Dark fruit flavor......

[maltMonkey]

I am going to do a RIS Saturday, and one of my "flavor goals" is to have some dark fruit/raisin flavors in there. I've put 1lb of Special B in my 17lb grain bill.....that is the only thing I know of to get that dark fruit flavor.....what other ingredients could I use to push this a little farther?

 

[Iordz]

I think Special B will help, you could also use some kind of syrup, like the belgian candi syrup. I would say that most of the fruitiness and dark fruit character will come from the yeast, and this characteristic is especially prominent in Belgian yeast strains. You could make a Belgian strong dark ale, that would have lots of dark fruit character, with the alcohol percentage and complexity of a RIS.

 

[gruntingfrog]

Make sure you use an ale yeast that generates a good deal of fruity esters like WLP023 Burton Ale. This combined with the roasted character from your special malts should produce the dark fruitiness you desire.

 

[maltMonkey]

I was thinking I probably needed a different yeast.....

I'm using Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale (only because I had some washed yeast leftover from my last Scottish 90 shilling and it can handle the high alcohol content).....

 

[Iordz]

If you are making a RIS you can go with a Scottish yeast, it will make the beer quite clean, like an American RIS. But if you want fruitiness go with a Brit yeast.

 

[maltMonkey]

That's too bad.....I've already got my half-gallon starter going with the scottish ale yeast. I'll have to try brewing this again with a British yeast and compare the two.

 

[Iordz]

Don't worry, I'm sure it will turn out great, just a bit clean. Also, the Scottish yeast will leave a lot of risidual sugar, so the beer will probably turn out very malty. You could try fermenting warmer to get some esters, but there is nothing wrong with a smooth RIS.

 

[maltMonkey]

I'm going to ferment it in the 71-74° range and cross my fingers. The two things I love about this yeast (from the 2 experiences I've had with it) is that it's got a really wide temp range, and it's very active and fast fermenting. Seems to hold up to reuse very well, too.

Thanks for the help, Iordz.

 

[DeathBrewer]

yeah, next time i'd use a belgian yeast if you want some of those fruitier flavors and raisin and plum notes.