Anything you dont do?

[Josh Hughes]

Don't think I'll ever do another fruit beer. The attempt at a pina colada demonstrated just how horrible a brew can be. The mango was at least drinkable but not great either. Noisy Bear wrote, "Keep it simple", and "Less is more". Best advice I've received on the BF forum.

Also been my approach the last year or so. A Base malt and a splash of something if it’s needed. I do mix Munich and Pilsner though but I don’t really think of that as complex.

 

[KaijuSoul]

Also been my approach the last year or so. A Base malt and a splash of something if it’s needed. I do mix Munich and Pilsner though but I don’t really think of that as complex.

Don't think I'll ever do another fruit beer. The attempt at a pina colada demonstrated just how horrible a brew can be. The mango was at least drinkable but not great either. Noisy Bear wrote, "Keep it simple", and "Less is more". Best advice I've received on the BF forum.

kinda do things the same way in my cooking and herbal teas. a few key ingredients and you have your base, bases are good, they are simple, and you can expand the base and add flavor or keep it simple. im certainly never gonna make a pina colada beer, coconut is gross lol.

 

[Sandy Feet]

The first Schwarzbier I tasted I brewed haha. Didn’t know if it was right but I loved it. Then I had a commercial one from Germany and mine had the right taste to be in the style.

I would like to do one at some point. The ones that I liked were local...and better yet, Spaceballs themed.

Don't think I'll ever do another fruit beer. The attempt at a pina colada demonstrated just how horrible a brew can be. The mango was at least drinkable but not great either. Noisy Bear wrote, "Keep it simple", and "Less is more". Best advice I've received on the BF forum.

Fruit can work in a Saison. I did a blueberry one that I liked and a lemon one. I also had a pumpkin beer turn out when I remembered the enzymes in the pumpkin.

 

[Daniel Parshley]

kinda do things the same way in my cooking and herbal teas. a few key ingredients and you have your base, bases are good, they are simple, and you can expand the base and add flavor or keep it simple. im certainly never gonna make a pina colada beer, coconut is gross lol.

Coconut produces a lot of oil, too. My bride and I had a coconut brown on Maui that was good. Efforts to make it were not. My guess is flavoring was used rather than raw coconut.

 

[KaijuSoul]

Coconut produces a lot of oil, too. My bride and I had a coconut brown on Maui that was good. Efforts to make it were not. My guess is flavoring was used rather than raw coconut.

i can explain from many years of cooking that yes the two are vastly different. Like no watermelon flavor tastes like actual watermelon. So more than likely a more appropriate flavor was used in the beer, or a tincture of coconut or pressing, to separate the oils out then use the flavor byproduct of the coconut material. just taking a guess but its a way to pull it off. maybe you could try some different methods and try again?

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I like the experimentation of brewing beer and cider. I have not brewed many styles but I never limit myself on which style I'm never going to brew. I don't brew many darks beers (porters and stouts) but I have brewed them. I enjoy creating a beer within a style without BJCP restrictions. In 9 years, I've only had 3 dumpers that I can recall. So I try many styles, some I have never tried, such as a Dark Mild I did a couple of weeks ago. Be creative. It will be beer and somebody will drink it!

 

[Sandy Feet]

I have been a few places lately where they will let the bar staff design a recipe. At two of them, the girls have come up with something a little less hoppy than a normal Pale Ale and in the 5s alcohol wise. I had one of them today, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. So, a plus 1 to your experimentation post if you like it.

 

[dmtaylor]

I have been a few places lately where they will let the bar staff design a recipe. At two of them, the girls have come up with something a little less hoppy than a normal Pale Ale and in the 5s alcohol wise. I had one of them today, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. So, a plus 1 to your experimentation post if you like it.

Sounds like an American Blonde Ale. It'd be even cooler if at least some of the gals who designed it are blonde.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Sounds like an American Blonde Ale. It'd be even cooler if at least some of the gals who designed it are blonde.

Kind of

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

Coconut produces a lot of oil, too. My bride and I had a coconut brown on Maui that was good. Efforts to make it were not. My guess is flavoring was used rather than raw coconut.

Toasted coconut flakes works fine. The oils are mostly removed in their processing. If you want to start with a fresh whole coconut, there are plenty of recipes/videos online on how to extract the oil, and then you can use the remaining meal/flakes in your brew.

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

I would like to do one at some point. The ones that I liked were local...and better yet, Spaceballs themed.

Fruit can work in a Saison. I did a blueberry one that I liked and a lemon one. I also had a pumpkin beer turn out when I remembered the enzymes in the pumpkin.

A friend of mine makes a killer Peach Saison. The peach perfectly compliments the spicy phenolics of the yeast and adds a softness on the palate that tones down the usual spritz of a Saison, very similar to a Bellini.

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

Don't think I'll ever do another fruit beer. The attempt at a pina colada demonstrated just how horrible a brew can be. The mango was at least drinkable but not great either. Noisy Bear wrote, "Keep it simple", and "Less is more". Best advice I've received on the BF forum.

I've made plenty of fruit beers. The result being a success is highly dependent on the process. The easiest I've determined is to add fruit that has gone through a freeze/thaw/mash cycle at least twice into a large hop bag into the fermenter after primary is done and you've crashed the beer really cold. (below 40℉) Two to three days is plenty of contact time, but you can sample along the way and let it ride until you reach your desired result. I use roughly 1# of fruit per gallon, but some are more potent than others like berries which can produce a good result with about half that. Melons are probably the weakest and 2#/gal is about right for those. (The only time I've ever used a flavoring extract was on a Watermelon Wheat along with the melon, but I've since re-made it with just the fruit and it turned out fine)

I prefer to try to coax intense fruitiness out of base ingredients, like hops and yeast, though if I can, then maybe supplement with real fruit if it doesn't quite get where I like it.

And funny you mention Piña Colada beer. I nailed that one on my first try. I used a NEIPA mash bill with plenty of flaked grains and Golden Promise as the base for enhanced sweetness, hopped it with Mosaic and Sabro for the Pineapple & Coconut. (Whirlpool & Dry-hop only) I fermented it with Hornindal and served it right out of the fermenter (Big Mouth Bubbler with a spigot) at a Festival 5 days later. I had about half left after and I wasn't happy with the Coconut level, so I toasted about 2# of flakes for about 15min until they started to brown, added those into a keg in a hop bag and racked the beer over it. I carbed it to about 3vols of CO2 and served the rest at a club gathering. It was delicious! (I'm still chasing how to coax maximum coconut from the Sabro so I don't have to use flakes, that's one of my white whales)

 

[Sandy Feet]

A friend of mine makes a killer Peach Saison. The peach perfectly compliments the spicy phenolics of the yeast and adds a softness on the palate that tones down the usual spritz of a Saison, very similar to a Bellini.

A brewery here did a Blackberry Peach Saison that I liked.
I didn't overcomplicate mine. I actually fermented frozen blueberries. I made a puree out of them, mixed the puree in one of the gallon jugs that I was going to use for strikewater, held back the gallon of strike water, and added it with the puree in the whirlpool where it should have been hot enough to kill anything too evil.

 

[Brew Cat]

Someone above mentioned making mead is similar to making beer. What? More like wine or cider.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Mead, I believe, is an open fermentation.

 

[Brew Cat]

I don't do mead open. Mix honey and water and put it in a carboy. When krausen drops rack ot onto fruit or spices, top up. Stick in an air lock and wait till the fruit drops then rack again and wait. A long time
Then bottle and wait more. Usually a year start to finish

 

[Sandy Feet]

I don't do mead open. Mix honey and water and put it in a carboy. When krausen drops rack ot onto fruit or spices, top up. Stick in an air lock and wait till the fruit drops then rack again and wait. A long time
Then bottle and wait more. Usually a year start to finish

I believe my brother in law did it open with a screen with his own honey. I believe it had to be stirred every so often. It did take several months.

 

[Brew Cat]

I believe my brother in law did it open with a screen with his own honey. I believe it had to be stirred every so often. It did take several months.

well you can do it that way just like you can do cider that way, I prefer using wine yeast , you have more control. You keg get it or bottle condition if you want it fizzy. I drink it dry. I have some bottles about 5 yrs old, very clear now.I had the idea to boil some hops in the water and add that to the honey. Serve it carbed. Probably never do it though, just to stay on topic