BlackCurrant Irish Red Grain/Extract Brew

I've always wanted to do a Red Ale with a hint of blackcurrant in the background...

The Irish Red Recipe I would use is:

8.5lbs of Pale Malt
5oz Crystal Malt
4oz Wheat Malt
8oz Carapils Malt
1oz Roast Barley
3oz Bullion Hops 75% Boil, 25% Finish (I substituted the original recipe which calls for 2oz Mt. Hood and 1oz Cascade (mixed together) and I will try to source Bullion as it has a blackcurrant background taste apparently)
Ale Yeast (Nottingham)

The addition I was thinking would be Ribena Concentrated BlackCurrant Beverage.

My question would be when to add the Ribena (secondary?), how much to add to a 23L batch (it is 1 part Ribena to 4 parts water as a drink), and if the ingredients in the drink will affect my batch in any way...

Ribena Ingredients:
Sugar, Water, Concentrated BlackCurrant Juice, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C), Natural grapeskin colour, Potassium Sorbate, and Sodium metabisulphite.

I guess I could try and experiment and see what happens, but maybe a trained eye can spot something here that would be an immediate flag.

Thanks for any help

Hi i'm thinking about doing a Blackcurrant Blonde using Ribena. Did you ever brew this?

How about using some special B instead of crystal. Raisiny/currant flavor.

I haven't yet. I don't think I'll use it because if the preservatives. I found a bottle of liquor that is creme de cassis. And add it to the secondary. My other option is twinings black currant tea and brew it at the end of the boil when it's cooling to avoid the tannins.

I will try your special b substitute. Thanks!

I wish bullion hops still existed.

Adam

I did a black currant beer this year. See: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/experimental-black-currant-ale-291463/

You can see I went a bit overboard with the currant addition! I took nearly a years worth of aging before it was drinkable. (It is pretty damn good now). So while I can't suggest a good starting point, I would recommend using a lighter hand. Maybe add some of your product to the secondary, let it ferment out- taste and then add some more if it is lacking. The other consideration (if you are adding juice or bc concentrate) is that currant is VERY acidic.

Looking at the ingredients in your Ribena concentrate, you can see it has both Potassium Sorbate, and Sodium metabisulphite- both of which may inhibit your fermentation. You might end up with bottles that don't carbonate (or just very slowly).

You may be on the right track with the Creme de Cassis! Let me know if you try it. Good luck!!!

So I made this beer yesterday.

My recipe was:

7.5 lbs pale malt liquid extract
8 oz Dextrin malt (steep)
5 oz Special B (steep)
4 oz Wheat malt (steep)
1 oz Roast Barley 500L (steep)
0.5 oz Cascade 8.9% at 60 min
1 oz Mt. Hood 6.1% at 5 min
1 tsp Irish moss at 10 min
1 pkg Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast
1 bottle L'Heritier-Guyot Creme de Cassis de Dijon at 0 min

Th gravity was Lower than expected but it may be from the alcohol already in the bottle of liquor.

It's bubbling away as we speak so there was nothing in that bottle that would stop the yeast. The bottle only contained black currant, sugar, water, and alcohol.

Th smell from the bucket smells amazing. The taste was good too mostly of beer with some black currant.

I will update further when I transfer to secondary and the again on bottling and maturity.

So I brewed this and at first I wasn't too impressed. It was tart even after 3 weeks in the bottle. But after being in the bottle 4 weeks this has been a pretty darn good beer. I have had lots of really good feedback. One thing though is that it didn't carbonate very well. It may be temperature, but there may have been an unlisted preservative. This beer is definitely worth brewing. I may try again with an organic juice or the Twinings black currant tea. I think if anyone is looking for a recipe like this, this one is an excellent first go.

Very cool. If I do black currant again, I may try the creme de cassis! I think the acidity can inhibit the yeasties a little and may have resulted in the low carbonation (mine took forever to carbonate as well). Additionally, a healthy amount of crystal malt may help balance out the flavor profile. I think sometimes having just the bare fruit acidity without any sweetness may confuse the palatte a tad.

Of all my beers, this one has been the best. People who have tried it are still referencing back to this one and say it was their favorite. I will definitely increase the crystal malt. Probably a light version like a Crystal 10L. Also I was able to locate Bullion Hops from Hops Direct in Washington. I am trying right now get this hop. I think I may try refining my Irish Red recipe (Pale Malt, a tiny amount of roasted barly, some special B, and some caramel 10L) and use only the hops along with the special B to acheive the flavour profile. Then I may try the Creme De Cassis Again if there is not enough black currant flavour. I will post soon with a new recipe and some results. It will be a little while though.

I recently brewed a new version of the beer.. Not only is it incredible, it only uses water, malt, hops, and yeast.

The secret is Bullion Hops I was able to obtain from Hops Direct in the USA.

I am now brewing all grain batches, but I also created the Partial Mash version for a buddy who is about to brew it this weekend.

Here is the newest Recipe titled Fire Crotch Irish red:

6 Gallon Batch
70% efficiency
1.055 OG
1.015 FG
16 L SRM
25 IBU
5.3% ABV
Boil 60 Minutes
Mash 155F 60 Minutes

12 lbs Pale Malt (2-row)
1 lb crystal/caramel 40L Malt
0.25 lb Roasted Barley 300L
1 oz Bullion Hops @ 30 min (10.5%)
1 oz Bullion Hops @ 5 min (10.5%)
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 minutes
1 Pkg Irish Ale Yeast Wyeast 1084

1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks in bottle prime with 2/3 cup dextrose.

Partial Mash Version:

6 Gallon Batch
70% efficiency
1.056 OG
1.015 FG
16 L SRM
25 IBU
5.3% ABV
Boil 60 Minutes
Mash 155F 30 Minutes 1.5 ratio

8 lbs pale/light malt extract into boil @ 60 min
1 lb Pale Malt (2-row)
1 lb crystal/caramel 40L Malt
0.25 lb Roasted Barley 300L
1 oz Bullion Hops @ 30 min (10.5%)
1 oz Bullion Hops @ 5 min (10.5%)
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 minutes
1 Pkg Irish Ale Yeast Wyeast 1084

1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks in bottle prime with 2/3 cup dextrose.



The bullion hops can be intense if not used sparingly or used too early in the boil.
Bullion gives the beer a black currant taste and smell. It saves you from buying a bottle of creme de casis and lets the beer stick to the true beer law.

This is spot on to what I was trying to accomplish. It has received rave reviews from a lot of people. I will definitely be brewing this again. It's a little too dark so I would lighten the caramel malt a little, but otherwise highly drinkable.

Cheers,

Adam