Pomegranate Wheat Questions - POM Juice

[joeldp144]

I brewed a couple of batches of beer 2 weeks ago.....one 5 gallon batch of Yooper's Ruination Clone and one 11 gallon batch of a friend's wheat beer. I only had 2 kegs available for the wheat beer, so I needed to bottle some of it. I decided to bottle 2 gallons, but I wanted to make it a little different from my kegs. So, I decided to add one 16 oz bottle of POM Juice to it. It was 100% juice (which is what I was looking for), and I couldn't find many other options without preservatives. I would have preferred a rasberry juice. Next time, I'll just order some extract, but I made the decision on the day of bottling. I am sure some of you will cringe, but I don't mind a fruit modified beer from time to time (I don't discriminate). I also thought that it may be a good one for my wife to try since she generally hates beer (except for Frambois). Blasphemy!

My questions are:

1. Does anyone have experience using this juice in a brew? What did you think?

2. What usage amount did you find palatable? Do you think that I added too much? The sample from my bottling bucket was a little too far on the tart side initially, but it was warm and uncarbonated. I am guessing that it will tone down with time as well.

3. I added the juice to my bottles with priming sugar. The bottle had 31 g of sugar per serving (according to the label), so I subtracted the appropriate amount of sugar directly from my total priming sugar calculation. Therefore, the bottle had 62 g of sugar for what I added. (ie total desired sugar was around 70 grams, so I only added about 8 grams of sugar) Did I approach this the right way, or should I have not taken 100% credit for the sugar in the juice? I am afraid that my carbonation may end up low in my bottles and that I might have to empty a keg and pour the bottles into it in order to get the right carbonation levels.

Please let me know your thoughts. I plan to sample a bottle tonight, but it is only a week old, so I don't expect the carbonation to be right just yet, regardless. I should be able to get a representative sample of the taste though. I'll keep you posted (pun intended).

 

[Pappers_]

I can't help you, have never used POM juice, but am thinking about trying it. I think I will add it in secondary and let another fermentation kick off - get the color and tartness of the pomegranates without the sweetness. Might be good with a little sweet lemon or orange peel, too, round out the flavors. Now you've got me thinking . . .

Let us know how it turned out!

 

[thelastdandy]

revvy just helped me with a similar question about alternative carbonation sugars. check out this link and he explains how to account for the sugars in the juice (or in my case syrup).

www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/carbonation-syrup-210377/

if the link doesn't work, google carbonation with syrup. might be helpful.

 

[joeldp144]

Quick Update: Sampled the POM Wheat earlier tonight, and it has only been bottled for about 8 days. Suprisingly, the carbonation was actually pretty good. This tells me that my assumption that the sugar content on the bottle was obviously pretty close, but we'll see how things progress in the coming weeks.

As for the taste, I have to say that this is just right. My wife actually took my beer from me, and drank the whole thing. She NEVER DRINKS A WHOLE BEER, but she was looking for more when she was done. IMHO, it was the right amount of POM juice. Anything less would have been close to undetectible, and anything more might have been too tart. I am going to give it a few weeks to see how things meld together, but I am planning to add some POM juice to one of my other "regular" wheat kegs to make it a different offering.

My brother was here, and he tried it as well. He compared it to an Abita Purple Haze.....for what that is worth.

I highly recommend considering the use of this juice in a brew if you are looking at this option. I'll update in a few weeks once it has time to gel.

 

[Jeremym19]

I just bottled a wheat beer that i added 60oz. of POM juice to 5 gal. in the secondary. I allowed it to ferment out in the secondary and just bottled normally. All the samples tasted great so far, nice tart finish.

 

[joeldp144]

I just bottled a wheat beer that i added 60oz. of POM juice to 5 gal. in the secondary. I allowed it to ferment out in the secondary and just bottled normally. All the samples tasted great so far, nice tart finish.

That sounds great. We may be on to something here. When I add the POM juice to my keg (probably a month or so away), I won't have an exact measurement of what is remaining in the keg, so I'll probably lean a little on the high side. So, I may be somewhere between what I originally added to my bottles and what you added to your batch.

Great minds think alike!

 

[joeldp144]

I just bottled a wheat beer that i added 60oz. of POM juice to 5 gal. in the secondary. I allowed it to ferment out in the secondary and just bottled normally. All the samples tasted great so far, nice tart finish.

The only down-side that I can see to the POM juice at this point is that it is pretty expensive ($5/16 oz). I guess that you can't put a price on good beer.

I may just see if I can make an IPA and dry hop it with bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs.

 

[Jeremym19]

Yeah that stuff can get pricy, luckily i found a 60oz container at costco for $10! Future batches of POM wheat will probably be dependent on cheap POM juice. Although you might be able to sub in some bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs and get a similar tartness?

 

[Jeremym19]

Quick update for the 3 people that might be interested....
Bottled beer is tasting great after a week in the bottle. Nicely carbed and has a great pomegranate flavor and tart finish. 60oz. in 5 gal was a nice amount.

 

[HitTheTwit]

Quick update for the 3 people that might be interested....
Bottled beer is tasting great after a week in the bottle. Nicely carbed and has a great pomegranate flavor and tart finish. 60oz. in 5 gal was a nice amount.

If every 16oz bottle of POM juice contains the nectar of 4 pomegranates, then you used about 16 of 'em in 5 gallons. Hell, that's a huge sell for the juice over using the fruit itself.

I'm doing something very similar with a basic American Wheat, where I'll add POM or Black Currant juice to the secondary. I had figured more like 16oz per 5 gallon carboy though...now you got me wondering.

The plan is to make a sessionable beer that the girl loves, but has enough flavor and complexity to satisfy my regular boozing.

If you've got any thoughts or tricks regarding the juice, please let us know!

 

[AKnewbrews]

I have a Pomegranate Wit in the secondary. It's just about done with the 14 fresh Pomegranates, pureed and soaked in vodka. So far so good. Can't wait till it's carbed up and ready to drink.

 

[Hex]

I made a Pomegranate Wheat beer last year. We have two trees, so I collected enough fruit to squeeze a gallon of raw juice, I used a strainer and pestle similar to this, I collected the juice, threw in a pinch of potassium meta bi sulfide, let it stand overnight, and added the fresh juice to the secondary.
It was an wheat extract brew, and that was the only detraction.
This season I will make an all grain version, and a gallon of juice was fine in 5 gal beer...nice tart finish.

 

[WIBeerGeek]

edit: Sorry, I accidently posted this in the wrong forum, should have double checked which tab I was in, in Firefox...

Okay, so I think I have a recipe and I wanted to get opinions..

6 lbs Wheat LME 65% Wheat
1 lb Wheat DME 55% Wheat
4 oz Belgian Biscuit Malt
3 oz Belgian CaraMunich
3 oz Belgian Aromatic


Hops
60 mins
5 oz Hallertau

30 min addition
0.25 oz Amarillo pellet
0.5 oz Hallertau pellet

15 min
10 fl oz POM Pomegranate Juice

Wyeast German Wheat 3333

50 fl oz POM Pomegranate Juice in Secondary

 

[wfu900]

I'm thinking of making this addition to a saison. Do you have a picture of the brew so i can get an idea of the color? I don't want to end up with a purple saison.

 

[joshyG]

Check out my orange wheat hef, let me know what you guys think. It's been fermenting for a week
6bs Wheat extract
1lb golden light crystal malt
1lb wheat extract
.50 lbs honey grains
.50 lbs oats

Te tttnanger hops 2 oz
Hef yeast 4

Additions:
10-12 oranges squeezed made into syrup added right after boil
Juniper berries
Ginger
Sweet zest
Coriander




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