Carrot Beer?

BrewSwag 728
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.
RichBrewer

RichBrewer

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
5,900
Reaction score
223
Location
Denver
I was in COSTCO the other day and I noticed a big jug of carrot juice. Well, being a home brewer, I wondered how that juice might ferment. I don't know if I'll ever make any but I've been wondering what carrot beer might be like. It should have a nice orange color to be sure! I was thinking of a very light base recipe with maybe a half gallon of carrot juice.
OK, I know I'm crazy but does anyone think this might work?
 
I'd hit tha-.... erm.. Right. Sorry.

I've never heard/seen anything of the kind. BUT I love carrot juice like crazy. I might try to squeeze in another brew this coming weekend. I'll keep ya posted. :D
 
I tried fermenting straight carrot juice once, a bottle of odwalla I think. anyway carrot tastes very different with out the sweetness, hard to describe but it makes a lot of trub so if you use it in an ale make a larger volume to account for all the sediment your going to get. the end result of my experiment was something without a lot of character but certainly not bad, it fermented like crazy I think carrot has a lot of yeast nutrients, make sure the juice you get isnt preserved with sorbate or benzoate or anything else.
 
I would probably go for a carrot cider. When you make carrot juice, it's common to juice an apple with it for sweet flavor. Makes sense that some carrot/apple juice could make a cider. I'm not sure how it would taste but it could be good.

Rich, I double dog dare you to make some into beer. :p
 
I've heard that carrot juice makes a nice wine. I've never had the um, guts, to try it, but why not?

Let me know if you want some recipes- I have an old book that has several. It calls for carrots, boiled and squeezed and strained, but I'm sure the juice would be a time saver. One of the recipes calls for 1 cup DME per gallon, and a couple of them call for 1/2 ounce "dried hops".
 
This is from a micro in Mont-Laurier, North of Montreal.
Weird, but not bad, smells and tastes like carrot, nice orange colour. But I prefer their ginger ale, they brew it under license from a micro in Switzerland.

image_222.jpg
 
Nurmey said:
I would probably go for a carrot cider. When you make carrot juice, it's common to juice an apple with it for sweet flavor. Makes sense that some carrot/apple juice could make a cider. I'm not sure how it would taste but it could be good.

Rich, I double dog dare you to make some into beer. :p
Click to expand...
Oh you just had to dare me didn't you? Well that settles it. I have to make some now!
I'll remember this and I WILL be double dog daring you some day!:mug:
YooperBrew said:
I've heard that carrot juice makes a nice wine. I've never had the um, guts, to try it, but why not?

Let me know if you want some recipes- I have an old book that has several. It calls for carrots, boiled and squeezed and strained, but I'm sure the juice would be a time saver. One of the recipes calls for 1 cup DME per gallon, and a couple of them call for 1/2 ounce "dried hops".
Click to expand...

I would love to see some recipes if you can get them to me easily. Thanks!
 
RichBrewer said:
Oh you just had to dare me didn't you? Well that settles it. I have to make some now!
I'll remember this and I WILL be double dog daring you some day!:mug:


I would love to see some recipes if you can get them to me easily. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Do you want to PM a fax number to me? It's a whole page of recipes and instructions. I'll copy it and fax it to you, if you'd like.
 
Weight -> Liquid, Liquid -> Weight. How would you approximate this? For example, how much is "half a gallon" of Carrot juice?
(I'm trying to plug it into BeerSmith if you hadn't guessed)

I found somewhere that says that "good" carrot juice should have:
# total soluble solids: 12 %;
# total sugar content: 8%;
# beta-carotene: 1.3 mg/100 ml;
# soluble pectin: 0.4 %

I think that Sugar Content is our ticket for determining the SG of carrot juice.

Anyway, recipes are more fun. Here's what I've got so far....
Carrot Cream Ale
Batch Size: 4.75 gal
Boil Time: 90 min

1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Maize, Flaked (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Rice, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)

0.25 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (45 min) 13.8 IBU

?? lbs Carrot Juice (10.0 SRM) (add after Primary ferm complete)

Est Original Gravity: 1.051 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5 %
Bitterness: 14.8 IBU
Est Color: 8.3++ SRM

Thoughts? Suggestions? :D
 
If you did this, actually make it into a beer as opposed to a wine, you would win the Grocery and Produce challenge hands down...of course you can't use hops (try angostino bitters), and have to bottle harvest your yeast or use bread yeast....

But if you did it you would be my brewing hero :D
 
So I just finished fermentation on a very non-scientific experimental batch of Franken-Cider... apple juice and carrot juice. After getting a juicer a while back, I wondered what fermented carrot juice would taste like. Then found this thread.

I got the apple cider, unpasteurized, from Boa Vista Orchards in Apple Hill (Pollock Pines, CA). The carrot juice came from a bag of supermarket carrots. About 1 pound of carrots yielded one cup of juice (not the best juicer)
  • The first was a 1:1 ratio of apple cider and carrot juice (SG 1.046, FG 0.098)
  • The second was a 2:1 ratio (SG 1.049, FG 0.098)
  • Both fermented with Lalvin EC-1118 at 68-70 degrees F
  • Fermentation was finished in about 3 days
I don't have a distinguished enough palate to describe them very well. Lets just say it was strange. VERY strange. Almost skunky? :eek: They both have a nice carrot flavor... no hint of apple. I like the 2:1 ratio better as I think the 1:1 ratio is too strong. Either way, I bottled them anyways and will give it another try in about 6 months.

showphoto.php
[/url][/IMG]
(Blackberry stout and Hard apple cider are on the left)
 
i would go with the cream ale....You could also boil the carrots and then add them to the mash instead of using the juice....there was a thread awhile ago about a carrot cake ale with carrot and lactose
 
I made a mead with the same Costco carrot juice. I don't think I need to say this, but it's the one on the right. It's still bulk aging, but completely clear now.

picture.php
 
I made an American Strong Ale about 2 weeks ago with a 1gal experimental version including carrot juice:

Process: Juiced 1 bag of baby carrots (a little sweeter per ounce, no skins to remove) and that netted me about 1/4 - 1/5 gallon of juice. Finished it off with about 4/5gl of the Strong Ale, and...

Fermentation: off the charts, couldn't keep this stuff in the carboy, despite repeated attempts at blow off, etc, it kept fermenting and fermenting and fermenting, initial smell was... trashy, considered throwing it out after the first week

Racking to secondary: complete loss of orange color and off-smell, actually looked like a good clean beer, porter-ish in color (not sure how to describe that in Lovibond), almost reddish, but very dark, and actually smelling delicious at this point

Bottled: After about 2 weeks in fermenters, (may not have been long enough looking back), have yet to try the bottles, I figure they definitely need some settling out and aging, and there's a good chance I bottled prematurely, so may have to chill these severely before opening
 
I'm curious to see how yours turned out. Its been about a year since I brewed my "Franken Cider" and I'll be popping the cap on one next week to try it. We'll see how funky it is after a year of aging.
 
This idea for carrots just popped into my head and I hopped on here and did a search, found this thread. Just goes to show that any idea I can come up with has already been done lol. Anybody think of roasting carrots in the oven like you would with a pumpkin to kind of carmelize the sugars then add em to the mash? Not sure how that'd change the flavor but it may make a darker colored beer. It's what I was origionally thinking of doing before reading this thread, of course the juice idea would make it a lot easier.
 
gypsyhead said:
I made an American Strong Ale about 2 weeks ago with a 1gal experimental version including carrot juice:

Process: Juiced 1 bag of baby carrots (a little sweeter per ounce, no skins to remove) and that netted me about 1/4 - 1/5 gallon of juice. Finished it off with about 4/5gl of the Strong Ale, and...

Fermentation: off the charts, couldn't keep this stuff in the carboy, despite repeated attempts at blow off, etc, it kept fermenting and fermenting and fermenting, initial smell was... trashy, considered throwing it out after the first week

Racking to secondary: complete loss of orange color and off-smell, actually looked like a good clean beer, porter-ish in color (not sure how to describe that in Lovibond), almost reddish, but very dark, and actually smelling delicious at this point

Bottled: After about 2 weeks in fermenters, (may not have been long enough looking back), have yet to try the bottles, I figure they definitely need some settling out and aging, and there's a good chance I bottled prematurely, so may have to chill these severely before opening
Click to expand...

How did this turn out?
 
vicratlhead51 said:
This idea for carrots just popped into my head and I hopped on here and did a search, found this thread. Just goes to show that any idea I can come up with has already been done lol. Anybody think of roasting carrots in the oven like you would with a pumpkin to kind of carmelize the sugars then add em to the mash? Not sure how that'd change the flavor but it may make a darker colored beer. It's what I was origionally thinking of doing before reading this thread, of course the juice idea would make it a lot easier.
Click to expand...

Did you try this? This was the route I was thinking about going.
 
outsticker said:
Did you try this? This was the route I was thinking about going.
Click to expand...

I wish I had. It was one of those ideas I was knocking around but never got to do yet. My brewing got slowed way down this year, had my gall bladder removed then my son was born a few weeks later. SWMBO is still ok with me brewing but I know she doesn't like all the time it takes up on brew day. In fact I'm brewing right now and I can tell she's getting a little PO'ed that its taking 5 hours instead of the 4 I told her itd take this morning.:( Now that you've brought the idea back up maybe ill try it in the next couple months or so.
 
Any new Results?

this lil idea popped in my head during dinner while gnawing on one a few months ago and in my twilight daze tonight it came back to me.
 
I've been kicking around the idea of using carrot juice in a beer. I was inspired by a local restaurant that makes a fantastic juice called a "Shooting Star." It is a blend of carrot juice, apple juice, lemon, and ginger. I'm thinking of doing something that would hopefully be similar in flavor using fresh carrot juice, fresh apple juice, lemon zest, and candied ginger with a wheat beer as the base (something that in itself has a lemony flavor to it). As for hops, I want something that is mild maybe slightly floral with a light citrus quality. I was thinking Simcoe, Willamette, NZ Hallertauer, or Strisselspat (or some combination of these). I think this could make for a fantastic spring ale herbal and sweet with a bit of refreshing carbonation.

Any concerns or recommendations based on this?

By the way I'm new to the board. Been reading for a while and just registered.
 
Yooper said:
I've heard that carrot juice makes a nice wine. I've never had the um, guts, to try it, but why not?

Let me know if you want some recipes- I have an old book that has several. It calls for carrots, boiled and squeezed and strained, but I'm sure the juice would be a time saver. One of the recipes calls for 1 cup DME per gallon, and a couple of them call for 1/2 ounce "dried hops".
Click to expand...

This sounds like something that The Old Bunny really HAS to do! Could you please send the recipes? :mug:
 
Sounds interesting! I would be tempted to try a carrot cake ale, carrot juice, some medium crystal for sweetness, maybe some vanilla, ginger and cinnamon or cloves? Ok, that might be too weird even for me. Adding it to my possible future brews though! Curious to see the results of the other posters here.
 
My wife and I tried Hot Thoup at the GABF. http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/brewpub-exclusives/hot-thoup.htm
My wife liked it so much she went back 4 times while I was waiting in line for the restrooms. She thought it has a very low alcohol content in it and she was surprised when I told her it is 8.25%. I was most pleasantly surprised. My wife really wants me to try a batch of this to brew, but I am not sure I would know where to begin. I know I can get the imperial pale ale part, but when and how to do the carrots?
 
Hey ive been lurking these forums for a while and decided to start contributing. Ive been very curious about fermenting carrot juice. I decided to experiment with the carrot cider - because I didnt have any malt available at the time. I'm making three test batches to determine how its taste is diluted.
The process I used was very ghetto, I got apple juice and carrot juice, neither juice had any preservatives but the carrot juice had ascorbic acid and a bit honey (no harm there... I hope) anyways, I bottled it into three 1.5 litre bottles each with a few boiled raisins for nutrient. The first bottle has pure apple juice, the second has two thirds apple and one third carrot, and the final is pure carrot juice. Conveniently all the juices had the same specific gravity of roughly 1.042. I used ale yeast from a very nice christmas ale I bottled last week. A little late for christmas.
I pitched the yeast yesterday evening and its already bubbling away.
 
I agree, updates anyone? I've been looking at the "24 carrot ale" recipe in BYO. Think I'm going to try something similar tomorrow with my extra keg. I just can't resist trying to make a bright orange ipa
 
Went ahead and brewed the 24 carrot recipe with a few hop substitutions. Ended up with a foamy orange mess but it came out a solid IPA. The hops were a little strong for a carrot focused beer, couldn't taste them much if at all. Only thing I picked up was perhaps a mild oily feel compared to IPA minus carrots. May rebrew in the future using less flavor/aroma hops and add the carrots to secondary in larger quantity
 
I am brewing a ginger beer right now, and got to thinking about other roots that one might brew. Carrot immediately came to mind.

I'm thinking, brew it just like one would ginger beer. Cook thin slices of carrot in water with sugar, almost like a carrot tea, and then ferment that...just like for ginger beer.

I might give it a try. If I do, I'll post how it comes out.
 
torilen said:
I am brewing a ginger beer right now, and got to thinking about other roots that one might brew. Carrot immediately came to mind.

I'm thinking, brew it just like one would ginger beer. Cook thin slices of carrot in water with sugar, almost like a carrot tea, and then ferment that...just like for ginger beer.

I might give it a try. If I do, I'll post how it comes out.
Click to expand...
Just stumbled upon this. Brooklyn Brew Shop put out a recipe for a beer called Carrot-Pils (ha-ha) that was brewed with carrots. Never tried it myself but maybe worth looking into .
 
Yooper said:
I've heard that carrot juice makes a nice wine. I've never had the um, guts, to try it, but why not?

Let me know if you want some recipes- I have an old book that has several. It calls for carrots, boiled and squeezed and strained, but I'm sure the juice would be a time saver. One of the recipes calls for 1 cup DME per gallon, and a couple of them call for 1/2 ounce "dried hops".
Click to expand...

Hey im trying to develop a recipe for a carrot beer and was wondering whats the name of the book??
 

Similar threads

TrekNarrowPaths
Did you ever think about adding this type of sugar???
Replies
4
Views
439
TrekNarrowPaths
TrekNarrowPaths
H
Imperial Juice Yeast
Replies
1
Views
355
day_trippr
day_trippr
F
Brewing with extract (flavoring) - can't get it right
Replies
7
Views
368
rmchair
rmchair
Chalkyt
A “new” way to produce sweeter cider, perhaps.
2
Replies
41
Views
2K
Johnny2
J
Clint Yeastwood
Tangerine Juice in Wheat Ale?
Replies
6
Views
467
OakIslandBrewery
OakIslandBrewery

Latest posts

Back
Top