Using olives or olive juice

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penguinfogel

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I was sitting around with my cousin drinking beer and eating black olives and we thought it might be good to add black olive juice into the secondary of a dark roasty high abv stout. Would there be any issues with this? Would we better off using chopped olives in the secondary and skipping adding in the juice? Would there be any issues with the chemicals in the juice affecting the beer?
 
Canned olives have a lot of salt, so I'm not sure how that would change things. Olives also have lots of oil in them which will kill the head on your beer, but if you want to trade head for the flavor you want it could be an interesting experiment.

I like olives, but I don't think I'd want them in my beer. If you do, then more power to ya and let us know how it works.
 
I've often found myself snacking on pork rinds and drinking beer. If I've had enough beer, making a pork beer starts to seem like a good idea.

Thankfully, I haven't tried that one yet, but the point is this: Just because it tastes good, and goes well with beer, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will go well in beer. I think the olives would be a bit too salty, and as ChshreCat pointed out, oil + head = bad.

But, you never know. If you want to try it out, I say go for it. Worst case scenario, it tastes bad. Best case scenario, you've uncovered the next big thing in beer. :mug:
 
Well, I love olives but it doesn't even sound good to me. How about trying a smashed up olive in the glass with the beer, and seeing how that is? If you like that, try adding some olive brine to your beer and seeing if you like that. If you like it, then do it! If you don't, well, at least you didn't ruin a whole batch of beer in the experiment.
 
I've often found myself snacking on pork rinds and drinking beer. If I've had enough beer, making a pork beer starts to seem like a good idea.

Thankfully, I haven't tried that one yet, but the point is this: Just because it tastes good, and goes well with beer, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will go well in beer. I think the olives would be a bit too salty, and as ChshreCat pointed out, oil + head = bad.

But, you never know. If you want to try it out, I say go for it. Worst case scenario, it tastes bad. Best case scenario, you've uncovered the next big thing in beer. :mug:

This reminded me of another ill advised food/drink combo from a last year:

Apfelwein question. Meat???

An entertaining read for sure. Please refer to post #33 ~ that's where it really starts to get good.


All joking aside, while I personally don't think it sounds like a good idea, don't let that stop you. You might want to separate a gallon from a regular batch and experiment on that. That way if it doesn't turn out, you still have the rest thats not wasted. If it does come out good, then you can make the next one a full batch.

EDIT: what ChshreCat said...
 
Olives are considered a meal here at our house-we love them, but I don't think an olive stout would go over too well. If you try it, let us know how it is!
 
We were completely sober while thinking this..... I swear :) (actually we were) Was thinking more of a dirty martini kinda stout. Not a strong olive flavor, but a slight hint. I'm making a chocolate peanut butter stout and could siphon off a growler (before I add the chocolate, peanut butter, and lactose) of it if a bubbler fits the growler I have. Mostly I'm concerned about the acid and the salts from the olive brine. I wonder what other flavors would work with olives? If it works I'm so gonna call it Dirty Bastard Stout :D
 
Just check your ingredients for those pesky lil sorbates that could kill your fermentation
 
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