How Can I Brew with Literal Waffles??

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Spacelover02

Spacelover02

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I'm interested in incorporating waffles into a brew to go for a sort of breakfast style brew—probably something Belgian to stay on theme—and I want to use genuine waffles in the beer. I'm not sure about the best way to go about doing it to avoid both mold and potentially fermenting away the grain and sugars. My first thought is just to throw them in just before primary fermentation. Would this make sense? I'm worried that putting them in flameout would mean I lose too much flavor, but I want to avoid mold at all costs. Curious if anyone has tried something like this before and if anyone has advice for maximizing flavor and minimizing contamination. (I have a glass 5-gallon carboy if that helps for context and would be happy to provide any additional details about my set-up!)
 
I hate to be the bear of bad news but wouldn't do it. Waffles have all sorts of stuff that would kill a beer. You could replace the candi sugar with maple syrup, but I've heard even that ferments out without much taste.
 
bracconiere said:
if i was dead set on it, i'd add the waffles to the mash. just basically be a wheat beer with some egg flavor wouldn't it? isn't there a jarred egg substitue? maybe use that in the boil, and filter out the coagulation?
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Hm that sounds interesting! I think you're very right that it'd come out basically like an eggy, syrupy wheat beer. I'll think on that substitute idea.
 
I'm with @bracconiere. Mashing is probably the only sanitary option you have. I wouldn't put it in the boil because it's just going to disintegrate. I wouldn't put in the fermentation vessel because well its not sanitary.
 
Sammy86 said:
I'm with @bracconiere. Mashing is probably the only sanitary option you have. I wouldn't put it in the boil because it's just going to disintegrate. I wouldn't put in the fermentation vessel because well its not sanitary.
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yeah and that's why i'd say use egg substitute...i'd be concerned with salmonella with fermenting eggs....not sure if it'd be a problem with the fake stuff? but should give a similar flavor?

so are we thinking wheat beer, little bit of egg flavor, maybe some lactose?
 
jtratcliff said:
Start your strike water...
Grind your grains....
Make a batch of waffles...
Dough in and start your mash...
Eat waffles...
Mashout and sparge...
Continue with brew day as normal....

Ta-da! Brewing with waffles!
Click to expand...


no, no.. this is a 'breakfast beer'! and it sounds interesting....thinking like a milk stout only, it'd be a milk wheat?
 
bracconiere said:
yeah and that's why i'd say use egg substitute...i'd be concerned with salmonella with fermenting eggs....not sure if it'd be a problem with the fake stuff? but should give a similar flavor?

so are we thinking wheat beer, little bit of egg flavor, maybe some lactose?
Click to expand...
I'm into the lactose idea! I have no idea what's in the egg substitute—would be totally new territory for me. I'm coming around to thinking that maybe a whit with some lactose and a well-timed maple syrup addition could capture the feeling of Belgian waffles sufficiently!
 
jtratcliff said:
My targeted ads are gonna look weird for a awhile...
Click to expand...


i wouldn't worry, keep confusing them....they'd have to give up their carbon neutral tag line to run the computing horesepower to control you!....

(personaly, i didn't want to say it because it was off topic. but now that you brought up flavorings. i've made a cookie dough booze, 50/50 barley/molases. aged on cherry wood. damn good!)

edit: @Spacelover02 i'm on board with waffle brew! don't listen to the nay sayers....NEIPA? BRüt? Kviek? you just need a way to make bringing breakfast beer back to the mainstream!
 
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If I was DEAD SET ON adding Waffles to my beer, I'd cook them myself specifically for the task.
No eggs, no soda, no oil, no other stuff alien to beer. It could still be a nice product (think of a church host). It will have all the starch needed for conversion and have zero weird beer-ruining ingredients.
 
Spacelover02 said:
I'm interested in incorporating waffles into a brew to go for a sort of breakfast style brew—probably something Belgian to stay on theme—and I want to use genuine waffles in the beer.

Curious if anyone has tried something like this before and if anyone has advice for maximizing flavor
Click to expand...
So is the goal to use waffles or is the goal to have a beverage with waffle flavor?
Adding things like pumpkin, maple syrup or peaches doesn't automatically produce a beverage that tastes like those things.
Adding waffles will not produce a waffle flavored beer.
The brewing/fermenting process dramatically changes everything.
As already suggested, if you are intent on waffle flavor, try the commercial flavor extracts that are available.
https://www.naturesflavors.com/natural-flavor-concentrate/108098-waffle-concentrate-natural.html
 
bracconiere said:
i wouldn't worry, keep confusing them....they'd have to give up their carbon neutral tag line to run the computing horesepower to control you!....

(personaly, i didn't want to say it because it was off topic. but now that you brought up flavorings. i've made a cookie dough booze, 50/50 barley/molases. aged on cherry wood. damn good!)

edit: @Spacelover02 i'm on board with waffle brew! don't listen to the nay sayers....NEIPA? BRüt? Kviek? you just need a way to make bringing breakfast beer back to the mainstream!
Click to expand...
Ooh didn't think about a kviek...current plan is a Belgian wit but I also just picked up a book on Trappist brewing styles so might have to look into some of those. Some require far more fermentation prowess than I have to offer but the recipes are interesting and some of the darker, malty and caramel flavors of something like a Dubbel might pair well with the waffle flavoring (fingers crossed!). @Falstaff on this thread recommended replacing the Candi sugar with maple syrup...I'm still very into the priming sugar idea, but it's something to think about as well...
 
My question would be what flavor contribution would you expect to get from adding waffles to a beer? When we eat waffles, the flavor we probably most associate is the syrup.

I made a maple wine earlier this year. It tastes just like pancakes (or waffles I guess) in a glass.

Every year we get a gallon of real maple syrup as a Christmas gift from a family member. The good stuff. And we don’t use it in a year. So when we got this year’s we still had another one unopened. I added enough water to it to make 3 gallons and I measured it at about 1.110. Added yeast nutrient and fermented it with a mead yeast since I thought this process was more similar to making a mead. It fermented dry. I added some maple flavor at bottling, but I used the one from Apex.

https://www.apexflavors.com/Beverag...ct-flavor-beer-wine-spirits-natural-cider~826
Bottled it still, not sparkling. I only sampled one bottle and I gave one away. So I have 28 bottles left out of 30. This is a high alcohol beverage I think I will be enjoying more when the weather gets cold.
 
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bwible said:
My question would be what flavor contribution would you expect to get from adding waffles to a beer? When we eat waffles, the flavor we probably most associate is the syrup.

I made a maple wine earlier this year. It tastes just like pancakes (or waffles I guess) in a glass.

Every year we get a gallon of real maple syrup as a Christmas gift from a family member. The good stuff. And we don’t use it in a year. So when we got this year’s we still had another one unopened. I added enough water to it to make 3 gallons and I measured it at about 1.110. Fermented it with a mead yeast since I thought this process was more similar to making a mead. It fermented dry. I added some maple flavor, but I used the one from Apex.

https://www.apexflavors.com/Beverag...ct-flavor-beer-wine-spirits-natural-cider~826
I only sampled one bottle and I gave one away. So I have 28 bottles left out of 30. This is a high alcohol beverage I think I will be enjoying more when the weather gets cold.
Click to expand...
Yes haha for those wondering why I'm even interested in doing this—the "literal waffles" is really a novelty thing but the true goal of this is to capture the taste/emotional experience of consuming Belgian waffles. Which is why the maple syrup is key to the success—but also why, in spite of my insistence on real waffles, I'm secretly flexible 😉 I do really, really like the idea of trying the extract, even if the flavor gets lost or subsumed.
 
I find that using malts with similar flavors is better. As noted above, most foods put in beer don’t maintain their flavors. I might go with some biscuit malt or Vienna, maybe a little victory. Prob use a blend of crystal 20 and 80 to get some sweetness and flavor. Maybe even a touch of honey malt instead of 20
 
WESBREW said:
I find that using malts with similar flavors is better. As noted above, most foods put in beer don’t maintain their flavors. I might go with some biscuit malt or Vienna, maybe a little victory. Prob use a blend of crystal 20 and 80 to get some sweetness and flavor. Maybe even a touch of honey malt instead of 20
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This is great, thank you! Was definitely thinking biscuit malt and crystal but hadn't thought of honey malt... very into it
 
4BCB95A6-88D0-4757-8913-8862606AB100.jpeg
 
It's been a while but wanted to give an update. I used the Belgian waffle extract suggested by @jtratcliff and conditioned with maple syrup. Unfortunately the maple syrup flavor didn't come through as nicely as I would have liked (although I later heard that that's relatively common with using it as a priming sugar) but in any case it carbonated very nicely. On the nose you get the Belgian waffle flavor, then around the middle there's some malty sugary flavors, and then a fade to a sort of nuttiness and mild bitterness on the end. Tasty overall but not as waffle-y as I might have hoped. Also some phenols—not overpowering, but there—which I blame on my lack of a temperature set-up for fermentation. Worth an experiment and a pretty tasty beer, but I'll need another go-around to really nail the waffle!
 
sounds good! now that i've experienced corn flake brew for breakfast. i'm just have to try waffle beer....i think i'd make it 12% ABV though and age it on maple wood....or use malt smoked with maple wood! we are shooting for a hearty breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day after all!
 
Late to this thread but wanted to add one thing that was not mentioned in the original proposal to add waffles to the mash. This comes up every few years when someone wants donuts, or cookies, or brownies, or cake in their home brew (a post from a while back with a picture of someone who'd filled their mash with a variety of doughnuts comes to mind) and it's worth mentioning:

Fatty ingredients are not good for your beer, and not good for your equipment.

You'll see everything from a flabby beer with poor head retention and a mouth-coating off-flavor, to a film on your equipment that is not easily removed. Just an overall really bad time.

The best advice is that flavors like "waffle" can emerge from the interaction of well-known brewing ingredients, or from an additive as OP discovered here. But they won't emerge from adding the actual ingredient to the mash. This is generally even true of maple syrup (which can certainly be used as priming sugar or an addition to the fermenter) but adds very very little maple flavor when added to the boil.
 

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