I have a friend that wants me to brew him some beer but wants it to be green like on St Pattys day. The only thing is he wants it green as people open them and not add it in when they open the bottle. Would this affect any of the beer if I add in food coloring during the bottling process? Any advice will help. Thanks home brewers.
Food color during bottling
- Thread starter cphit
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IL1kebeer
Well-Known Member
Not sure if food coloring is sterile or even sanitized enough to ensure long term storage of the beer that it is added to. It could be, but I'd try to find out if I were doing this.
I did it this year and turned out ok. Ended up adding most of a bottle (standard Krogers brand food coloring) to my bottling bucket for 5gal. The only lessons learned would be to begin racking BEFORE adding any coloring. I have a bucket that still has a trace of green in the bottom..........
Get a fresh, unopened bottle of food coloring and sanitize the outside. You should be pretty safe. If you are worried, tell your buddy to drink them fast- say between 2-6 weeks after bottling.
maffewl
Well-Known Member
Just add a couple drops into each bottle before capping... I wouldn't worry too much about the "sanitation" of the food coloring. Everything will turn out just fine.
If you were really paranoid you could always transfer the food coloring to a glass container and sort of double boiler pasturize it. Since it is cooked often it should be temperature stable. The color may fade in time but I do not see it being a problem. Remember to remind your friend(s) to chill the bottles well and pour into a glass.
Thanks for all the advice. They are only going to sit for the two week carbonation period before they get drank. Thanks Maffewl for the dropping the die in each bottle before I cap it advice. That will help with the worry of dying my bottling bucket green.
With this method you might think about pouring a 12oz hydro sample to experiment with after taking your FG reading. I had originally dyed a commercial beer "about" the color/clarity that my beer was to see how much die I'd need to buy. My beer took almost double the amount I had anticipated to get the color I was after.
