

[Effect]

I am so going to do a rasperry and mint lager....or a watermelon and mint lager...

 

[Effect]

Maybe you could make a mint sugar syrup, dump it in secondary and rack onto it before bottling? Kill two birds with one stone.

Cheers - Fermented.

I like that idea!

 

[Katherine]

I am so going to do a rasperry and mint lager....or a watermelon and mint lager...

mmmmm.... When I first read this thread I thought mint and beer no way. but I would be interested in tasting the watermelon and mint lager. Could work.

Watermelon, mint, olives, spanish onion (soaked in lime) and goats cheese go so well together! :icon_offtopic:

 

[boingk]

Subtle? Do you mean the mad brewers one?

Yeah, that was it. I think I got an old bottle of it as it was on sale and didn't look in great nick. Guessing you had one with more than just a subtle hint?

 

[rclemmett]

Yeah, that was it. I think I got an old bottle of it as it was on sale and didn't look in great nick. Guessing you had one with more than just a subtle hint?

Yeah, it was a little more than subtle. I tried it at the amatos beer festival and found it over the top, I even asked the guy at the stand if they had used cordial. But I guess those sorts of flavours would probably mellow with age.

 

[tfxm]

mmmm ... mint.

i brewed up a mint stout a couple of weeks again.
still in the fermenter, but it tasted and smelt awesome after the boil.

details:

Expected OG: 1.055 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Expected ABV: 5.5 %
Expected IBU: 31.3 IBU

Fermentables
Australian Traditional Ale Malt 86.2 %
UK Pale Chocolate Malt 5.5 %
UK Roasted Barley 4.1 %
Australian Light Munich 4.1 %

Hops
US Horizon 16.2IBU @ 60 Min
German Perle 15.1IBU @ 20 Min

Other
Handful of fresh garden picked mint at turn off.
(I do small batches (~5L) and added ~6g of mint.)

Chocolate & mint is such a classic combo ....
Even people fearful of stouts are curious when you mention it could taste like a mint slice! haha.


- Tom

 

[WSC]

Mint is growing like a weed in my garden.

Will definately be experiementing to see how the flavours work.

Also have a basil plant that is going mental too, might try that in a stout, it does have an aniseed flavour.

 

[HoppingMad]

'Radical Brewing' (Book) has a good mint stout recipe that I'm going to make this year, but even with a lighter/drier style of beer you could still take their procedure of adding the mint and adapt it a little for an interesting result.

Here's what they suggest:

28g Fresh Spearmint (0 mins)
4g 1 x Dried Peppermint lolly/lifesaver lolly

They're using Northern Brewer Hops too in this one :huh: so I guess this in combo will give you a fair bit of mint. Didn't realise this hop imparted this flavour till the guys above mentioned it as only used NB twice.

I guess for a paler beer you'd do well to lightly hop it at around 18-26 IBU and halve or lessen the Spearmint addition above and you could wind up with something nice?

I think in a lighter beer the key would be not to over spice it in order to get balance. You don't want to be drinking mouthwash.
My recipe looks like they have gone big on the mint as it would have to compete with choc grains and the like.

I thought the idea of adding a peppermint lolly to the boil was a pretty cool trick though so something to consider.

Hopper.

 

[WSC]

That is the book that got me thinking about mint...and looking at the bush taking over the garden.

I'm going to try it in a stout fermented with Saison yeast. Won't do a whole batch just split of a proportion as a test.

 

[Ross]

I made a mint Schwarz beer - To be honest, it did not work at all - smelt great, but taste left a lot to be desired, not a good combo.
Won't be experimenting with mint again for a long time to come.

Cheers ross

 

[AndrewQLD]

As with Chocolate beers I think a mint/choc version would need a fairly high mash temp to get as much dextrines in the beer as possible and sweeten it up, if there is one thing that spoils a good combo like that is when you don't have the sweetness to back up what your nose will tell you the taste should be ie. chocolate= sweet (even dark choc is sweet).
But that's just my perceptions, I don't like my choc porter to taste like straight cocoa powder :icon_vomit:

Andrew

 

[lonte]

Thought of dropping a Mentos in the bottle at packaging time? :lol: