Bergamot Beer

[Aviciouswind]

I was wondering if anyone out there has tried to make a Bergamot Beer. Bergamot is an orange, with a taste that is slightly sour, but extremely bitter. Most people know this flavor/aroma from Earl Grey Tea. Information on Bergamot

I was able to get my hands on some 100% pure, food-grade bergamot oil, and I'd like to use it to flavor a beer. I was thinking of trying a hefeweizen, since those usually work well with fruit.

Anyone have any ideas? This is my first post here, as I'm relatively new to homebrewing (about 10 batches under my belt, still using extract but moving to all-grain in a few months), and I'm hoping a more seasoned veteran can help me out.

Thanks!

 

[shadowmage36]

Be EXTREMELY judicious with flavor extracts. They can very very VERY easily overpower your beer. I'd brew your hefeweizen recipe of choice, let it ferment out, and rack to secondary (or don't, if you normally don't). Then, when you're bottling, start adding the bergamot oil dropwise (e.g. one drop at a time). Add a drop to the bottling bucket (or secondary), mix well (without aerating!), take a sip. Repeat until you get the flavor level you want. That way you won't add too much and overwhelm the flavors of the beer itself.

As an aside, welcome to HBT!

 

[Aviciouswind]

Thanks a ton for the reply! I figured the best way to add the flavoring was around bottling time.

I'll post how it tastes in a little over a month!

 

[TexLaw]

I was drinking a pot of Earl Grey recently and was thinking along the same lines. I am interested to hear how this turns out for you.


TL

 

[Chard]

Hi guys. i thought the same this morning as im currently sipping on some earl grey here in jolly ol England (god save the Queen).

however i have a few words of warning. I was looking into different forms of fermentation and came across a drink of fermented tea called Kombucha. this uses a Symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast a.k.a. SCOBY to ferment added sugar. All these recipies warn you not to do it with earl grey tea as the bergamot will kill the SCOBY.

this may be because the bacteria are killed and this will have no effect whatsoever on the yeast but who knows. if i still had a subscription to all the journals i had at uni id get onto researching the lysing properties of bergamot ... but i dont... and i cant really be bothered.

Im very interested to see how this turns out and if secondary fermentation is stopped or not. - keep us posted!

 

[Revvy]

I was able to get my hands on some 100% pure, food-grade bergamot oil, and I'd like to use it to flavor a beer.
Thanks!

If it's an oil product it is useless to us. Which sadly MOST orange extract is. In order for it to flavor our beer, it has to be water soluble or at least already in an alcohol base that we could add at bottling time or in secondary. But if it's an oil based extract it will mix about as well as oil and water does, and it will play havoc with head retention and carbonation.

That's why with orange we end up using peels to flavor our beer because there are few if any alcohol based or water soluable orange extracts. I don't know id it has to do with the extraction process or not.

You are better off actually flavoring your beer with actually Earl Grew teabags, then you are trying to use the bergamont OIL.

 

[Chard]

turns out i can be bothered....

In vitro activity of Citrus bergamia (bergamot) oil against clinical isolates of dermatophytes


this basically states that bergamot oil decreases yeast activity. still i might give it a shot with a tiny batch of beer and see how it goes.

 

[Aviciouswind]

So, instead of taking my time and reading through the replies of more seasoned brewers, I just went ahead and brewed up a batch. The recipe I designed is as follows:

-7 Earl Grey teabags (steep in 5 gallons of water at 170 deg for 15 minutes prior to boil)
-6 lbs. Wheat Malt Syrup (60 min)
-2 oz. French Strisselspalt (60 min)
-1 oz. Whole Cloves (15 min)
-1 tbsp. 100% Pure Bergamot Oil Extract (15 min)
-1 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min)
-Wyeast #3944 Belgian Witbier Yeast

OG: 1044

(I decided to go with cloves instead of coriander because I really don't like the way coriander tastes. 1 oz. of coriander can, of course, be used istead)

I smacked the Wyeast the day before, so it was good and puffed. Additions went smoothly. Had to add a little extra water due to liquid lost during the boil to top it off at 5 gallons. It's been in the carboy for 2 days now at about 75 degrees and has been fermenting quite rapidly. There’s a good amount of foam on top, so the oil must not have killed the head too much. The coloring is much darker than a white is supposed to be due to the Earl Grey steeping. Maybe I'll call it a Belgian Black...

So, the good news is, it's going to become some sort of beer. The bad news is, I have no idea what this is going to taste like. The aroma has both bite from the clove and the bitter citrus from the Bergamot.

I'll keep everyone posted as time goes on. I'm hoping I'll be able to get it out of the secondary and into bottles by Christmas.

 

[machinelf]

Very much looking forward to hearing how this turns out. I've been considering a bergamot beer of some sort for a couple of years now. Thanks for the report!

 

[Chard]

ok so the bergamot doesnt affect the yeast so thats something!

sounds really interesting. id love to pop round for a pint when its done but as this is a US forum the round trip from the UK means its probably gonna be the most expensive pint EVER.

keep us posted!

 

[Aviciouswind]

Update Time:

Apparently against some pretty strong odds, my wort fermented and has become beer! I tested the gravity last night and calculated out an abv of 4.2%, about what I was hoping to get for a Belgian Wit. The coloring isn't as dark as I thought it was going to be (only a little darker than a normal wit) and it has that awesome cloudy/unfiltered look!

Also, I tasted a small sample of the warm, uncarbonated beer. And it didn't taste bad! On the contrary, it was rather flavourful. I could definitely pick out the spice of the cloves, the bitter citrus of the Bergamot, and even thought I could pick up a little of the black tea (possibly only because I knew it was in there).

So, time to rack to the secondary. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. I'll be sure to give you guys another update when it's time to bottle.

Speaking of...anyone have any suggestions about carbonation? Revvy mentioned earlier that oils can sometimes mess with that process, and I'd rather not make a still beer =(. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Also, I'll definitely post some pictures online sometime in the near future for those who are interested!

 

[Aviciouswind]

@Chard:

Maybe I'll see how much it would be to ship you a bottle

 

[pint4pat]

isn't bergamot Bee Balm (Monarda) Leaves ??

 

[pint4pat]

welp - nope - bergamot is an orange. But....

bee balm tastes and smells a lot like it - wonder if that can be used??

Experimentation time - woo hoo!!!

 

[pint4pat]

Folklore and History of Bee Balm
The red variety is commonly known as Oswego Tea. It was used by colonists in place of English Tea after the Boston Tea Party, when they threw the English tea in the harbor to protest the high taxes imposed on it by the British. Read More about Oswego Tea.

 

[Chard]

good work. warm flat and bergamotty, sounds like a good cup of tea to me no idea about bottling but i guess if you were to keg a mix of CO2 and N2 would be good like you use for a stout. i think you should continue you so far succesful method of "im just gonna do it" and itll probably work out fine

 

[SnickASaurusRex]

If it's an oil product it is useless to us....

That's why with orange we end up using peels to flavor our beer...

You are better off actually flavoring your beer with actually Earl Grew teabags, then you are trying to use the bergamont OIL.

I want to challenge this.

Bergamont oil and Orange oil are perfectly fine to add to the beer. In the example of the orange, the peel contains the orange oil so adding the peel is the same as adding the orange oil.

Essential oils are only oils in that they are based on a poly-carbonic chain and they do do not behave the same as vegetable oil or motor oil would. most essential oils will dissolve readily into an aqueous solution.

In the case of using Early Grey tea instead of bergamont oil, the tea is flavored with bergamont oil to begin with. So this would not save the beer from the oil in the first place.

Now lets take hops for example. The compounds that we call alpha acids are one in the same with hop essential oil and indeed we would not say that they could be polymerized or isomerized if they were not an oil.

Now lets take barley, as a grain it to contains a percentage of plant based fats, or oils. Granted that much of the fat content is removed with the shoots during the malting process, but the husks and the grain still retain some fats.

Back to the orange oil. If you ever work with orange oil in the kitchen you should know that it will dissolve into liquids rather than float on top like cooking oils will. Most essential oils have very different properties than traditional fats do. If you have a 100% essential oil, as opposed to an essential oil diluted in a carrier oil, try dissolving it in water. You might be surprised at the outcome.

 

[bhatchable]

+1... I've always been under the assumption that essential oils (especially) citrus are soluable. I've never had a layer of oil floating on top of my beer from adding orange, lemon, or tangerine peel. I can't imagine bergamot being much different.

What i'd be most concerned with for this beer is a possible overpowering astrigency from the black tea itself, but you've tried it and it tastes fine, so cheers.

Lastly, even if the bergamot oils aren't soluable, it won't stop you from carbonating the beer at all, it will just have no head retention.

 

[bhatchable]

so I searched this further and found this
Bergamot Oil Information

Insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and oils

and thus the prudence of the advice earlier of adding one drop at a time at bottling to taste. That small of an amount of oil should have no problem dissolving in that large a volume of alcohol. revvy's earlier statement about oils and beer is a bit too general.

 

[riromero]

Why not add a few drops of bergamot oil to a beer that you've already brewed and see how it tastes? Is there any reason you need to add it before fermentation?

 

[bhatchable]

No, just as mentioned earlier add it drop at a time at bottling. it is done fermenting at this time and you have the benefit of using just a few drops per 5 gallon batch, enough for anything from a subtle hint to a dominant flavor.

 

[Aviciouswind]

Bottled this past weekend.

Another week or so in the secondary wouldn't hurt, but I'm hoping to open the first bottle on Christmas with my brother.

Tasted some leftovers from the bottling process and was very impressed. Nice spicy flavour with a delightful hint of citrus in the aftertaste.

Off the top of my head, things I would change about my recipe for next time:

-Add Maltodextrin. The mouth-feel of the beer is super light. I think it could do with a bit more weight to it.
-More fermentables. Haven't decided what yet, but I'd like to get the alcohol content up to 4.5%
-Ditch the Bergamot Extract. I feel liek steeping more teabags would get me the desired result without dabbling with the extract. The stuff is really potent and I'd suggest steering clear if you can.

I'll be back with another update after conditioning! Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Chard]

Cmon man i wanna know how this turned out!

 

[Aviciouswind]

The beer is a hit! Everyone that's tasted it says it's my best to date. Probably because it's the most interesting beer I've brewed.

The color is a nice, murky amber. Definitely has the characteristics of a Belgian Wit.

Head retention is good, despite some of my earlier apprehensions.

Aroma is quite spicy with a hint of citrus.

The flavor is great. Very clean and crisp. The cloves steal the show a bit more than I would have liked them to, but you can definitely taste the earthy tones of the bergamot if you're looking for it.

Age is also making the beer better. The longer I wait to open a bottle, the more the flavor has mellowed. I have about a case left I'm trying to save for next year and I'm excited to see what happens.

All in all, I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I plan on making another batch in the next few months with how well it's been received. Good luck to anyone trying it on their own!

 

[machinelf]

Nice, thanks for the update!

 

[ajwillys]

Hey Aviciouswind,
Been reading through this thread and I'm wondering why you would avoid the bergamot oil? I recently got some to add directly to a beer specifically because it was potent. I see you used 1 tablespoon, which seems like ALOT to me. I wasn't going to add any earl grey, just bergamot. Anyway, I've been searching all over the web for a starting point of how much to add.. so far, this is the only place I can find where someone's added it to their beer and then responded back with how it was.

If I don't hear back, I suppose I'll just do some dosing tests to try to come up with a good amount.

 

[Aviciouswind]

Ajwillys,

If you don't plan on adding any tea to your mix, 1tbsp won't be too much. I worked out well for me, and I got a lot of the orange coming through in the aroma. The reason why I would brew it without the oil next time is because I wanted to get more flavor from the tea.

This beer ended up being one of my favorites. Looking back, i think I'd still want to add soem maltodextrin to the recipe and taper back on my clove content. Good luck with whatever you end up making!

 

[ajwillys]

I'm really just experimenting. I'm using a pilsner malt with a kolsch yeast as a base since its pretty neutral but will be scaling up the ABV (and IBU's to keep BU:GU even) to around 8%.

I'm hoping the bergamot will provide a good amount of orange, but I'm also interested in what it will do the beer as a partial replacement for flavor/aroma hops. The reason I mention that is because I noticed the two main components of bergamot oil are linalyl acetate (30% to 60%) and linalool (11% to 22%). Linalool is an essential oil of hops and is responsible for the citrusy/fruity component. Linalyl acetate is responsible for the floral component in hops.

Anyway, should be a good experiment nonetheless. Thanks for the advise. I have 1 ounce so I could do up to twice what you did, but I'd rather not push it too far. I'm going to do some more research, but might stick with 1 tbsp as you did.

 

[SKBrewer]

I'm making a wit at the moment that I plan on spiking with some earl grey at bottleing. We tried a couple of variations of tea mixed with a commercial wit to see what we like best and our favorite was a tea made with a cold steep for about 10 minutes so I'm going to try something like that. Not sure exactly how much I'm going to use yet, I guess I'll just make a strong tea and add it bit by bit till I get something I like.

 

[SKBrewer]

So my earl grey wit is in the bottles now. I got better efficiency than planed and boiled of more than planned so it ended up having an OG 0f 1.067 so it's more of an imperial wit, It finished at 1.009. I used wyeast 3944 Belgian wit yeast.

For the earl grey I decided to just throw 10 teabags into the bottling bucket (There was only about 4 1/4 gallons at bottling). I've tasted one bottle and it seems pretty good, nice earl grey flavor and the color is only a little on the dark side. If I did it again I'd use a few more teabags, maybe 15 or 20 in a full 5 gallons.