Mango habanero NE-style pale ale

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

So, inspired by the Habanero Sculpin, the SWMBO suggested I brew a mango/habanero IPA as my next beer.

I thought two things. First, mango might get lost in an IPA. Second, I haven't seen a lot of northeast-style fruit beers. Yet people love to talk about how they taste "hints of stone fruit" when they review beers of this style. Combining these two ideas, I thought it might be nice to brew a pale ale in the style of a NEIPA, and then rack it on top of mango and habanero.

First off, sanity check: does that sound like a reasonable pairing?

Anyway, on to the recipe:

7 lbs., 1 oz. 2-row
2 lbs flaked oats
10 oz. Munich
11 oz. crystal 40
2 oz. carapils

(Yeah, I know that 2 oz. carapils is probably worthless. It's a product of scaling down another recipe. I'll probably substitute it for another ounce each of C40 and 2-row. One the other hand, I buy grain by weight at the LHBS, so it doesn't really matter.)

Mash at 153 for 60 minutes. Sparge at 165 for 20 minutes.

Hop additions:
0.85 oz. Nugget (11% AA) @ 60 min. (or whatever is needed to get the right amount of bitterness
1 oz. each Citra and Mosaic hop stand (10 min. at 170)

Ferment with Imperial Organics "Citrus" (WLP 644; i.e., "brett" trois) in the mid-70s.

Rack onto 4-5 lbs of chopped mango and 2 halved habaneros. Let sit for two weeks. Dry hop with 7 days remaining with 1 oz. each citra and mosaic.

Thoughts? Critique on the recipe? My hope is that citra and mosaic will complement the mango, and that the cloudiness of the brew will be evocative of a fruit smoothie.

 

[murphyslaw]

I think the mango would work great. I could see the habanero going either way.

I'd probably do a longer hop stand, and I'd probably double the hops both in the hop stand and the dry hop.

 

[PrezDickie]

This actually sounds really good. My SWMBO suggested I try a jalepeno mango/pineapple. Its an idea taken from a cider place around me that makes a pineapple jalapeño for summer that is fantastic

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

This actually sounds really good. My SWMBO suggested I try a jalepeno mango/pineapple. Its an idea taken from a cider place around me that makes a pineapple jalapeño for summer that is fantastic

Pineapple cider, you say? Is it any good?

I had a can of the pineapple sculpin once. I thought it was revolting, frankly. Fermented pineapple flavor ended up tasting like potpourri. I assumed that I could safely write off pineapple in beer.

Edit: not trying to be mean or anything. If you brew it and it turns out well, post the recipe somewhere. I'd be happy to hear if there's a good beer that uses pineapple.

 

[murphyslaw]

Pineapple cider, you say? Is it any good?

I had a can of the pineapple sculpin once. I thought it was revolting, frankly. Fermented pineapple flavor ended up tasting like potpourri. I assumed that I could safely write off pineapple in beer.

Edit: not trying to be mean or anything. If you brew it and it turns out well, post the recipe somewhere. I'd be happy to hear if there's a good beer that uses pineapple.

I really liked pineapple sculpin.

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ballast-point-pineapple-sculpin/341838/

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

I really liked pineapple sculpin.

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ballast-point-pineapple-sculpin/341838/

Yeah, I was surprised when I saw its ratings, too. I wonder if I just didn't get a bad can? I know tastes can differ, but I had other people I was with try it as well, and we agreed that it was objectively terrible. Oh well. Maybe pineapple is for another brew day.

 

[PrezDickie]

Pineapple cider, you say? Is it any good?

I had a can of the pineapple sculpin once. I thought it was revolting, frankly. Fermented pineapple flavor ended up tasting like potpourri. I assumed that I could safely write off pineapple in beer.

Edit: not trying to be mean or anything. If you brew it and it turns out well, post the recipe somewhere. I'd be happy to hear if there's a good beer that uses pineapple.

I actually like the pineapple sculpin. The watermelon sculpin made me want to rip my tongue out 😂 No offense taken. The pineapple cider actually works great. I can agree on the beer and pinepple may be off tasting if not done right, so I'm still debating. But if I do go about it the recipe will be posted for sure

 

[PrezDickie]

Yeah, I was surprised when I saw its ratings, too. I wonder if I just didn't get a bad can? I know tastes can differ, but I had other people I was with try it as well, and we agreed that it was objectively terrible. Oh well. Maybe pineapple is for another brew day.

My roommate is currently doing a pineapple mango should be ready in a couple weeks. If its good I'll post recipe

 

[murphyslaw]

Yeah, I was surprised when I saw its ratings, too. I wonder if I just didn't get a bad can? I know tastes can differ, but I had other people I was with try it as well, and we agreed that it was objectively terrible. Oh well. Maybe pineapple is for another brew day.

Certainly tastes differ, and I don't mean to suggest that you're "wrong". I was just meant it as evidence that pineapple can work for a lot of people.

The watermelon sculpin and some of the others, to my tastes, were over the top. I thought the pineapple was subtle. Makes me think you might have gotten a bad one. Or might just not like pineapple.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

Well, I finally brewed the recipe in the original post yesterday. Pitched @ 70. FG was 1.051.

I ended up using 2 ounces each of Citra and Mosaic. I accidentally cooled past 170 to 150 before dropping the hops in, so I let the stand go for an hour instead of 20 minutes (a "tepid" hop stand, according to BYO). Smelled a lot like Citra when I was done.

 

[jready]

Excited to hear how this comes out I have had a couple of great cask IPAs with the mango habanero combo and loved them!

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

Fermentation seems to have died down, so I took a gravity sample. 1.010 six days into fermentation. That's only 80% apparent attenuation or so, so I expect it to drop a few more points. Either way, I'm racking on top of the fruit next Saturday or Sunday, where it'll sit another 2+ weeks.

Tastes good and has a nice hop aroma. Definitely has that hazy orange juice appearance.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

Update: Day 12, I racked onto the fruit. I changed my mind a little and decided to rack on two frozen bags of kesar mango pulp and three habaneros. The chillies I got from the store weren't super hot, and I like spicy things. Now time to let it ride. I'm pretty sure that there's a lot of residual sugar in frozen mango pulp, so it might be a wild ride.

In a little more than a week, I dry hop, then it's off to bottles.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

So, another update. I did a gravity sample today--the last one I'm going to do before I bottle (a little less than 2 weeks from now). It looks like the mango addition dropped the gravity down to 1.006. More than I would've hoped, but not bad.

Curiously, I get a noticable amount of habanero flavor and aroma, but very little spicy kick. I would have thought that flavor and aroma would have been completely lost what with the pungent hops and mango. You can sort of feel the capsaicin on the back of your throat, but it's not really spicy.

Overally, I'm very satisfied except for the low body. Maybe it'll seem like it has a fuller body when it's carbed.

 

[PrezDickie]

my roommate just brewed a Pineapple Mango Hefe, mango absolutely no noticeable mango flavor or aroma. I feel like its qualities are easily lost. Habanero has such a strong flavor/aroma characteristic to it that I feel as though unless there is a lot of dry hopping, it will still shine through the hops. But this still sounds awesome, I may have to brew a batch myself

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

This beer also has a noticeable mango flavor, I should add. I just didn't find that surprising. I mean, I added a lot: over three pounds of pulp.

My advice for brewing with mango: if you're going to use the pulp, make sure you don't get the stuff with sugar added. Also, pay attention to whether or not it's concentrated. I used 3 pounds of unconcentrated, unsweetened Kesar mango pulp. The stuff that comes in cans that I see sold at South Asian grocery stores is sweetened.

Also, there is an IMMENSE amount of mango pulp floating in the fermenter. Even the pulp has a lot of solid bits. I'm sure that will be a pleasure to rack, or it'll be a lot of trub loss.

I notice that habanero has a flavor and aroma that might not be all that pleasant at larger doses. Sort of a non-hoppy dankness.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

Today I dry hopped with 2 oz. of Citra and 1 oz. of Mosaic.

Because there are several inches of solid pulp floating in the fermenter, the hops would not have just sat on top of the fruit instead of getting wet had I simply tossed them in. So I put the hops in a sanitized muslin bag with sanitized ball bearings weighting it down so that they would sink.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

OK, I'm drinking the first one of these, having been carbonated for about 11 days.

Aroma: Awesome. Citra, mango, maybe a teeny bit of habanero
Flavor/mouthfeel: Not bitter enough. Habanero comes in at exactly the right amount. Slightly too dry.

I'd give it a 4/5. Overall, I'm glad, not disappointed, that I have 40+ of these too look forward to.

Hoping I get better hop flavor and bitterness once they've conditioned for longer. Maybe the sugar still hasn't fermented out all the way yet.

 

[PrezDickie]

This sounds really good. Got me thinking of trying a jalapeño hefe

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm really happy with my Mango Habanero. I used all Azacca since it has a mango thing by itself. 6 pounds of mango puree. 2 sliced peppers with seeds went into the keg for 3 days and removed.