RHUBARB IPA??? Any Suggestions???

[MikeRoberts]

I love experimenting with uncommon ingredients and was thinking of incorporating rhubarb into my IPA recipe. Did a bit of research and found adding it in secondary is the way to go.

Would it make it super sour? Do I need to add sugar to balance? Should it be cooked? How much? Any advice would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

 

[KKHolidaze]

Hey Mike,

I usually brew a Strawberry Rhubarb saison during summer and I generally just buy the deepest red rhubarb I can find (I've yet to find it growing down here like it does up north), cut it into small quarter pieces, freeze it for a day or two then thaw in the fridge then rack on top of it in secondary. I haven't had any issues with sanitation. Freezing just helps break down the cell walls so you get better flavor extraction.

I add 2#/5g and it will add a bit of tartness but nothing I'd consider sour/puckery. The most recent time I brewed, I added some acidulated malt to increase the twang since it's for a competition. Once I get that into bottles and kegs, I'll let you know how it tastes.

I also didn't get much color from the rhubarb - the little amount of color I got was from the strawberries. Looking through my notes, I apparently didn't make note of how long I left the beer on fruit so that's up to you.

Hope that helps.

 

[Calaeb]

I'm suddenly interested in this now lol. I have about four or five plants growing along my fence line as we speak. Would be cool to try them in a beer!

 

[MikeRoberts]

Hey Mike,

I usually brew a Strawberry Rhubarb saison during summer and I generally just buy the deepest red rhubarb I can find (I've yet to find it growing down here like it does up north), cut it into small quarter pieces, freeze it for a day or two then thaw in the fridge then rack on top of it in secondary. I haven't had any issues with sanitation. Freezing just helps break down the cell walls so you get better flavor extraction.

I add 2#/5g and it will add a bit of tartness but nothing I'd consider sour/puckery. The most recent time I brewed, I added some acidulated malt to increase the twang since it's for a competition. Once I get that into bottles and kegs, I'll let you know how it tastes.

I also didn't get much color from the rhubarb - the little amount of color I got was from the strawberries. Looking through my notes, I apparently didn't make note of how long I left the beer on fruit so that's up to you.

Hope that helps.

Great info.
What exactly is acidulated malt? And what do you mean twang?
I'm thinking adding 2.5 pounds of rhubarb and a split vanilla bean into secondary and letting it go for a week.

 

[Texconsinite]

I'd use another fruit with the rhubarb. According to Jack Keller, in winemaking with rhubarb, its not a strong flavor on its own, but it blends well with whatever you mix it with. Like a Best Supporting Actor.

Having cooked with it, and haivng tried my Uncle's rhubarb wine last year, i would tend to agree. It might be underwhelming without another fruit to play off of. Any berry would probably blend very well with it, and I would agree with KKholidaze on freezing it and adding to secondary. In general, do not boil whole fruit you are adding to beer, or your beer will taste like cooked fruit, IMO not what you want. Starsan and freezing works just fine.

 

[OswaldvW]

Last summer I brewed the Rhubarb Weisse that appears in a Zymurgy issue. But was sour, but not really super sour, and after a while the sourness faded.

Adding sugar won't do much as it will just be consumed by the yeast to produce more alcohol.

 

[xpops]

Hey Mike,

I usually brew a Strawberry Rhubarb saison during summer and I generally just buy the deepest red rhubarb I can find (I've yet to find it growing down here like it does up north), cut it into small quarter pieces, freeze it for a day or two then thaw in the fridge then rack on top of it in secondary. I haven't had any issues with sanitation. Freezing just helps break down the cell walls so you get better flavor extraction.

I add 2#/5g and it will add a bit of tartness but nothing I'd consider sour/puckery. The most recent time I brewed, I added some acidulated malt to increase the twang since it's for a competition. Once I get that into bottles and kegs, I'll let you know how it tastes.

I also didn't get much color from the rhubarb - the little amount of color I got was from the strawberries. Looking through my notes, I apparently didn't make note of how long I left the beer on fruit so that's up to you.

Hope that helps.

I'm looking at racking 5g of blonde ale onto some strawberries and rhubarb but having a hard time finding quantity/ratio of both until I just saw this post. How much strawberries do you add with the 2lb of rhubarb? Do both flavours come through?? Sorry to hijack, OP !

 

[jtratcliff]

I didn't see this thread when it popped up a couple months ago, but I have a Rhubarb Rye in the recipe section that is quite tasty: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7038537#post7038537

The 1st attempt used 5lbs of rhubarb in a 6 gal batch. Nice tartness but came with a vegetal flavor that I associated with the rhubarb. That flavor took a couple of months to age out but did eventually disappear.

The 2nd Batch used 3lbs in 6 gal and had less vegetal flavor but still good rhubarb. The 3rd batch used 2 1/2 lbs of rhubarb in 6 gal and had no vegetal tastes that needed to age out and still plenty of rhubarb. So 2 lbs or so of rhubarb is the sweet spot IMHO.