Which beer style for an "Iron Brew"?

[pshankstar]

The small home brew club that I am part of is doing our second "Iron Brew" competition. This batch I need to use donuts and concord grape jelly in my beer. I figured I would use the donuts in the mash and rack the beer into a secondary with the jelly. The jelly is from Trader Joe's with minimal additives and what not.

With that being said, these two ingredients (donuts and concord grape jelly) need to be noticeable in the beer. Meaning you should be able to taste them. We can brew any style we want, but you should be able to taste these ingredients. I am torn, do I brew a lighter beer like a wheat beer? Or should I go with a stout? I do have some coffee malt that I could incorporate into the beer that I think would go well with the ingredients.

So with that being said, which style would you go with? Any inputs or suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[fourfarthing]

I can't even think through that, but I am very interested in the outcome.

 

[pshankstar]

I can't even think through that, but I am very interested in the outcome.

I know! Last time round 1 I had to use Red X malt and Lucky Charms cereal. I made a Dubbel with those ingredients. Round 2 was any citrus fruit and tea (any variety), so I made a wheat beer with those ingredients. The wheat beer turned out really good!

This one I am so torn on. I think a lighter beer would show these ingredients (donuts and concord grape jelly) more than a darker beer would. But I keep thinking of a breakfast stout... Not sure, so I figured I would ask for input.

 

[Mackster]

Grape jelly= Grape flavor
Donut= Bread and sweet

I would try making a berliner wiesse. You could make a lighter wheat wort for the bready flavor and then ferment with either a kolsh or a wine yeast if you are feeling crazy. I would add some decent grape must and cut back on the jelly since no one would exactly where the grape flavor is coming from. Then back sweeten the beer to bring out the second half of the donut flavor.

 

[TGFV]

Would have to second a Weisse or a wheat ale.

Best combination of bready donut and ability for jelly to shine.

What type of donuts?

 

[ba-brewer]

Donuts seem like a tough item. Don't think the donuts will be identifiable if used in the mash, used later and the oil might effect the head.

Maybe contact ismellweird, I think he has experience with pastry and strange things in beer.

 

[pshankstar]

It can be any kind of donuts.

If I was to go with a Berliner Wiesse, do I need to be worried about contamination for future beers like sours? I’ve only had a couple of Berliner Weisse’s and they all taste like a sour beer.

Also what yeast would be good to use for a Berliner Wiesse? I’ve never brewed one or looked into that style much.

 

[Boomer]

I’d throw them a curveball and brew an IPA and show up with jelly donuts as a side dish.

 

[ong]

I might purée the donuts in a bit of vodka, strain it clear, and freeze to remove fat. That way you can at least see if the extract tastes donut-y enough.

 

[ong]

Also, with a Berlinerweiss, you can do it as a kettle sour and then bring to a boil (or near boil) to avoid contagion with future batches.

 

[ba-brewer]

Maybe a kolsch yeast, some of those can have a wine like flavor which would with your grape jelly.

Personally not a fan of spice beers, but if a apple fritter counts as a donut the spices might come through well in the final beer.

 

[pshankstar]

I might purée the donuts in a bit of vodka, strain it clear, and freeze to remove fat. That way you can at least see if the extract tastes donut-y enough.

I like this idea b/c I could add it in at the end to taste.

I might hold off on the Berliner Wiesse for now. I’ll have to research it more but it may be something I don’t mess with quite yet. So maybe a Kölsch style beer might be the way to go.

 

[ba-brewer]

I was at a beer festival and seen someone had a coffee kolsch. I did not try it as it sounded weird, but I later googled it and it seems to be a thing. Coffee and doughnut kolsch? I might try a coffee and jelly doughnut stout or porter.

 

[pshankstar]

Ok I’m going with a donut tincture! I’ll let it soak in the vodka for a few days. Then strain it and freeze it. From there I should be able to scrape off the fats and oils. Wish me luck!

 

[bigplunkett]

I was thinking milkshake ipa with nelson hops and grape jelly

 

[divrack]

I think the back sweetened Weiss idea is good, or you could do a kind of super dry saison with that super attenuative French yeast and back sweeten that with the jelly. I doubt anyone would taste the grape jelly if you ferment with it. Adding some must is a good cheat.
But I would go with the back sweetened super dry saison or Weiss if you have a keg set up. All you will probably get from the doughnuts is wheat though. Add lots of biscuit toasty malts maybe.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

My idea is a Barleywine. Sure wheat isn’t a usual ingredient in Barleywine but the richness of the style would incorporate the donut nicely in the mash. Also, the grape jelly will give a nice vinous quality. Just make sure you do a protein rest and probably cold crash + gelatin.

 

[mrdauber64]

I think I would do a sweet stout with the Grape jelly added twice, once at flameout and once in the secondary. The lactose could imitate the frosting of a glazed donut and the grape jelly would give it the fruitiness.

Also, a milkshake IPA would be good too. The Vanilla and lactose would make it sweet like a donut.

 

[pshankstar]

So many choices! A Kölsch, Berliner Weisse, Stout, Barleywine, Milkshake IPA and a Saison. All good suggestions and input. I'm really torn on what to make but I really do appreciate the feedback! Thank you all and please keep them coming. I will continue to post as I move along. The beer has to be ready by 4/19/18 so I need to figure this out soon. Cheers!

 

[_BullDog_]

Recently bought a few doughnut coffee milk stouts.... of course didn’t really try to see if I could taste the doughnuts.... I’ll try another tonight for research
purposes.

And it was rather good.

 

[pshankstar]

Recently bought a few doughnut coffee milk stouts.... of course didn’t really try to see if I could taste the doughnuts.... I’ll try another tonight for research
purposes.

And it was rather good.

Thanks! I haven't seen anything like that where I live. Who makes it? I'll have to look harder to see if I can grab some.

 

[yeahfairly]

You could liquefy the jelly in boiling water or wort and back sweeten with it after Fermentation.... knock out the yeast to prevent a secondary fermentation..... I am at a loss for the doughnuts. The Vodka tincture seems to be the best solution.....

 

[Auger]

One thing to keep in mind, many jellies use pectin to get them to firm up. If you're doing something like a kolsch style and want the clarity to style, you might need to employ pectic enzyme to get the pectin haze to clear.

 

[pshankstar]

You could liquefy the jelly in boiling water or wort and back sweeten with it after Fermentation.... knock out the yeast to prevent a secondary fermentation..... I am at a loss for the doughnuts. The Vodka tincture seems to be the best solution.....

I like this idea of liquifying the jelly! I was going to ferment in one of my corny keg and do a closed transfer over to the serving keg. This way, I can put the jelly (liquified) and donut tincture in the serving keg and then rack on top, carbonate and then serve or bottle.

 

[Jayjay1976]

What a fun challenge! I need to join a brew club.
Whatever you end up making.... if it turns out I want to brew up a batch myself! Take notes and PLEASE report back!

 

[pshankstar]

Tincture

Jelly warming up

FG sample - 1.008

Tonight I brought the jelly to a simmer to thin it out. Added that and the donut tincture to the serving keg and did a closed transfer. I’ll let it sit at 30psi for a couple of days and pull a sample here and there. I plan to bottle some on Tuesday or Wednesday for the homebrew club meeting on Thursday. This will give me time to make adjustments over the next few days if needed.

I’ll report back all the details after the club meeting next week. Thanks for all the suggestions and input guys!

 

[pshankstar]

It just hit me this morning that I may have to pasteurize the bottles. Since I am adding all of that jelly, which has natural sugars that would probably cause a secondary fermentation, I feel that this would possibly create bottle bombs if I don't pasteurize them. While it's in the keg in the garage (30/40's still here in NY) and then the kegerator, it should be fine, but the bottles I would hate to have a mess and put anyone in danger. Does anyone think I am overthinking this? Or would you agree with me that I should pasteurize the bottles after filling them?

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

So long as you keep the bottles cold, the yeast should stay dormant, and they should be fine. What style did you choose for the base?

 

[pshankstar]

So long as you keep the bottles cold, the yeast should stay dormant, and they should be fine. What style did you choose for the base?

I did a Kölsch for the base. OG - 1.050 FG - 1.008 about 83% attenuation.

Yeah I figured if I keep them cold it will be ok, but if not there could be a problem. Especially if I ship any.

 

[pshankstar]

Well I pulled a sample minutes ago. It’s a lot darker from the FG sample I took the other night. You can taste the donuts and jelly and it’s over powering. It’s not fully carbonated yet so it will sit another day at 30psi. I don’t think there will be any head on this beer even after it’s carbonated.

I think I would cut the donut tincture back for sure. I think the vodka is showing through more than I would like. I believe age will help mellow that out but we shall see how it fairs on Thursday. The sample when I took the FG you couldn’t even taste the donuts and I put four into the mash. So I don’t know if it’s worth it in the future unless there is an insane amount.

I’ll report back again after the homebrew club meeting.

 

[Easycreeper]

I know I'm late to the party, but a doppelbock came to mind with the ingredients you listed. The malty style may have worked well with the doughnuts. I use WLP833 for my yeast on these and it throws plum-like flavors at higher alcohol levels which would work well with the jelly.

What did you end up doing about the pectin in the jelly? Not sure if there really was anything you could do...

 

[redarmy990]

A little late too. But a local brewery produced a donut English brown
They had 2 dozen Fractured prune donuts in the mash.
If any one visits Ocean City Md. Fractured prune have the best donuts ever

This was one weird flavored beer. Couldn't make my mind up if I liked it or not. Had to have 2 more. And still was undecided.

 

[pshankstar]

I know I'm late to the party, but a doppelbock came to mind with the ingredients you listed. The malty style may have worked well with the doughnuts. I use WLP833 for my yeast on these and it throws plum-like flavors at higher alcohol levels which would work well with the jelly.

What did you end up doing about the pectin in the jelly? Not sure if there really was anything you could do...

Didn’t think of it or do anything about it. Hmmm...