Pomegranate Wheat

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dandw12786

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I'll be the latest guy to start this thread. I searched and found a few, but not really any definitive answers. Someone has to have tried this, so wondering how to do it. I've got a wheat recipe I'm going to use (will remove the aroma hop additions and just go with bittering of Amarillo/simcoe for 60 mins, enough to give me around 20-25 ibus.
Should I use POM juice or pomegranate molasses, and how much? I've heard of using both, but I can't find results for either. Any suggestions?
 
I'm not a big fan of using POM juice. It just seems like it wouldn't get the flavor to shine through very much. POM does, however, make a concentrate which would work well.

I made a Pomegranate Wit about 6 months ago that turned out okay. It was a little tart, and the pomegranate didn't come across as well as I had hoped. I'm going to experiment with it again over the summer, and maybe try to stop the yeast from fermenting the sugars in the pomegranate. Hopefully this will help the flavor.

Anyway....I added six pomegranates minus the seeds.
 
I am interested in hearing how this turns out. Pomegranate is very good. Maybe you could do something with the fruit itself, like some do with cherries.
 
I am interested in hearing how this turns out. Pomegranate is very good. Maybe you could do something with the fruit itself, like some do with cherries.

As I mentioned above...the fruit doesn't really work well on its own. You'll need some sort of flavoring or concentrate.
 
I think I'll be using a pomegranate molasses or something like that, I hear the actual fruit doesn't work too well in beer from other sources as well... just not sure how much to use!!
 
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/pomegranate-wheat-questions-pom-juice-211131/

The attached link was a post that I made a while back with results. I though the POM juice option was a good on. My recommendation is to ferment with the juice in the beer. I added mine in the bottles as part of my sugar addition for one portion, and then I added the other directly to a keg which went straight to the fridge. I found the version in the keg to be a little too sweet for my taste. Whereas, I found the bottled version to have just the right amount of tartness to be recognized clearly, but no real residual sweetness lingered.

With the POM juice, I didn't get any real significant color change. It may be a little pink, but it is hardly noticeable.
 
pomegranate can be a bit much on its own, and benefits from something complimenting its tart flavors.

like blueberries, for example. blueberry pomegranate is a fantastic combination.
 
Actually, I just bottled it on Sunday. I ended up using POM juice, 32 oz, added straight to the fermenter after about a week, then waited another week, then bottled. Was going to prime with POM, but decided to see how this turned out itself without throwing another variable into the mix. I did a 3 gallon batch (that stuff is expensive... didn't want to do a full batch and have wasted 15-20 bucks on POM). I'll sample it in about a week, and let you know how it turned out, and post the recipe if it's even sorta good.
 
Oh, but I did take a hydrometer sample, it was pretty good. Wished the POM had shined through a bit more, but then again, it was warm and flat, so I don't know what it really tasted like. Anyway, I'll post the recipe now just for the heck of it, in case anyone wants to check it out.

POM Wheat

3 Lbs Wheat DME (1 lb right away, 2 lbs at 15 mins left)
About .25 oz Amarillo (60 mins... had to guess, didn't have a scale)

Did a full boil, but lost a bit more than I thought I would... ended up topping off to about 3.25 gal. My OG was 1.042.

Pitched US-05.

I added the POM after a week, and let it ferment out another week, FG was 1.010. Don't know what the POM added, beersmith calculated it to about 4.16 abv without the POM, so a tad more than that.

Really simple recipe... Had some time on a Saturday, and it was nice out for once, so decided to give it a go!

If anyone else tries it, let me know!!! Glad to hear any suggestions for next time, too!!!
 
OK, so I couldn't help myself, been bottled for a week (about... hehe), so I tried one, ya know, since wheats are best when young (that's my justification anyway...). This stuff is pretty good, I'll compare it to Abita's Purple Haze. Really can't tell that Pomegranate was used, just a tart subtle fruit flavor. Raspberries would probably give the same effect, but this was a lot cheaper, surprisingly... 6 bucks for all the POM juice vs 18-20 for a can of the oregon raspberry puree, and only using half of it. I'll definitely be making this again, and probably often. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
 
That could be good too, I'm not much for blueberry beer, but then again I've only had one, and it was pretty "gung-ho" on blueberry, so going a bit lighter may make me more willing to try it. POM makes a blueberry-pomegranate juice that looks like it would probably work, or even just doing the regular POM juice and blueberries. If you try it, let me know, that could be pretty good!
 
if you just used pom to begin with, I would imagine the blueberry/pom pom would work fine. that's just such a delicious flavor combo for juice. the blueberry lends a little sweetness to balance the tartness of pomegranate
 
I am looking to make a Pomegranate Whit tomorrow and am happy I stumbled upon this post. I was unsure if using POM juice would be the route to go and if so when to add it. I think I will follow the suggestion to use the Blueberry/Pomegranate POM juice instead of straight Pomegranate.

The OP used 32oz. of juice for his 3 Gallon batch, but I was planning on doing 5 Gallons so I would assume using 48oz. of juice (one and a half bottles) to compensate for the higher volume correct?

Also did you rack to a Secondary after the first week and then add in the juice or did you just add it in to the Primary after a week, wait another week and then bottle?
 
I just put it in primary, didn't see a reason to rack to secondary. I would probably go with 48 oz like you're thinking, I think that'd be a good amount.
 
Right on. Thanks for the quick reply. I brewed it this weekend (my OG was a bit off though so I hope it turns out okay) and will add in the POM in about a week or so once fermentation slows.
 
if you put the juice in your primary fermenter, wouldn't the yeast eat up the sugars and kill off some of the flavor? that's what I've been reading about with honey, at least.
 
@dandw - I am confused by that statement. Maybe it is just too early and I am reading it weird. Are you saying if I add the POM to the Primary after a week or so the flavor will come through, but because the yeast will eat up the extra sugar it will taste like crap? If this is true would it then just be best to add it when bottling?
 
No, sorry for the confusion. I'm saying that using flavor extracts tastes like crap (brewed a raspberry wheat with some raspberry flavoring I got at the homebrew shop... tasted like ass). Adding POM juice at any time will restart fermentation, since its full of fermentable sugar. Even though the sugars will ferment out, the flavor will still come through. Adding it at bottling would probably be fine too, but you would have to calculate the correct amount to use, and replace your priming sugar with the POM juice, and then you may not be able to add enough for the flavor to come through without some danger of bottle bombs (this is easy enough to do safely with POM juice, since the amount of sugars per serving is available on the bottle, just need to do some math, but I believe the amount required to prime 5 gals was WAY less than 48 oz).

Adding late in primary or racking to secondary are usually the best options when adding fruit from what I've read, If added during the boil, not enough flavor comes through, and if added at bottling, it's too tough to get the right amount without danger of overcarbing. I'm considering using POM juice instead of priming sugar when I make this again, in addition to the 48 oz (or so) i'll use if yours turns out well with that amount, I think that could turn out really nice. Let me know if that was still confusing, I'll give it another shot. :)
 
ooh! I have one of the Austin Homebrew $20 Wit kits on its way to my house, I think I might use this idea when I brew it!

Would there be any benefit to racking it to secondary and adding the Pom juice then, as opposed to just dumping it in the primary?
 
I don't see why there would be any, I don't do secondary anymore, and a lot of other people don't either. I do have to throw in my disclaimer that I did this with an american wheat recipe. Not to familiar with the wit kit from AHS, so can't really tell you what the results will be. Please let me know how this goes for you guys, I'm stepping up to all grain soon, and really want to do this recipe again, and would like to know how this works for you!
 
No, sorry for the confusion. I'm saying that using flavor extracts tastes like crap (brewed a raspberry wheat with some raspberry flavoring I got at the homebrew shop... tasted like ass). Adding POM juice at any time will restart fermentation, since its full of fermentable sugar. Even though the sugars will ferment out, the flavor will still come through. Adding it at bottling would probably be fine too, but you would have to calculate the correct amount to use, and replace your priming sugar with the POM juice, and then you may not be able to add enough for the flavor to come through without some danger of bottle bombs (this is easy enough to do safely with POM juice, since the amount of sugars per serving is available on the bottle, just need to do some math, but I believe the amount required to prime 5 gals was WAY less than 48 oz).

Adding late in primary or racking to secondary are usually the best options when adding fruit from what I've read, If added during the boil, not enough flavor comes through, and if added at bottling, it's too tough to get the right amount without danger of overcarbing. I'm considering using POM juice instead of priming sugar when I make this again, in addition to the 48 oz (or so) i'll use if yours turns out well with that amount, I think that could turn out really nice. Let me know if that was still confusing, I'll give it another shot. :)

Nope, not confusing at all. Thanks for the thorough update. The one I made this past weekend is the Weizenbier kit from Brewer's Best so I will let you know how it turns out. I think I may rack it to a Secondary before adding in the POM just cause a little more trub got in then I wanted and this way I can clarify it a bit better.

You said extracts such as Raspberry flavoring can taste like crap, have you every tried a high quality Vanilla extract? I was planing on using some in another Nut Brown batch I am bottling this weekend. Just like a 1 oz. bottle as I know that stuff can be powerful. Thoughts?
 
I don't really know about vanilla. I know I was speaking generally, so I'm sure there are some high quality extracts out there, I just know that ones I've tasted have been really bad. For vanilla, I don't really know how much to use, though I did find this thread for you:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/adding-pure-vanilla-extract-51516/

A couple of posts down it says that most people add about an oz. to a 5 gallon batch.
 
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