Tomato beer

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Sean

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We have a ton of tomatoes in the garden. Anyone done a tomato beer? I have mixed tom juice with beer, but never seen a tomato beer.

Would the acid from the tomatoes be too high for the yeast? They do not have a lot of starch, but do have a good bit of sugar when ripe. I do not think they produce pectin when cooked.

just off the cuff, I was thinking:

8# 2-row
1/2 # roasted
1/2 # 40L
5 # whole ripe tomatoes roasted in the oven at 250 for an hour or so, then into the fermenter.

1 oz chinook for bittering
3/4 oz Pearle? or ?? flavor
1/4 oz ?? dry.

Maybe some basil, or lemon zest?

thoughts?
 
You would definitely want to look at PH when doing this. Mama Mia Pizza Beer comes to mind. It's the only beer that I outright refuse to drink. :(
 
I gotta say.. I love tomatos and basil for that matter, but I dislike "red" beers (adding v8/clamato to beer).

I think if you went light on the tomato and basil, it might be an interesting beer to drink. Is it any more acidic then adding oranges to a brew? I say give it a shot.. im curious now!
 
Yeast is good down to about a pH of 2. I am sure you'll be fine, although I have no idea how acidic tomato juice is.

I have had a clamato beer that was pretty good, if you like clamato. I am guessing it will end up tasting like a bloody mary.
 
Hmm. maybe fresh horseradish in the secondary, and a bit of tamarind to give it a bit of bloody Mari flavor. My wife's name is Mari.
 
Tomatoes run 2-3% sugar. You might try drying them first to concentrate the flavor.

bottle-bg-green.jpg
 
Tomato beer just sounds, well, not good. Of course, I make tomato wine, so what do I know?

4 pounds of ripe tomatoes in a gallon of wine gives a slight tomato nose, and not a ton of tomato flavor. I assume you'd need more in beer, just to be noticed over the hops and malts. It sounds gross, but if you do this, make sure you let us know how it turns out!
 
It didn't sound good to me at first, but then I started thinking.

Tomato wheat. An American wheat beer with a slight hint of sweet tomato might work. I'll probably never brew something like that though.
 
Frambozen, a scoop of raspberries in the secondary. Apricot ale, some dried apricots in the secondary. Why not some sun dried tomatoes in the secondary? (Not the ones soaked in olive oil, the dry ones.) They called the Wright brothers carzy once too.
 
It didn't sound good to me at first, but then I started thinking.

Tomato wheat. An American wheat beer with a slight hint of sweet tomato might work. I'll probably never brew something like that though.

I like the idea of roasted, or melenoidin, or maybe wheat. I have never used wheat. How much would you think.

with only 5 pounds for maybe a 4 gal batch. I do not think the Tom will have a huge impact. Think I'll give it a go. I'll give feedback.
 
I''d go for a 60/40 or 50/50 barley to wheat split, but that's just me. You can go higher if you want. Just remember to use rice hulls if you go heavy on the wheat.

Hmm, maybe some toasted grains thrown is as well reminiscent of a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.
 
A year later and I finally got around to this. I did an extract yesterday because I didn't want to go through the mash and longer boil for a beer that may turn out to be crap. If I like it, I'll do it all grain next time. This is what I did:

4 gallon batch
3.3 # light extract
1.65# Wheat extract
0.5 # Sundried tomatoes
0.5 # 120L Chrystal
5+ # fresh tomatoes
2 oz Fuggles 1oz at 30min, 1/2 at 15, 1/2 at flam out.
1 Fresh Bay leaf
Windsor Dry yeast

Steeped the grains then removed, added Sundried tomatoes.

Added extract at the boil, hops as indicated. Only boiled for 30 min. Irish moss at 15 min. Bay leaf at flame out.

I dipped the tomatoes in boiling water for 60 seconds to kill any funk that might be on the outside, then chopped them up and added them straight to the primary.

I don't know how much sugar the tomatoes added, I am assuming not much. The OG was 1.044 Before adding the fresh tomatoes which probably lowered it a bit. So it will be a mild light amber beer. I think I'll just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks then bottle.
 
I think the better solution is to brew up a nice light summer ale. There are a ton of great lawn mower beer recipes here.

I'm sure you can find a ton of tomatoe juice recipes on the internet. You can make up a spicy batch or a mild batch or both. The sky's the limit. I'd juice up your extra tomatoes and either freeze it or seal them up in bottles. Not sure how long the bottles will last with out canning but I'm sure a few weeks.

I'd then find the right blend of Juice to beer. If something goes completely wrong you got a good summer ale and some good juice. If your tomatoe beer goes wrong -Robert Denerio on- "You got nothing!" -Robert Denerio off-. Just seems like to big of gamble to me. I hate to waste good ingrediants mainly the beer!
 
New Holland Brewery did an experimental beer (Heirloom Beer) for the Harvest festival. Never to be released and only available at their Pub in Holland MI. for a short time. ABSOLUTLY INCREDIBLE!!
 
Why is everybody against this. Why not experiment and hopefully he will have a nice beer. If not he will learn not to use tomatoes again, if he makes a good beer then others might try it.
When did they start using hops in beer? I bet it was thought to be weird at the time.
 
I bottled Sept. 19. Not a lot of volume and the dried tomatoes were a bit of a pain to siphon around. I would have liked to have used just fresh tomatoes, but the garden did not produce as well this year, and they were pricy even at the farmers' market.

It is very tomatoey. I strained the tomatoes after I siphoned off the clear liquid and it makes a very tasty poaching liquid for chicken, and a great way to thin tomato sauce. I also used it to make a butter sauce for salmon crusted with horseradish, and mixed half and half with water made great rice. I think it would be phenomenal for steaming clams or mussels, or in Paella.

So if it sucks as beer, I am ok with it because it makes a great cooking condiment.
 
I bottled Sept. 19. Not a lot of volume and the dried tomatoes were a bit of a pain to siphon around. I would have liked to have used just fresh tomatoes, but the garden did not produce as well this year, and they were pricy even at the farmers' market.

It is very tomatoey. I strained the tomatoes after I siphoned off the clear liquid and it makes a very tasty poaching liquid for chicken, and a great way to thin tomato sauce. I also used it to make a butter sauce for salmon crusted with horseradish, and mixed half and half with water made great rice. I think it would be phenomenal for steaming clams or mussels, or in Paella.

So if it sucks as beer, I am ok with it because it makes a great cooking condiment.

I do commend you for trying something new. The thought had crossed my mind, as I grow tomatos as well. My bet is the beer will be horrible, and the thought of poaching something in a yeasty beerlogged tomato is repulsive to me. However if I think about it hard, it should not cause any digestive upset (IE beer farts) as the yeast will be killed upon cooking and beer in sauces is very common - so you are actually just making a tomato sauce with some beer in it which would probably be quite good. At least you didn't waste it - kudos for doing what most wouldn't.
 
I have tasted it after it aged a while and it is not great, but pretty good. It is excellent for cooking. Fantastic in tomato sauces and chili, and like I said, very nice for flavorful poaching. I will make it again with these changes.

1. No sundried tomatoes, The raisenated tomato flavor is too strong. Instead I would dry fresh tomatoes in the oven overnight.

2. Skip the wheat and just do barley. I'll probably do it all grain next time, 2-row and 120L.

3. Use a more assertive hop, maybe a citrusy hop. Maybe even a pinch of lemon zest in the secondary.
 
My friend asked me the other day about making a tomato a beer this summer. I googled, and found this thread. Very interesting. I think I'm going to try it. I do extract brews though. Not sure if I should do a light american ale or maybe a wheat.
 
If we get another bumper crop, I'll do it again this year. Without the sundried tomatoes.
 
Is the general consensus that it would be a bad idea to add the tomatoes to the mash because of the acidity?

I think this is a killer idea. I'm definitely going to try something similar out.

Question for the OP: why did you suggest excluding the wheat and just doing barley?
 
I didn't like it. I think just straight barley is a cleaner flavor. We have a lot of tomatoes in this year so if the bugs, deer, rabbits, and funk are cooperative...

The acidity would be fine for the mash. I don't think you would get much tomato flavor to the finished product. I think I'll add them after the initial fermentation this time. Just drop them in boiling water again to kill anything on the outside.
 
I did a second batch that was a bit bland. Good but light. I dried them in the oven a bit, but they were not very flavorful to start. I am thinking of planting some romas this year, which produce easily, so I may give it another go.

Post if you give it a go, I'd be interested to hear how it comes out.
 
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