Mint Beer, Inspiration Needed.

[Tao]

Well Im living in Melbourne with a mate now and when I asked him what beer he would like to brew he said a mint beer. Now hes not after something like a choc chip porter he wants something lighter. He also likes dry beer. I dont have a fermentation fridge so temp control is out of the question. Its warm in Melb at the moment so I was thinking of fermenting something hot (27-35C). I was thinking of dry hopping with say 40g of fresh mint with a base beer that was light and fruity. Low bitterness say 22-25IBU. Maybe Saison like? Any ideas?

Im a little bit stuck and Im having a hard time imagining the flavors.

 

[Screwtop]

Well Im living in Melbourne with a mate now and when I asked him what beer he would like to brew he said a mint beer. Now hes not after something like a choc chip porter he wants something lighter. He also likes dry beer. I dont have a fermentation fridge so temp control is out of the question. Its warm in Melb at the moment so I was thinking of fermenting something hot (27-35C). I was thinking of dry hopping with say 40g of fresh mint with a base beer that was light and fruity. Low bitterness say 22-25IBU. Maybe Saison like? Any ideas?

Im a little bit stuck and Im having a hard time imagining the flavors.

Pretty sure I tasted a Rosemary and a Mint Pils while in Melbourne for the ANHC. Any others recollect sampling these beers.

Screwy

 

[Effect]

Just an idea, but I would be doing something well refreshing...

A lager most probably, with no hop aroma - maybe only bittering hops.

I would also only put the mint in the secondary - so its a fresh taste of mint - and more than 40 grams. Maybe two bunches of the fresh mint you get at woolies (this is just the quantity I am refering to - steal mint from someones garden - don't pay for it).

 

[Jase71]

Whoa, that's a great idea, mint beer ! I really should stop reading this forum, my list of 'beers to do' is getting bigger by the day.

Just on the mint, I'm going to crush a few grams, add it to a tea strainer, and pour my next wheat beer through it into the glass. Watch this space.

 

[troopa]

well jase that was 5 mins ago... whats the results?

 

[Adamt]

He could be cleaning up the refuse from his stomach?

 

[Bribie G]

Clean teeth with Colgate
Drink beer

:icon_vomit:

 

[troopa]

Just wrong adam.. :lol:

although i think that poor mans randall you have as an avatar certainly would of done it for me

maybe try that with a bag of mint LOL

 

[Jase71]

Grrr, mint plant is dead. I was eyeing off the basil growing in abundance, but thought better of it.

 

[Aaron]

Its warm in Melb at the moment so I was thinking of fermenting something hot (27-35C).

I will keep my thoughts on a mint beer to myself. However, that is a very high ferment temp. That is likely going to result in a lot of headaches. You may get away with it using a Saison yeast but I can't see that working with mint.

 

[Bribie G]

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.

 

[Darren]

Cant imagine you would drink alot of mint beer. The higher ferment temp may actually help flavour-wise h34r:

Just a thought

cheers

Darren

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Dry hop in the keg with Northern Brewer - it's very minty

The Cal Common I made was intensly minty for a couple of weeks after dry hopping in the keg

Cheers

 

[Darren]

Perle is a VERY minty hop


EDIT:
I would describe Northern Brewer as "woody" or "resinous"

 

[Tao]

Lager is out of the question, i just don't have the temp control. I was going to add it to the secondary, just like you dry hop. Perhaps i could add mint and Northern Brewer? the mash would be at about 63C (to get a nice dry beer at the end). I was thinking mostly pale ale malt, maybe a bit of wheat (10-15%). Just a really basic grain bill to highlight the yeast. Anyone actually made a mint beer?

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Why do you want to highligh the yeast?

What strain are you talking?

Cheers

 

[Cortez The Killer]

As an expiriment - pour yourself afailry neutral beer and drop a couple of northern brewer hop pellets in there and let sit a little while to infuse

Then same and see if you actually want go down the mint route

I find it a tad unpleasent in beer

SWMBO liked it though

Cheers

 

[Tao]

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

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I'm with the northern brewer/perle crowd here, minty flavoured hops - I have had several quite nice light lagers with a notable mint character to them. Interesting and quite pleasant.

If you can't/wont do a lager... then I would look at a cream ale or perhaps an American blond ale, made with pilsner malt - both of those clean and light enough that they make passable pseudo lagers - and the hop character would go as well with them as it would with a lager -

Light, dry and refreshing.

If the mint character isn't strong enough when you taste a fermenter sample,then you could try real mint as a dry hop thing, but I'd go easy and sneak up on it, it could get nasty pretty fast I reckon.

At a guess.. I dont think the mint flavours would mesh all that well with a saison... but maybe buy a dupont and crush a mint leaf in the bottom of your glass before you pour to see how the flavours work.

Thirsty

 

[scoundrel]

ive had a honey mint and ginger on a blonde kit base, finely chop about a kilo of mint and make up a tea, add 100mls honey and finely grated ginger (about a 1 1/2 inch piece.