Adding Hibiscus?

[LibertyCallBeer]

Where can I purchase Hibiscus to flavor my home brew?

How does it come, dried, fresh etc?

Do I add it in the fermenter or at the boil?

 

[Revvy]

I literally just posted my recipe for my Hibiscus, Blood Orange and Sichuan Peppercorn Witbier... you can see what I used and how I used it here...

 

[RevKev]

Hibiscus goes well as a tea addition to secondary, you could add to boil or whirlpool but it comes as dried flowers. I like adding it as a tea as I know the 200+° F water I steep it in for 7 minutes is more sterile than as a drop hop.

Where you are from idk but look into places like Wegmans or Whole Foods as they have bulk looks leaf tea sections and you can try places like Teavana or foreign markets. All else fails I'm sure Amazon.com has it

 

[arnobg]

I bought a big bag on Amazon with prime shipping.

Any Asian food market will also carry it n

 

[TwistedGray]

Most ethnic grocery stores (Mexican / Latin / etc) should have dried petals. I've "dry hopped" with hibiscus and had great results.

 

[sergeybrovary]

hello friends brewers. Share your experiences on how to properly add hibiscus flowers to a light ale to get red and light fruit acidity? in my past experiments, I added a boiling and infused hibiscus broth to the finished ale. The color of the infusion was wonderful! but when adding to the beer, some kind of chemical reaction took place and only a brown tint remained from the bright red color. How to get a beautiful red color with hibiscus?

 

[TwistedGray]

hello friends brewers. Share your experiences on how to properly add hibiscus flowers to a light ale to get red and light fruit acidity? in my past experiments, I added a boiling and infused hibiscus broth to the finished ale. The color of the infusion was wonderful! but when adding to the beer, some kind of chemical reaction took place and only a brown tint remained from the bright red color. How to get a beautiful red color with hibiscus?

Dry hop with it

 

[Dgallo]

If you really want color add it flame out or whirlpool. If you want a lot of aroma dryhop with it or make a tea for the secondary. The beer on the left was 2 oz at 170 whirlpool and 2 oz dryhop of it

 

[sergeybrovary]

If you really want color add it flame out or whirlpool. If you want a lot of aroma dryhop with it or make a tea for the secondary. The beer on the left was 2 oz at 170 whirlpool and 2 oz dryhop of it View attachment 633860

2oz for 1 gal? 1 litre? 170F ?

 

[Dgallo]

2oz for 1 gal? 1 litre? 170F ?

2oz for 5 gallons or roughly 19 Litters at 170*f and another 2 oz as a dryhop at 68*f

 

[sergeybrovary]

2oz for 5 gallons or roughly 19 Litters at 170*f and another 2 oz as a dryhop at 68*f

super! color is gorgeous! What do you think if you make a decoction and insist it, and then add this decoction to Whirlpool. Will the effect be the same? )) I boil 1000l and throw dry hibiscus in the ready wort, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of infection!

 

[Dgallo]

super! color is gorgeous! What do you think if you make a decoction and insist it, and then add this decoction to Whirlpool. Will the effect be the same? )) I boil 1000l and throw dry hibiscus in the ready wort, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of infection!

Anything over 140f for 5 mins is hot enough to kill any bugs or pasteurize the wort. At 170 the hibiscus flowers and wort will be sterilized in like 30 seconds. Here is a quick read about pasteurization in the beer industry with some time and temp info. https://www.google.com/amp/s/beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/amp/edvVKFchSZ

Btw, I Just checked my notes again. It was a total of 6 ozs of hibiscuses. 2oz at flame out, 2 oz 170 WH, and 2 oz dryhop.

 

[sergeybrovary]

Anything over 140f for 5 mins is hot enough to kill any bugs or pasteurize the wort. At 170 the hibiscus flowers and wort will be sterilized in like 30 seconds. Here is a quick read about pasteurization in the beer industry with some time and temp info. https://www.google.com/amp/s/beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/amp/edvVKFchSZ

Btw, I Just checked my notes again. It was a total of 6 ozs of hibiscuses. 2oz at flame out, 2 oz 170 WH, and 2 oz dryhop.

also boiling ... ok) well, in any case, I will not be able to add dry flowers to the whirlpool .. just liquid. Thanks you! But how sour is your beer? I added a decoction of 1 kg per 1000 liters and I already felt sourness.

 

[Dgallo]

also boiling ... ok) well, in any case, I will not be able to add dry flowers to the whirlpool .. just liquid. Thanks you! But how sour is your beer? I added a decoction of 1 kg per 1000 liters and I already felt sourness.

I actually kettle soured this beer so it’s very sour. It was a hibiscus and Citra dryhopped kettle sour. I used Omega 605.

I did a wheat beer with only 3 oz of hibiscus and I cant say showed any sourness/tartness gto speak of. If youre looking for tartness id suggest Looking into kettle souring with a lacto or a post fermentation, ph adjustment with citric acid. Lemons/oranges and hibiscus go great together

 

[sergeybrovary]

I actually kettle soured this beer so it’s very sour. It was a hibiscus and Citra dryhopped kettle sour. I used Omega 605.

I did a wheat beer with only 3 oz of hibiscus and I cant say showed any sourness/tartness gto speak of. If youre looking for tartness id suggest Looking into kettle souring with a lacto or a post fermentation, ph adjustment with citric acid. Lemons/oranges and hibiscus go great together

I am planning a 35 IBU pale ale with hibiscus and a light dry hop wit cascade and comet (but hibiscus is mostly for slightly red, light sourness and tartness). grapefruit pale ale

 

[Dgallo]

Looks like you already have your plan. Be careful with the Ibu if end up making a sour at some point. I’ve made a quite a few sours and tart beers over the years and bitterness and sour don’t mix. It comes off extremely medicinally astringent on the palate. Dryhopping tends to work better for hop additions. That being said with such little tartness you’ll achieve from the hibiscus I’m sure it won’t be an issue

 

[Soulshine2]

Where can I purchase Hibiscus to flavor my home brew?

How does it come, dried, fresh etc?

Do I add it in the fermenter or at the boil?

I just got mine from the local mexican grocery store. look or ask for Flor de Jamaica . It is bulk dried hibiscus flower petals . I got a 1 lb bag for $3.15
I was referred by another member to use 1 oz dried to 8 oz water /5 gallons beer,steep as tea then cool and add at bottling.

 

[Soulshine2]

If you really want color add it flame out or whirlpool. If you want a lot of aroma dryhop with it or make a tea for the secondary. The beer on the left was 2 oz at 170 whirlpool and 2 oz dryhop of it View attachment 633860

that is a beautiful beer !!

 

[Dgallo]

that is a beautiful beer !!

Thanks brother!

 

[Soulshine2]

Thanks brother!

btw, I think either today or tomorrow im bottling my sons Green Zebra clone. Thanks for the tip on the hibiscus.

 

[Dgallo]

btw, I think either today or tomorrow im bottling my sons Green Zebra clone. Thanks for the tip on the hibiscus.

That’s the watermelon gose, correct? I’ve had it once. Great summer beer. And no worries brother. Hibiscus is a lot of fun to use in multiple beer styles. I do a summer ale with it called Carolina’s Sundress after my wife that just has a touch of pink.

 

[Soulshine2]

That’s the watermelon gose, correct? I’ve had it once. Great summer beer. And no worries brother. Hibiscus is a lot of fun to use in multiple beer summers. I do a summer ale with it called Carolina’s Sundress after my wife that just has a touch of pink.

yes it is . carolinas sundress sounds nice, what do you have in that

 

[Dgallo]

yes it is . carolinas sundress sounds nice, what do you have in that

It’s a wheat beer essentially, but I use orange zest, lemon zest, Grains of paradise, and hibiscus

 

[Soulshine2]

It’s a wheat beer essentially, but I use orange zest, lemon zest, Grains of paradise, and hibiscus

I had to look up the grains of paradise. never used it but that list of ingredients you put sounds great and refreshing. Im imagining a nice citrusy flavor.

 

[Dgallo]

I had to look up the grains of paradise. never used it but that list of ingredients you put sounds great and refreshing. Im imagining a nice citrusy flavor.

Def a nice pool drinking beer. The hibiscus add just a touch of berry. It’s pretty solid

 

[bendog15]

I brew kombucha and always add hibiscus. I buy dried hibiscus flowers off eBay or amazon. They usually come from Mexico.
Boil 1 cup of water, shut off flame. Add hibiscus flowers and let steep for 7 minutes. Strain liquid, discard flowers and add liquid to keg. Rack kombucha on top of liquid

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I made a tea by adding 8 ounces of hibiscus to a half gallon to a gallon of water, brought the water to a boil, added the blooms and let it steep for and hour or so and added it to a keg of finished beer. ( about four gallons in that keg) Bought the blooms at a Mexican grocery store, locally. A friend who is a partial owner of one of the local breweries invited me to brew a one barrel batch there, it was on tap, the end of September and October last year. I called it Zombie Blood. The base beer was a super saison. I thought that it was tasty, all of the folks that were drinking it that night, the night it was released, said that they enjoyed it. At the brewery, we scaled it up proportionally.

This was the batch at home. The hibiscus gave it a distinct cranberry taste. I thought that it was delicious. I plan to add some to another batch that was brewed on Saturday. I feel that it goes great with the saison.

 

[BrewKid85]

What

 

[Dgallo]

What

 

[BrewKid85]

What I did was freeze 1lb dried hibiscus flowers from an online source for 24hrs then dry hopped for 4days to get this deep color

 

[jimfire85]

I've had good experience with stuffing about 3-4 oz into my cream whipper with 1 cup of vodka and doing a n2o infusion. Strain the liquid and add to the fermenter.

 

[greywolf]

Has anyone tried using fresh hibiscus flowers? I have lots of blooms right now. Never tried doing anything with them.

 

[bkboiler]

I added it to a Czech lager by purchasing a box of hibiscus tea at the Latino market around the corner. I used several bags in a 2.5 gallon batch, during boil, until I got the color I wanted (pink). Turned out really well!

 

[Dgallo]

Has anyone tried using fresh hibiscus flowers? I have lots of blooms right now. Never tried doing anything with them.

Potentially you could if it’s one of the varieties that you can eat. Hibiscus sabdariffa is the variety specifically breed for edible use. If it is this or the other ones then you can certainly use it but if you’re tossing in you’ll have to greatly up your amount of using fresh vs. dry. I would think you’d need to atleast use 3 times as much.

 

[smashysmash]

Most ethnic grocery stores (Mexican / Latin / etc) should have dried petals. I've "dry hopped" with hibiscus and had great results.

I have a recipe I want to dry hopping with Hibiscus. How are you making sure the flowers are free of anything that could infect the beer?

 

[Dgallo]

I have a recipe I want to dry hopping with Hibiscus. How are you making sure the flowers are free of anything that could infect the beer?

If you have alcohol and hops in, your infection risk will be lowered greatly.

That said, if your still nervous you can set your oven to 200 (lower if capable), put them on parchment, and place them in there for 20 mins