Anyone do this? (adding liqueur as a beer flavoring)

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Screw991le

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
107
Reaction score
1
Location
Boston, MA
I made an American Style wheat a month ago. It came out very well. I was experimenting with flavorings since I think wheats hold favors well.

I added 1 teaspoon of triple sec to a bottle of brew.

Now, can I add an equal amount at racking without any ill effects over time to the brew?

Not only does it taste really good, it will increase the amount to alcohol to the brew.

Please, all thoughts and ideas welcome.
 
I am not familiar with Triple Sec but, would expect that if you don't exceed the Alcohol tolerance for the strain of yeast you use it should still be able to carbonate in the bottle despite the additional ingredient.

However, if TS has any sugars that are fermentable you might have some issues with overcarbonation and potential bottle bombs if not adjusted properly.
 
Triple Sec is an orange liqueur. I don't know of anyone who's flavored a batch of beer this way, but it doesn't sound like a terrible idea. You won't add too much in terms of ABV, but you'll add quite a bit of flavor. Another way to get orange flavor is to use a flavored extract or by steeping orange zest in a cup of very hot water, then adding the resulting "tea" to your beer.
 
my roommate in college used to add bacardi limon to coronas instead of a lime wedge... this kind of reminds me of that.
 
I figured adding alcohol to alcohol would not be a bad thing. As far as the yeast goes, the fermenting would be done already. I would add it at bottling.
 
Screw991le said:
I figured adding alcohol to alcohol would not be a bad thing. As far as the yeast goes, the fermenting would be done already. I would add it at bottling.

Right, but you still need the yeast to carb the bottles, right?
 
Adding 750ml of pure ethanol to a five gallon batch would raise the ABV by ~4%. The OP will be adding far less alcohol than that (about 250ml of low proof spirits).
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Adding 750ml of pure ethanol to a five gallon batch would raise the ABV by ~4%. The OP will be adding far less alcohol than that (about 250ml of low proof spirits).

Yes. But what about the sugars it will add on top of the priming sugar?

I would consider that.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
Yes. But what about the sugars it will add on top of the priming sugar?
Good point! Triple Sec is a very sweet beverage and will add additional fermentables. At the concentration he's contemplating, I'd be tempted to prime with it.
 
Ok, I added 2 tsb to a bottle and recapped it. The alcohol (sec) seems to separate from the beer just a tad. But once poured into the glass it mixes back in nicely. The flavor is awesome, sweet orange flavor. Almost like "Orange Sunset Wheat"

Experimenting is the fun part, more fun is drinking the experiments. :tank:
 
This BYO article has a little info on bottling with liqueur instead of sugar:
http://***********/feature/56.html
 
you can get non alcohol triple sec from brands such as roses that would probably have the amount of sugar per ounce on the bottle....so you could calc how much for bottling. The NA kind probably wouldn't separate either.

If you use this carbonation calc.. here

It gives you the sugar in grams anyways so it should work out perfect.
 
About 12 shots of Makers Mark in a 5.5 gallon batch of BVIP is pretty damn good



oh wait, you said liqueur.........:ban:
 
Liquidicem said:
I like Jager and I like pale ale but for some reason that just doesn't sound good to me. But, I guess you never know until you try.

I thought the same thing and one day I had some commercial Pale that wasn't cutting it. I added about half a shot glass of Jager to the pint and it was much more interesting. I wouldn't say it was much better, but much more interesting...
 
In my younger years, we used to add Bicardi O to Keystone light and called it "Keyston Mandarin Light"
 
Back
Top