Garlic experience anyone?

[bellyofbeer]

I have a garlic festival coming up locally and am looking to put a smoked porter with a garlic infusion into competition. I was hoping someone might have some insight on how to do so without an overpowering outcome. So, any suggestions or experience?

 

[TNGabe]

Did you try the Googles? Quite a lot of hits, even a recipe or two, I'm not sure if any of them are helpful. In the HBT thread I skimmed, Yooper suggested roasting the garlic, which sounds more palatable than raw. As much as I hate smoked malt and as bad as garlic in a beer sounds, somehow roasted garlic in a smoked porter sounds almost like something I'd try, if not exactly sessionable.

 

[DrunkleJon]

My only suggestion is go sparing on the garlic. Such a strong flavor with a high chance of overpowering your brew. Could be really good though.

 

[Chadwick]

I agree with with everyone above. Roast the garlic to remove as much of its bite as possible, then use as little as possible. I would even consider adding other small additions of herbs to offset the garlic. Perhaps some basil would blend nicely. Maybe not. If you do brew this, please keep up informed on how it turns out.

 

[jc5066]

Garlic porter sounds good. Especially with some smoked brisket or grilled chicken.


Let us know how it turns out.

 

[kman6234]

Like the others have mentioned I'd try roasting the garlic and then maybe adding 2 cloves to a five gallon batch. I could see it being interesting in a smoked porter!

 

[Bassaholic]

You could possibly try to find some black garlic. That would make for an interesting experiment. It has much sweeter notes that even roasted garlic and I've seen some tutorials on how to make it at home with a rice cooker. But if time/money is a factor I think a little bit of roasted garlic would be a nice touch as well.

 

[bellyofbeer]

It has been brewed. I never found any definitive recipes offering much in terms of a starting point for balance. So I decided to start slow by adding one large whole roasted bulb, no oil in roast of course, to a 16 gallon batch. It yielded about two ounces of mashed garlic which I added to last 5 min of boil, whirlpooled it for a few minutes and let steep for about 10. This was apparently too apprehensive of an approach. The wort is delicious, smoke is well balanced, but lacking any noticeable garlic notes. I figured better safe than sorry. Anyways, I split the wort into 3- 4gallon batches. I plan on doing some experimenting with dry-cloving both roasted and fresh garlic as well as doing some possible herb additions after some research. I like the black garlic idea. I'll keep you guys posted and will put up the recipe when I have more time. Thanks for all of your input and interest.

Cheers

 

[estricklin]

I'm actually going to suggest NOT roasting it. Leave the garlic in big pieces, don't dice or chop it. Garlic becomes more "hot" and pungent the smaller it is. So large raw pieces tend to bring out the sweeter notes.

Hell I dunno though...if Yoopers said roast it, I might roast it.

 

[dfess1]

Experience? yes. An exhuberant homebrewer and his gf brought in a bottle to my friends bar and made us try it. They were going to steep 8 heads for the last minute of the boil. Instead they added the 8 heads, and choose to "knock one out" as they put it. Came back a half hour later and pulled the garlic out. Quite possibly the worst beer I've ever tasted. Sad part is they were extremely proud of it.

 

[nofootbreak]

Try a tincture. Soak it in some high abv grain alcohol like everclear (vodka will work too) for a few days and add to taste at bottling.