Purple Question

[EndlessPurple]

I'm wanting to make a purple beer but wasn't sure the best combination of ingredients that can give that color.

Some of my thoughts were a light beer with plums or blueberry/cherry combination. Another thought was an amber beer with a blue fruit and maybe a little red cherry. Has anyone had a combination that came out purple and what fruits seemed to provide the best color?

I am pretty open to styles as I am still learning what I like and what other people around me like (since they have to help drink it)

I'm not in a big rush but would like to bottle by mid July for drinking in September.

Thanks for any input.

 

[dougdecinces]

Mulberries. Especially ones that are very ripe. I'm not sure if a more purple fruit exists.

 

[Proboscidea]

Like Abita Purple Haze?

Purple Haze® is a lager brewed with real raspberries added after filtration. It is brewed with pilsner and wheat malts and Vanguard hops. The berries add a fruity aroma, tartly sweet taste and a subtle purple color and haze...you may see fruit pulp in the beer.

(... and yet, the the beer-filled glass on the Purple Haze page looks decidedly un-purple to me)

 

[amandabab]

semi-crushed or canned blueberries and a pound or so honey. The honey will ferment out tasteless but will pull and absorb lots of colour very fast.

in the primary.
before "the primary is the wrong time to add fruit posts", yes the primary activity and escaping co2 will strip the fruit flavors out. which is exactly what you want if all your going for is purple. you'll have almost transparent blueberry skins in the trub when you rack to a secondary in a week or two.

 

[masonsjax]

Beet juice? You could boil it to reduce it and concentrate the color before adding to your beer.
What about food coloring? That's probably the easiest way.

 

[spearko520]

hibiscus can make purple w/out too much flavor, if you don't steep.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Magic Hat Wacko is kind of pink. They use beet juice.

 

[Hernando]

Grape Kool-Aid mix? I wonder what this would do to a beer

 

[EndlessPurple]

Lots of interesting ideas.

Primary works for me with the fruit as I am more concerned with the color than the fruit flavor being strong (Just has to be a good drinkable beer). Had not heard about the honey helping to pull out the color before. Wouldn't honey and blueberry end up green though? (that would be really bad)

Can't say I have ever seen a mulberry before. Thanks for the different inputs. Also the grape koolaid mix sounds fun, but not sure what that would do to a beer??? one way to find out.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Had not heard about the honey helping to pull out the color before. Wouldn't honey and blueberry end up green though? (that would be really bad)

Honey ferments out for the most part...doesn't add any color in my experience (probably because it's pretty much the same color as beer and it's pretty much all sugar). The "rawer" or darker honeys add some flavor due to the impurities.

 

[FeuerHazard]

It seems your looking more for some kind of fruit to add, however Heather has been used before in beers to give a somewhat deep purple color. I would look into seeing if you can find any, it might help in your quest for that purple beer

 

[EndlessPurple]

How would I use the heather? Would it be steeped like a tea or just mixed into the wort? That sounds interesting. I assume the Hibiscus mentioned above would be a similar process.

 

[dougdecinces]

Second idea: if you have time, you can make a five gallon batch and add five different purple things to secondary each in its own one gallon jug. Then you can decide which purple concoction to go with.

 

[Zamial]

Mulberries. Especially ones that are very ripe. I'm not sure if a more purple fruit exists.

+1 I have a mulberry beer and it is purple, dark purple.

 

[Bigcorona]

In Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher there is a statement that indicates Chinese Black Rice "might make for a lovely lavender pils". It does look a little pricey though.

 

[FeuerHazard]

How would I use the heather? Would it be steeped like a tea or just mixed into the wort? That sounds interesting. I assume the Hibiscus mentioned above would be a similar process.

I have never personally used it, but I dug out one of my books to check it out because I was curious myself. From "The Homebrewer's Garden" by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher

Heather imparts a spicy, complex bitterness and a deep purple color to beer. Use 1 to 5 cups of flowers late in the boil for flavoring and aroma. Add one more cup of flowers dry hopped during the fermentation stage for a purple color and a strong heather flavor.

I also found a Heather Ale recipe in the book that sounded pretty interesting that I might have to try out at some point. I Guess that list of recipes to try out just grew a little more.

 

[EndlessPurple]

I Guess that list of recipes to try out just grew a little more.

Does it ever get shorter??

Lots to try and sort through and definitely better than just trying to find the right mix of blueberry and cherries.

Time to sit and try to work up/find recipes and see which one seems the most feasible for what I can find here. Season is 4 months long so I have time for more than 1 batch.

 

[Runswithlightning]

I was given a wheat kit that I added blueberries and raspberries in secondary and it came out very light and pinkish purple. People who've tasted it keep saying its alot like a wine cooler but I don't see it.