Put moar flavor in my Hef?

[Lucky137]

Hey guys,

Brewed up an all extract batch of hef last Tuesday (6.6# Wheat LME, dash of light DME, .75 Hallertau (full), .25 Hallertau (10 min)), been in primary for 9 days and everything's looking great. I've started taking a bit of wort out to do my gravity measurements, and have been sampling what I pull out rather than put it back. Tastes pretty good, excellent banana and clove favors all around...

...BUT it's slightly watery (this is the last time I do JUST extract, it seems specialty grains help out more than I realized). Anyway, I'd like the beer to have a bit more flavor, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to add some more flavor before bottling? I have no problem with using a secondary, or just adding to the primary - either is fine.

Anyway, any suggestions? I've heard adding a bottle of any Simply juice can add some excellent flavor to the beer, but this makes me nervous - I have no idea why, but it does haha.

 

[shawnbou]

If you add juice, most of it is going to ferment out and give you a higher ABV. That's "flavor" all right, but maybe not what you're looking for. And you definitely don't want to do that at bottling time.

You could "dry hop" (dry spice?) it with spices that would complement the flavor profile you've got going on. Lemon zest or bitter orange zest, dried ginger, lemongrass, or maybe even a couple of cloves, with the caveat that a little goes a long way. But you'd be surprised how much a little citrus or spiciness will complement an otherwise watery or weak-tasting beer. (After all, look at what it does for Corona. )

If you're looking for more mouthfeel, I'm not sure what you can do at this point. For future beers, you can boost mouthfeel with maltodextrin or other nonfermentable sugars, but I think it's too late to add that now. But remember that carbonation does add body that contributes to mouthfeel, so that may help.

 

[Lucky137]

If you add juice, most of it is going to ferment out and give you a higher ABV. That's "flavor" all right, but maybe not what you're looking for. And you definitely don't want to do that at bottling time.

You could "dry hop" (dry spice?) it with spices that would complement the flavor profile you've got going on. Lemon zest or bitter orange zest, dried ginger, lemongrass, or maybe even a couple of cloves, with the caveat that a little goes a long way. But you'd be surprised how much a little citrus or spiciness will complement an otherwise watery or weak-tasting beer. (After all, look at what it does for Corona. )

If you're looking for more mouthfeel, I'm not sure what you can do at this point. For future beers, you can boost mouthfeel with maltodextrin or other nonfermentable sugars, but I think it's too late to add that now. But remember that carbonation does add body that contributes to mouthfeel, so that may help.

Excellent! I'm going to rely on excessive carbonation for mouthfeel haha, so that's good for now. Flavor is big for me here. I like the idea of "dry-spicing"; like, peel of one lemon, 6 or so cloves, and stick of cinnamon? Is this enough/too much? and how long should I leave it in there for?

Also, is this best done in a secondary? Or can I just throw this into my primary (in a bag, of course)? and what's the best way to sanitize? Can I literally soak the bag with the ingredients in sanitizing solution?

So many questions! Sorry...

Thanks so much!

 

[shawnbou]

Excellent! I'm going to rely on excessive carbonation for mouthfeel haha, so that's good for now. Flavor is big for me here. I like the idea of "dry-spicing"; like, peel of one lemon, 6 or so cloves, and stick of cinnamon? Is this enough/too much? and how long should I leave it in there for?

Also, is this best done in a secondary? Or can I just throw this into my primary (in a bag, of course)? and what's the best way to sanitize? Can I literally soak the bag with the ingredients in sanitizing solution?

So many questions! Sorry...

Thanks so much!

There's no such thing as too many questions ... where would any of us be without them?

You can do it in secondary if you like, or just add it to your primary, a week or so before bottling. As long as you wait until fermentation is complete, so the CO2 doesn't carry off all the flavor and aroma goodness.

What I usually do is boil up a little bit of water and steep/simmer the spices in it for a few minutes to make a spice "tea", then cool it and add the spices and the liquid to the fermenter. I'd recommend against boiling the spices in the water, because you will lose some aromatics. I've heard of people just soaking stuff in StarSan, but I'd be worried all the flavor would get in my sanitizer and not my brew!

As for how much, that may be trial and error until you find what you like. Remember if you start with less, you can always add more later, or you can leave it in the beer longer to impart more flavor. If you do the spice tea method, you can taste it while it's simmering. You can even take a sample of the beer and mix up a few drops of the spice tea with that to see what it contributes.

I have used lime zest at a rate of 1 lime's worth per gallon, and could barely taste it - of course, lemons are a bit bigger. I've never used cloves, but I've heard that it really doesn't take much, that something like 1 clove per gallon is enough to taste it very strongly. But do some experimenting and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Bierliebhaber]

You've got some great advice going already, so I'll just add something that will help avoid troubles in the future. There should never be a, "rather than PUT IT BACK." You don't ever want to put your hydro sample back in the fermenter. This carries a very high risk of infection.

Sounds like you have a tasty brew in the works...