Extract flavoring

[kvanconant]

So my friend and I have brewed quite a few good brews. We have tried two brews with extract flavoring after we keg it and both have turned horrible after the extract addition. Both have tasted good before we kegged it then after we add the flavoring it tastes horrible. We tried a cranberry Hefeweizen and it ended up tasting like horrible old bubblegum.
Any ideas?


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[ColoHox]

So you added cranberry extract once it was kegged? Why did you choose this route instead of adding actual cranberries to the beer?

I have added vanilla, maple, and oak extracts to the keg. Adding the real deal (for vanilla and oak) leaves a far superior flavor, maple is tricky anyway. I do not like fruit flavored beer, so I have not used any fruit or fruit extracts, but IME with others, flavoring usually requires less extract than you think it will, and sometimes it is just not good.

Try using actual fruit for your flavoring instead of extract to see if that produces the flavor you are looking for.

 

[kvanconant]

We put crushed cranberries in the boil at 60 mins then our hops. Then put it in the fermenter for 7 days. We hit out FG for three days and kegged it. When we put it in the keg is when we put three ounces of cranberry extract. I had found a recipe that was simlar to what we wanted and substituted some of the malts and changed it from cherry to cranberry. But the recipe said to add cranberry extract once fermentation was done?


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[kvanconant]

So you added cranberry extract once it was kegged? Why did you choose this route instead of adding actual cranberries to the beer?

I have added vanilla, maple, and oak extracts to the keg. Adding the real deal (for vanilla and oak) leaves a far superior flavor, maple is tricky anyway. I do not like fruit flavored beer, so I have not used any fruit or fruit extracts, but IME with others, flavoring usually requires less extract than you think it will, and sometimes it is just not good.

Try using actual fruit for your flavoring instead of extract to see if that produces the flavor you are looking for.

So if we add just cranberry in the boil and not add the extract after fermentation it should produce the cranberry taste?

 

[mtnagel]

So you added cranberry extract once it was kegged? Why did you choose this route instead of adding actual cranberries to the beer?

I have added vanilla, maple, and oak extracts to the keg. Adding the real deal (for vanilla and oak) leaves a far superior flavor, maple is tricky anyway. I do not like fruit flavored beer, so I have not used any fruit or fruit extracts, but IME with others, flavoring usually requires less extract than you think it will, and sometimes it is just not good.

Try using actual fruit for your flavoring instead of extract to see if that produces the flavor you are looking for.

You do realize that commercial brewers use extracts all the time, right? They make such big batches, they can't mess with adding hundreds of vanilla beans or hundreds of pounds of fruit.

I know everyone likes to suggest using the original material, which is absolutely fine, but there is nothing wrong with adding extacts. When you soak a vanilla bean in bourbon or vodka, you are creating an extract just like the extract companies do on a larger scale.

Of course there are poor extracts and it's possible to add too much (or too little). I'd probably avoid the Dollar Store imitation vanilla extract, but a nice quality Madagascar vanilla extract is fine to use in a beer.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I am sure there is extract, and then there is EXTRACT.

Probably need some better stuff. That said, I agree with colohox. The real thing will always be the best route.

 

[ColoHox]

You do realize that commercial brewers use extracts all the time, right? They make such big batches, they can't mess with adding hundreds of vanilla beans or hundreds of pounds of fruit.

I know everyone likes to suggest using the original material, which is absolutely fine, but there is nothing wrong with adding extacts. When you soak a vanilla bean in bourbon or vodka, you are creating an extract just like the extract companies do on a larger scale.

Of course there are poor extracts and it's possible to add too much (or too little). I'd probably avoid the Dollar Store imitation vanilla extract, but a nice quality Madagascar vanilla extract is fine to use in a beer.

I realize that. I also never said there was something wrong with using extracts. I did say that I had used them myself, with good and bad results.

I also tend to not like artificially flavored beer, as it is very tricky to get the right flavors, even if the extract is 100% organic fruititarian approved.

Like cheezy said, there are good and bad commercial extracts. Since we are not brewing commercially, why not add a few pounds of cranberries instead?

 

[ColoHox]

So if we add just cranberry in the boil and not add the extract after fermentation it should produce the cranberry taste?

You mentioned that you did add cranberry in the boil. Did you not taste the sample before kegging to see how much cranberry-ish-ness there was?

 

[mtnagel]

I realize that. I also never said there was something wrong with using extracts. I did say that I had used them myself, with good and bad results.

I also tend to not like artificially flavored beer, as it is very tricky to get the right flavors, even if the extract is 100% organic fruititarian approved.

Like cheezy said, there are good and bad commercial extracts. Since we are not brewing commercially, why not add a few pounds of cranberries instead?

Nothing is wrong with that of course. You did say that, "Adding the real deal leaves a far superior flavor." I just do not think that is universally true. And I see too many people say to never use extracts and to only use the real things when many people are essentially making extracts (e.g. vanilla beans in bourbon). I was just trying to set the record straight.

 

[ColoHox]

Nothing is wrong with that of course. You did say that, "Adding the real deal leaves a far superior flavor." I just do not think that is universally true. And I see too many people say to never use extracts and to only use the real things when many people are essentially making extracts (e.g. vanilla beans in bourbon). I was just trying to set the record straight.

That wasn't a blanket statement, I was refering to vanilla and oak extracts. That said, I find that making and using my own vanilla extract in bourbon achieves a better flavor compared to a commercial vanilla extract. I certainly agree though, that they are both extracts.

 

[kvanconant]

You mentioned that you did add cranberry in the boil. Did you not taste the sample before kegging to see how much cranberry-ish-ness there was?

It tasted good but didn't really have a distinct cranberry flavor. We were making for my wife and his fiance. I'm not to big on fruit beers but they wanted one.
It tasted good but they wanted more cranberry taste. I used the extract from Rebel brewer.

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