Adding Tang to Beer

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

krenshaw

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Dec 26, 2010
Messages
3,227
Reaction score
3,942
Location
Western Pennsylvania
with Tangerine IPAs popping up here and there I thought it may be kinda neat to try a weird specialty beer utilizing Tang. My thought was to make not a session IPA but not a big one at all and to add Tang flavoring to it, either at the boil or during fermentation like a dry hop. Any idea what you think this may do to the brew? I know the boil would make the most sense but I was wondering how practical it would be to add at like 1.020 or so to possibly better control the flavor profile since I have no idea what its going to do.. anybody have any thoughts?
 
Hey,

I'm not sure this would work. Isn't TANG mostly sugar? I feel it would mostly ferment out and loose a lot of the flavor. Let us know if you try it.

- Jeff
 
yeah it is mostly sugar, so i would have to figure out how much i am using and plug that in to add to the gravity.. but i guess there is flavoring in there as well that isn't sugar.. that's just a guess on my part thought i have no idea.. i guess the alternative would be to make a really really dry ipa and then just add it at kegging time, though it may be hard to mix it together when its cold
 
If you're looking for orange flavor and aroma, I highly recommend pure orange oil. It comes in tiny bottles, and that's fine, because it's very powerful. I bought a bottle of it from a citrus store when I was in Florida, but the product is available online.

I just finished an IPA with all Mosaic hops and used 1 drop of orange oil per 6 oz in the keg/bottles. It is stunning! I am possibly going to post the recipe once I get some beer glamour shots taken.
 
You might be better off just adding the Tang ingredients that are not fermentable sugar - citric acid and "orange solids."

mmmmmm orange solidssssss

orange_slices_bulk1_5.jpg
 
dude, if you really want Tang flavor in your beer as opposed to orange extracts, go for it. The sugars will ferment out but surely theres enough artificial flavors to actually make it taste like Tang. I added 2lbs of Jolly Rancher candies to a beer and it was awesome
 
I wanted to retain as much of the flavor and aromatics as I could, so I melted them and boiled to sanitize, then added to the fermentor. From the nutrition facts, I roughly estimated it added about +0.004 to my OG from the amount of sugar in it, but I didnt really care too much about the numbers. The end product was really, really interesting. Absolutely no sweetness made it through. It was a session IPA so the flavor was all hops. But the smell was like candy and then after you swallowed, youd get a hint of jolly ranchers at teh back of your tongue like youd just finished eating one.

So I'd try boiling some concentrated tang mixture and adding to the fermentor
 
Short of just adding Tang to the beer, you could do a sour mash and add tangerine zest at the end of the boil. Actually, add sour mash IPA to my to do list . . .

But really, if you like Tang and want to see what happens, add the stuff. Do it. If it's from a sealed, sterile container, you could even do it as dry-tanging.
 
Adding Tang or that candy or anything like that equates to adding sugar and artificial flavors. At the very least, if you don't want to use real fruit, you should find a quality extract. The artificial flavors are going to taste just that - artificial.
 
well i put the tang in the boil in the last couple min.. just about done fermenting and so far i like it! the sugar has fermented out as expected, but the orangey flavor is sticking through nicely so i'm looking forward to trying it once its cold and carbed!
 
glad it worked out. Now you can say a pint of your beer has 100% daily value for Vitamin C
I got my latest Jolly Rancher thing kegged and the flavor sticks around right in the finish.
 
yeah! i had somebody else try it and they liked it.. you get the same reaction, you take a taste.. think about it, then look at the glass and go "huh?!?" .. make you feel like a kid again but it has alcohol in it!
 
It turned out really neat. Very unique and dry.. got it down to 1.006 and though the sweetness is out, that citrusy "tang" is there on the backend like a good carbonic bite. I'm making it again and dry hopping it a bit to even out the flavors a little and i think it'll be even better!
 
Well, I'm glad I'm not the only crazy who sees the Tang and says - let's make some hooch. I'm on a 93-octane Ginger Beer kick right now but on a lark I've decided to make some straight up carbonated Tang hooch. Funny, there's not many threads of people talking about such things. I even went compete ho-made with it and used Flieschman's Rapid Rise Yeast. I don't want to waste a packet go 1118 on this yet (plus, I'm out and waiting til 8/1 for delivery). If it comes out near decent I may incorporate it into a ginger beer recipe - maybe: 1gal spring water, 1lb ginger, 2c Tang, nutrient and 1118 to make a 6% dry ginger orange "soda". I'll try and report back if I don't die a painful quick death from the experiment.
 
What about using Tang in place of the priming sugar? Thoughts?
Don’t see why not. Not sure you could add enough to make the flavor shine through, but its an easy experiment to try.
 
Haha..just stumbled upon this thread. A local brewery near me is releasing this beer tomorrow.....they’re actually a really good brewery.

 
I just primed a few bottle of my hefe-weizen with blue raspberry and cherry Jolly Rancher candies. One is a bit much for a twelve ounce bottle at three grams of sugar.

They're tart so I'm interested to see how this works.
 
I've been seeing this thread in my feed for almost a month now. I thought it was just the question of adding a tangy flavor to beer. Then it hit me: it's TANG, like the drink of the astronauts.

That's a horse of a different color.
 
Hop with Amarillo and Bergamot (tag line for Bergamot: "never have to add orange slice again").
Ferment with 1/2 recommended pitch rate of Lallemand Voss Kveik, hold 95F throughout.

Like orange juice.
I'm guessing that someone who would add tang to beer couldn't keep the hops aroma more than two days.
 
Back
Top