ok so i have been brewing for awail now , working on 2 years now , almost lol, i've never put the fake flavoring in them , can i add some 1/2 threw second ferm , or will that start carb , like i said never used the stuff. im just trying to get a bit more flavor with out makeing a fake tast
adding a fruit flavor
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Andrew5329
Well-Known Member
If it has sugar in it the yeast will ferment it. Though IMO most of those fruit flavor packets taste crummy in regular water, let alone mixed into beer.
If you want to do a fruit flavored beer, IMO do a secondary fermentation and add fruit to it.
If you want to do a fruit flavored beer, IMO do a secondary fermentation and add fruit to it.
I get the best flavor by adding real fruit to secondary then flavoring at the time of bottling. The fruit flavor seems very mild when I use only fruit and tastes fake when I use only flavoring. Adding fruit to secondary does make active fermentation startup again, so I make sure there's enough headspace. I haven't had any issues with over carbonating when I use flavoring, but you may want to check the sugar content of the flavoring you use.
The flavoring bottles are a very easy way to get the flavor you are looking for. Often times adding fruit will get you a true fruit flavor but not one as recognizable as the flavor in the little bottles. for instance maple syrup ferments out and leaves little flavor so instead I'd use maplene. Caution though... be sparing! those syrups and extracts are CONCENTRATED!!! use less than you think you need to use as you can always add more. I usually start with 1/4 bottle for 5 gal. sometimes step up to 1/2 - 3/4 after mixing and tasting previous additions. anyway good luck!
fletchsj said:
Just curious what size flavoring bottle you are using. I've have never done this before and I'm about to make my first attempt. I did buy a 4oz bottle of flavoring to add during bottling. It says to add the whole thing to a 5 gallon batch. Do you think 4 oz's is to much? Also how much sugar is in flavoring? My bottle does not say. Do I still add the same amount of corn sugar when bottling? I don't want to over carbonate.
I've added a full 2oz bottle of strawberry flavoring after doing a secondary fermentation with 5lbs of strawberries. I used 4.5 oz of corn sugar to carbonate and it it came out just like I wanted. The flavoring didn't seem to change the carbonation. I felt the strawberry flavor was well balanced. Not over powering but enough that people knew they were drinking a strawberry wheat beer.
edit: this was for a 5 gallon batch
edit: this was for a 5 gallon batch
The 4oz bottles say to add the whole thing to 5 gal.... don't listen. Start with 1/4 and move up as you see fit. if it takes the whole thing to get it where you want it fine... But, you'd hate to ruin it. It's a personal thing, so slowly add it till you find the balance you desire. good luck!
mewithstewpid
Well-Known Member
this is good advice. i just did one where i added 4oz and it wasnt enough, so i added more (another bottle, all at once, yeah i know) and i over did it.
Anyone have any experience in adding bananas to secondary?
I mashed with bananas but not much flavor came through. I was also wondering about how to prevent contaminating the beer by adding in fresh fruit. I could buy a bunch of the baby food bananas in the jars and add them as they are pasteurized.
I mashed with bananas but not much flavor came through. I was also wondering about how to prevent contaminating the beer by adding in fresh fruit. I could buy a bunch of the baby food bananas in the jars and add them as they are pasteurized.
ok so i added strawberrys yesterday , didnt notices that there was sugar in them till today , i could only find frozen ones so i put 2.5 pounds in it , 4 contaners in it , ill post a pic , did t start carb or is it just the yest kicking in , it looks wierd , a little fead back would be nice
When I add strawberries, I added frozen strawberries (pre-washed, flash frozen, more sanitary in my opinion). The natural sugar in the fruit gets the yeast actively fermenting again. The strawberries will turn pale and ugly. That's normal. I'll leave the strawberries in secondary for about a week. Once fermentation stops (take gravity readings), I add the 2oz of strawberry flavoring to the bottling bucket with the priming sugar and transfer the beer on top of that to mix it up nicely. At this point it may taste very tart or like unripe strawberries. Letting it sit in the bottles 4-5 weeks cleans that up and my strawberry beer tastes good. Until then, it always seems to be very tart with a bitter fruit flavor.
I did the same thing last week. Couldn't taste any cherry at all in my black IPA, so I added a whole 4 oz bottle of extract and ruined the beer... I mean RUINED it! A little goes a looooong way.
I hear you. Adding fruit and other flavorings quickly add up. Just curious, what are you making?
Sounds interesting. I've done a plain American wheat beer with strawberries and flavoring that came out at around 5.8%. It had mild hop and yeast character, so the strawberry flavor came through. I've also done a wheat with lots of honey malt and WLP380. I used only frozen strawberries and didn't get much flavor. It was there but very faint. I've thought about using a Belgian or hefeweizen yeast again with strawberries and flavoring, to see how the spice from the yeast blends with the strawberries. I'd like to hear how yours comes out. I have a malty hefeweizen in primary right now, I may split it and do half with strawberries.
ill put tast notes and pics after it is done , im letting it sit in the bottles for about 6 weeks or so , thats if i can wait that long lol, im thinking about putting some rasberry in my red ale also , havent made my mind up yet
Just made a blackberry Wit with the flavoring. It was a 5 oz bottle and started with 1 oz and added 0.5 oz at a time after that. Stopped at 2.5 oz. I just wanted enough for a little blackberry on the finish. I can't believe the directions say to add a full 5 oz for a 5 gal batch. Nuts!
