Adding mint

[ljforster701]

Just wondering if somebody has made a beer with a mint taste. I was thinking of coming up with a beer with a slight mint taste. I'm assuming I would add in the secondary. Need some options. Thanks in advance.

 

[Pie_Man]

I just had a sour beer with mint at a local brewery, it was ok. I'm not sure mint and beer is a good combo. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but that's my experience and opinion. If you were to use mint, probably mint with a chocolate beer would be the best flavor combination.

 

[julioardz]

Mint beer and experimenting with mint and beer does not sound interesting to me, but if it did, I would start by adding a few drops of mint extract to some commercial beer or homebrew that is ready to drink. A bit in an American wheat or a blonde would probably be my approach, unless you're going after the Girl Scouts Thin Mint flavor.

If experimenting with extract in beer that is ready to drink turned out to be any good, then I would crush some mint leaves into some vodka, soak for a few hours/days, then add the strained vodka to the bottling bucket or keg. I have no experience in this, but that would be my approach. I use mint for other drinks and food. I often make strawberry mint soda, mint limeade, and add mint to margaritas. Mint beer is just something I wouldn't want to try. Maybe in a strawberry wheat beer I've made, but that's it.

Edit: Maybe trying a recipe with some minty hops like perle would help accentuate that flavor and aroma. Mint is something I like more to accentuate the flavor profile, not contrast it, if that makes any sense. But that's my preference. I know some people really like mint in their coffee and chocolate. Not me. Mint is a fresh flavor. I pair it with other fresh tasting ingredients.

 

[Hanso]

Think about what mint goes well with in the world of food and it will give you good idea of the kind of beer flavors to pair it with.... not for dry or bitter beers imo. Stick with malty, chocolate, fruit pairings and you will probably be on the right track. I would look to pair with styles like porter, english barleywine (iffy... keep it subtle), English mild, Belgian strong. Probably initially some guess work involved as far as quantity is concerned, and make adjustments on future batches. Keep us posted regarding the decision/results.

 

[lpdjshaw]

I think it's a great idea. Had a Moraccan mint and wildflower honey Stone IPA on cask awhile back and it was AWESOME. Remember that mint is gonna add a little sweetness so consider that if you're adding it to a maltly beer. IMO the mint blended perfectly with the dry citrus of an IPA.
As far as adding it, I'd just put the crushed leaves directly into secondary. One way to experement: you could split your batch into 1 gal containers and vary the number of leaves in each and see which amount tasted the best. Then if you liked it you could just scale up for the next full size batch.

 

[passedpawn]

Be careful with mint. I have fresh mint growing in my yard and I use it in ice cream. It's a powerful flavor; I overdo it often, much to the chagrin of my family.

 

[luke_d]

I always feel like maybe a chocolatey stout would lend itself to mint flavors pretty well. May try it...

 

[ivegot2legs]

I made a mint stout once. Heavy stout, with lots of dark grains but no chocolate. Still a very chocolate taste.

I added about a pound of fresh mint leaves at flame out. And about a half pound as a "dry-hop". I made mint extract but it was crappy so I didn't use it.

I bulk aged for about 6 months. It was ok, but kind of a chlorophyll taste with the mint. It's been bottle aged for almost a year now, and it's become very well balanced (the intense flavours of all the dark grains have rounded and the mint has become a great subtext).

I heard of a lot of folks adding 4 oz here, 6 oz there, and they said it was never noticeable. I wanted mint, and I got a good flavour from it. I could have used more.

 

[chawagi]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/mint-chocolate-stout-92415/

Check out this recipe. My mouth started watering when I came across this one yesterday. This one will be on deck and ready to brew as soon as I clear the Honey wheat out of my carbouy.

I will most likely go with what someone suggested above and use the mint extract rather than leaves, but other than that this one sounds delish.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Oh the joys of living in North Western Wisconsin, a Coffee Mint Stout from South Shore Brewery is one of my favorite beers and I buy up whatever I can whenever I see it in the stores.

Granted what everyone has been saying, its something you have to be careful with, I like the Coffee Mint Stout because the mint is in the back ground its not the main draw.

 

[cracked1]

A California Common is supposed to have a minty flavor which it gets from using Northern Brewer hops. If you haven't used them before, those hops can give you a very minty flavor and aroma if you dry hop.

 

[ColeR]

i use Basil in beer, and i add 1.2oz at 5 min before flame out then pull it out after the 5 min, then I add another 1.2oz when cooling, (180deg i stop the cooling for 10min), then i pull it out after the 10 min.

i would assume that would work for mint as well.

CR-

 

[MNSmitty]

Oh the joys of living in North Western Wisconsin, a Coffee Mint Stout from South Shore Brewery is one of my favorite beers and I buy up whatever I can whenever I see it in the stores.

Granted what everyone has been saying, its something you have to be careful with, I like the Coffee Mint Stout because the mint is in the back ground its not the main draw.

I had that beer at All Pints North in Duluth last year. It was my favorite beer there. Got my vote for best in show. The mint flavor in it was perfect.

BTW, great user name.. Car RamRod!

 

[PissyFingers]

Here's a beer that would be fun to clone, had a bottle a month ago, bloody good stuff!

They use mint in this DIPA among other things..... good read!

http://thegarargeproject.tumblr.com/post/50884352716/death-from-above