Black Garlic.. in a beer???

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MarzBock

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Okay, so I know this sounds a bit crazy, but here's the idea:

My son came home from school with a package of Black Garlic (from a science presentation for his class). If you are unfamiliar, here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garlic_(food)

I have not tasted the stuff yet, but from all the descriptions I have read, it sounds to me like the garlic has been "MASHED". The websites all say that it was "fermented at high temperature", and the resulting product is said to be "sweet like mollassas" with hints of tamarind, etc. Since fermenting consumes sugars, I beleive that what is actually happening is the enzymes in the garlic are activated at high temps, resulting in all starches convered to sugars.

I have a dozen large heads of this stuff. I'm thinking: If this garlic has been mashed, why not put it in a beer?

I plan to make a basic partial-grain batch (5 gal) with extra left-overs from previous runs:

5.5lb pale 2-row
10oz aromatic malt
8 oz crystal 120L
2-3lb invert sugar or LME

Hops will be 1.5oz cascade (bittering, 60M) and 1.0oz SAAZ (aroma, 5M).

I was considering adding 4 heads at 10M (boil), and then maybe a couple more when I transfer to secondary.

I have never dumped a batch of beer, and I don't really want to have to ditch this stuff if it is bad. This is why I'm posting this query. I basically would like to know if there are some strange effects from onion-type ingredients (unknow oils, acids, etc).

Of course I plan to taste the Black Garlic before I use it. If it is really strong on the garlic flavor, I might skip the idea totally. The only reason I have not tasted it yet is the fact that it is in a vaccuum sealed package and I don't want to open it until I am ready to use it.
 
If it is as described it could be grand. Personally I'd make a 1 gal test batch just in case though.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking you are right on the test batch point. I suppose I can just take the easy way out and do a quick extract batch. I don't want to bother with doing a mash for such a small amount.

I plan to do this next weekend, so I'll update this thread after I have more data.
 
Bumping this because I DID perform the Black Garlic beer.

I did just a 1gal test batch, using DME and cascade hops only. I added 1 whole black garlic head, chopped up fine. The black garlic is the consistency of cream cheese with flavor like balsamic vinegar/mollasses. I added it at about 15M before flame-out.

Bottled and waited 1 month before tasting.

1st taste tester: Beer is slightly amber colored, all color coming from the garlic since DME was the only malt source. Flavor is very interesting. It *IS* good, described by my wife as "savory", with a hint of garlic flavor at the end - aftertaste.

It might be worth brewing a whole batch, mainly as a novelty beer. It pairs well with any red-sauced food or red meat dish. I had one with a bolognese sauce spaghetti and it was excellent.

The guys at my LHBS want a sample, so I'm going to see what they say about the flavor and I'll report back here with other opinions.
 
This is sweet, I came looking for this after seeing DFH made a black garlic beer... This is getting put on my (ever increasingly long) list.


...I should write that list down some day.
 
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