Stuck on brewing decision...and question about tropical flavors

[cskid]

Want to brew something for the summer. I live in Florida so it's hot and not looking to brew something heavy. Would like something tropical and prefer a pale ale or IPA....maybe a session or session-like beer. Want it to be complex enough with enough body to have one and be satisfied or have three or four by the pool but, not be blitzed.

Any ideas? I travel a lot for work so get the opportunity to try great beers from East Coast, West Coast and North and South. That's the problem. To many to choose from.

Also, is there an alternative to using real fruit in brews to get a certain flavor profiles like Mango, Orange, etc? Have seen some flavor drops (not sure if that's the right term...maybe concentrate) in the home brew store. They come packaged in medicine droppers but, have never tried them. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[IslandLizard]

Do you like NEIPAs, cloudy IPAs?

 

[cskid]

Do you like NEIPAs, cloudy IPAs?

Sure. Was in Philly and Boston this past week and tried a few new things.

 

[IslandLizard]

Sure. Was in Philly and Boston this past week and tried a few new things.

There's no fruit or flavor extract in any of those NEIPAs, yet they taste like a tropical fruit garden or citrus grove. It's all in the hops!
Look for some NEIPA recipes here to get some good ideas.

Although you could use some extracts, the better ones cost a lot more, they all tend to add an artificial flavor if used past a certain amount. We have a few breweries here that brew some beers using extracts, the good ones, but they all have that same character, a bit over the top, and one pint of one of those is plenty for the day.

Now those NEIPAs I can drink all day, every day.

 

[IslandLizard]

Oh, I can get a sessionable NEIPA grain to glass in 4.5 days!

 

[day_trippr]

Shenanigans!

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I just brewed ed worts pale ale with experimental grapfruit hops and grapefruit peel and plan to dry hop with the experimental also.
I also used yeast harvested from Bell's brewery Oberon.
I have no idea what i'm going to get but i'll report back in a few weeks.

On a side note I had ed worts kolsch on tap right now it's great. everyone claims lemony flavors.
All I can say is the hotter the better it tastes.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

So this is coming out of the fermentor tomorrow.
FG today is 1.010 but there is still some krausen peppered on top.
can't imagine it would go any lower.
when I opened the fermentor it was a blast of grapefruit.
When I tasted the gravity sample it was pure grapfruit taste and aroma but not nearly as strong as labbatte grapefruit.
going to dry hop at room temp in the keg for a half a week then chill and carb.

 

[robcj]

Oh, I can get a sessionable NEIPA grain to glass in 4.5 days!

You've got my attention. I'm a big fan of turning beer around quickly but I've haven't dared to push it quicker than 7 days. What yeast are you using and when are you dry hopping?

 

[JacktardBrewmeister]

So I have done a Dragonfruit Tropical Swirl beer in the past which has won awards. Now, me being a cheap bastard and pretty lazy, I would say that implementing fruit is not really hard. When I made "The Dragon's Snatch" I used half a watermelon, passion fruit, dragon fruit (for color and a hint of flavor), and prickly pear. With that said, I used some in the boil and I used some in secondary. Now this was not as good as my lazier method.

I went to Bevmo! and bought watermelon puree, passion fruit puree, and prickly pear puree. I did half a bottle the last 15 minutes of boil and I did 1.5 bottles of each in the secondary like a raging *******. I still used real dragonfruit however. I also added a pound of coconut sugar since yeast tend to sploodge over it. The beer was 10.6% abv and was award winning and bloody orange in color. XD It had a wonderful fruit aroma and the fruit flavor was delightful.

Soooooo, with that said. Perhaps pureed pineapple, passion fruit, mango, oranges (or better, tangerines), with a pound of coconut sugar for good measure. My 2 cents, but what can I say, I'm insane. b^^

 

[cskid]

So I have done a Dragonfruit Tropical Swirl beer in the past which has won awards. Now, me being a cheap bastard and pretty lazy, I would say that implementing fruit is not really hard. When I made "The Dragon's Snatch" I used half a watermelon, passion fruit, dragon fruit (for color and a hint of flavor), and prickly pear. With that said, I used some in the boil and I used some in secondary. Now this was not as good as my lazier method.

I went to Bevmo! and bought watermelon puree, passion fruit puree, and prickly pear puree. I did half a bottle the last 15 minutes of boil and I did 1.5 bottles of each in the secondary like a raging icehole. I still used real dragonfruit however. I also added a pound of coconut sugar since yeast tend to sploodge over it. The beer was 10.6% abv and was award winning and bloody orange in color. XD It had a wonderful fruit aroma and the fruit flavor was delightful.

Soooooo, with that said. Perhaps pureed pineapple, passion fruit, mango, oranges (or better, tangerines), with a pound of coconut sugar for good measure. My 2 cents, but what can I say, I'm insane. b^^

This sounds great. Do you have a recipe for the beer. I've thought of using the puree's in the past but, never have. Maybe it's time! Never heard of the coconut sugar so thanks for that as well.

 

[JacktardBrewmeister]

10 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Carapils
1 lb Flaked Corn
1 lb Victory
0.5 Hallertau (60)
0.5 Saaz (20)
0.5 Citra (20)
2 oz Sweet Orange Peel (15)
1 lbs Coconut Sugar (15)
Whirfloc
Dragon Fruit (3 to 5 fruit)
1.5 L Passion Fruit Puree (Being lazy I just did 2 liter)
1.5 L Watermelon Puree (being lazy I just did 2 liter)
1 Liter Prickly Pear Puree (being lazy I just did 2 liter)
Fermentis Safbrew T-58

Mash should float around 154% for 60 mins with a standard 60 minute boil. For the fruit... use .5 to 1 liter (depending on how daring you are) during the last 15 minutes of the boil along with the two to three Dragon Fruit flesh in a muslin bag (to keep the seeds out). Don't use an airlock... use a runoff hose with the hose in a bucket of sanitizer/star san or whatever you're using. As it will get nice and chunky blow off. Let this bad boy ferment for about 3 weeks.

During the last week introduce 1 liter of each puree into a fresh carboy. Take one to two dragon fruit flesh starilized with vodka and put in a muslin bag and drop that into the secondary as well. Transfer beer wort from primary to starilized secondary and you'll probably want to keep using that blow off hose. Check weekly because your ABV will have fluctuated so use an ABV calculator to do the math to configure for the introduction of new sugars to your beer wort. Secondary usually only lasts about 1 to 2 weeks so see how it comes out.

The coconut sugar is not for the taste, but for the nutrients. A scientist friend of mine studied brewshop yeast nutrients for me and pointed out that the yeast cells like it a bunch. But he also ran the same test with coconut sugar as he extracted the nutrients from the name brand yeast nutrients and realized they were almost the same. Now, his results were that the yeast consumed the coconut sugar and processed it FAR better than they did absorbing the yeast nutrients you buy at the brew shop. You also get a bit more ABV, but the yeast naturally takes on the coconut sugar and leaves no off tastes and, in my opinion, improves the beer when making two of the same beers side by side and doing a blind taste: one with coconut sugar and one with yeast nutrients.

Ultimately this is not a cheap fruit beer (because of the puree as dragon fruit is easily found where I live in California), but it is a unique beast. The abv floats around 9% to 12% depending on how the yeast handles it. Make sure the Dragon Fruit is white fleshed for the cool orange color the beer gets because of it. Or get the red fleshed Dragon Fruit for a bigger Dragon Fruit flavor. If you do this guy, share pics and update how yours turned out!