Experimental Brews -- We've all got at least one

So, inspired by the "secret brew" discussion yesterday, and acknowledging that it is perhaps immoral to the brewers community at large to keep "secrets" I wanted to open a post up where any one can share that funky little experiment they have been working on.

For my part, here are the ideas that I have been working on:

--Irish Ale with 60L and Amber LME, flavored with Star Anise and Juniper, and perhaps some hemlock tree stems (used as a tea substitute in frontier Appalachia)
--Mango Habanero Pilsner, I want it to stay light and crisp, to let the sweet and spicy pull through
--Toasted Almond Nut Brown Ale (I havent begun this one, still working on logistics)
--Pear Cider. I have a Graf Cider in the primary now, but my friend wants me to attempt it with pear juice instead, it should be an interesting concept.

anyway, there you have it. Who else has some out of the box ideas they are working on?

I'm going to attempt a cherry wine and a grape wine. I brewed a blueberry chocolate stout that was amazing and I will definitely brew again although there will be a few variations on what I did last time. One of my next brews will be a mint chocolate stout and I've done a chili pale ale. Other than that I've just been brewing "normal" beers.

Had some stuff left so I did.

2-3lbs Light LME
1lb Sugar, part brown sugar

Boiled 60 min
Columbus Pellet Hops 60min
Irish Moss 15min
Columbus Pellet Hops 10min

Been in the primary fermentation vessel for almost 3 weeks and I'm loving the taste so far

Don't know if this qualifies, but where I grew up - there was a natural spring just down the road. I remember drinking the water all the time growing up.

So...

Brewed a 1G pale ale with Falconer Hops using 1.25G of the spring water. Bottled just last week, waiting to taste.

The mango habanero pils and the mint chocolate stout definitely caught my attention. I like the idea of making a gruit beer, since I've never tasted one.

Made a braggot w/ leftovers and tried to use just the funk of Brett C to balance the sweetness instead of hops.... it works

pumpkin seed porter. good porter recipe with actual pumpkin seeds put in the secondary.

my secret is i do not recommend using pumpkin seeds the way i did. adds a horrible prolonged seedy bitter aftertaste

pwndabear said:

pumpkin seed porter. good porter recipe with actual pumpkin seeds put in the secondary.

my secret is i do not recommend using pumpkin seeds the way i did. adds a horrible prolonged seedy bitter aftertaste

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I would suggest dry roasting pumpkin seeds in an oven @ 325 for about 12-15 mins, or in a dry sautee pan then adding them to the initial grain bag.

what other hop alternatives has anyone come up with?

WestEggBrew said:

I would suggest dry roasting pumpkin seeds in an oven @ 325 for about 12-15 mins, or in a dry sautee pan then adding them to the initial grain bag.

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well, i used them at two times of the brew: first during the boil and then i also used them in the secondary. i have a feeling it was the seeds in the secondary that sent the taste to hell

I made a mini (1040) version of the stone sublimely self righteous with 6.25% C80, 6.25% carafa III, 12.5% flaked barley and 75% pale 2 row. Bottled yesterday, smells great.

I am calling it experimental b/c all my friends want high alcohol beers, so I am going make them taste it before I tell them the acoholo percentage

I've done a bunch.

Used a bunch of peppers, did a panca/serrano american wheat, made an experimental xocolatl inspired beer, used coca tea and yerba mate (failed due to the diacetyl demon, will redo soon)... it's fun stuff.

What about grapefruit peel or lemon peel as hops substitutes? Have beenthinking about trying that.

I brew larger batches, up to 20 gal, so most of my experiments involve splitting batches onto different yeast or finishing/fermenting them differently.

I made a robust porter and put it on both Notty and WY1728. Then I further split the batch by keeping 5 gal of each as straight porter and then turning the other 10 gallons into split Bourbon-vanilla-oak porter and a blueberry porter.

Next up is splitting a standard bitter and an ESB or IPA onto 4 different yeast strains to compare.

chaydaw said:

What about grapefruit peel or lemon peel as hops substitutes? Have beenthinking about trying that.

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Soon I'll be making a... hoppy american wheat I guess... with citrusy hops and lots and lots of citrus zest.

I had a bunch of pomegranates in my back yard. I have never made a wine before; only mead. So I just pretty much got a bunch of them and pressed them through my hop bag and collected two gallons of juice, added Nottingham to it and It went crazy. It is crystal clear now a nice pink color, well see how it comes out.

It tasted very good when I transferred to secondary. Well anyways I want to blend that with some type of beer. I haven’t thought of what style would go good with pomegranate, maybe a porter or an low alpha IPA.

GodsStepBrother said:

I had a bunch of pomegranates in my back yard. I have never made a wine before; only mead. So I just pretty much got a bunch of them and pressed them through my hop bag and collected two gallons of juice, added Nottingham to it and It went crazy. It is crystal clear now a nice pink color, well see how it comes out.

It tasted very good when I transferred to secondary. Well anyways I want to blend that with some type of beer. I haven’t thought of what style would go good with pomegranate, maybe a porter or an low alpha IPA.

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I would love to hear how that turns out. I have been planning a Rye IPA with pomegranate extract. Sounds similar.

I've been pondering a beer with jasmine and matcha. With the matcha I'm curious to see if it will turn out green with light malts.

I tried to make a cucumber wheat beer. I was inspired by the local organic foods store where they sell water infused with cucumber which is very refreshing.

I used a basic extract kit and just added about 7 lbs of sanitized cucumbers to the primary. However, it ended up tasting more like pickles than anything else :cross:

I might try this again in the future once I have some more experience, this was only my second batch...

Did you ad the cucumbers to the boil? Might have better luck in secondary with 'em.

PanzerBanana said:

I've been pondering a beer with jasmine and matcha. With the matcha I'm curious to see if it will turn out green with light malts.

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I've invented the phrase "hot lager" for lagers made at ale temperatures. Feel free to use it just give me credit!

The term "hot Lager" is a misnomer. lagering beers at Ale temps is how we come to have the delicious California Common Ale, or Steam Ale, which is typically fermented with Lager yeast. I hate to say it, but your 'hot lagering' has really been making Steam Ales. I bet they are tasty though. Cheers.

HillCityBrewer said:

I tried to make a cucumber wheat beer. I was inspired by the local organic foods store where they sell water infused with cucumber which is very refreshing.

I used a basic extract kit and just added about 7 lbs of sanitized cucumbers to the primary. However, it ended up tasting more like pickles than anything else :cross:

I might try this again in the future once I have some more experience, this was only my second batch...

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thats the best part about this hobby, once you have your feet under you the possibilities are endless. I agree with the previous post, you will want to add to the secondary in the future. Adding cucumber in the boil most likely drew out the natural pectin, removing the refreshing quality, and leaving the fibrous, clawing pickle flavor left.

I have a belgian 2x i have been modifying over 2 years(started using octoberfest b4 moving to the 2x). This will be the first time i do ag and my own recipe. took the dubbel recipe from classic styles tweeked it a bit. going to use crystal hops throughout. then i add 1gal of red currants(crushed) to the primary. Add the juice from the currants to the secondary.

It's "hot lager" because it sounds funny. Anchor some how managed to swipe "steam beer" when they revived the practice. No one else can legally use "steam beer" to refer to a beer using the same technique. Which is the reason I don't buy their beer, since they don't want to share the name of the style they didn't create.

So no, I have not been making "steam beer". I'm trying to kick start a phrase the rest of us can use.

I came up with an Orange Creamsicle beer which I took a pretty standard hefeweizen recipe where I added vanilla bean and swapped out the yeast for White Labs Cream Ale Blend. Friends that have tried it say they get some grapefruit taste out of it which isn't bad, just not what I intended. Still researching on ironing that one out.

I don't make any fruity stuff but I did make a beer that used an English Imp Stout grain bill, hopped it (and dry hopped it) like an American IPA and put Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast on it. It was delicious.