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Author Topic: Purple Colored Pilsner  (Read 5234 times)

Offline srnoel

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Purple Colored Pilsner
« on: February 25, 2011, 10:28:24 pm »
Has anyone brewed beer using Chinese black 'forbidden' rice, or just Chinese Black rice (I think they are the same thing)?  I was going to try to make a purple colored beer and this rice turns purple when cooked.  I was thinking something along the lines of:

8 lbs Pils malt.
1.5 lbs Chinese black rice, cooked before being mashed.
0.5 lbs rice hulls.

Mash at 150 F for an hour.

.75 oz Mt. Hood - 60min
1 oz    Mt. Hood - 20min
1 oz    Saaz       - 5min

Any thoughts on if this could make a decent pilsner that would hopefully be purple?

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2011, 12:37:08 am »
I haven't tried it.  I'm not sure that is enough rice to get a distinct purple color, or how the purple will look when combined with the pale yellow you would typically get from pils malt.  But I'm really interested in hearing the results, I hope it works out.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline davisdandrew

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2011, 03:23:58 am »
I have been pondering the exact same idea.
i get a type of rice from my local arabic food store that looks black before you cook it, but when you dilut the cooking liquid from it, it is a vibrant dark purple.I have been wonderign how this would work in a beer, and how much of this adjunct you would need to get the desirable color in a beer. it seems to have a very potent die and i thing about 15 percent of the thotal grist in a cerial mash would give the beer a purple color.
I encourage you to experiment. I am very interested to hear your results.
I am surprised to hear that someone else has thought of this, now i will never be able to say I did it first!
keep us posted, or maybe I will beat you to it!

Offline Mark G

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2011, 07:53:58 am »

Any thoughts on if this could make a decent pilsner that would hopefully be purple?
Interesting idea. I say brew it, that's the only way to know if it works. Let us know the results.
Mark Gres

Offline tom

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2011, 09:49:08 am »
You might consider a trial of mixing some of the rice water with a pale pilsner before brewing an entire batch..
Brew on

Offline srnoel

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2011, 10:29:34 am »
Yeah I wasn't sure how much rice I could stick in there without gunking up the mash and causing a headache.  I would like it to be a deep purple to have a MN Vikings beer, plus my girlfriends favor color is purple and I got to keep her happy so I can keep brewing.

Offline uisgue

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2011, 08:09:23 pm »
I'm not sure if this is relevant to the rice discussion, but the 2 #s of red beets that I used in 5 gallons of wheat ale did not make a whit (wheat?) of difference to the color of the beer when the boil was done.  I was hoping for a purple/red beer.  That didn't happen.
Doug Hickey
Crescent City, CA
Symposia Brew Corps

Offline oscarvan

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2011, 10:41:37 pm »
Purple beer.... the other Saint Pattie's day? Ah never mind.
Wooden Shoe Brew Works (not a commercial operation) Bethlehem, PA
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I brew WITH style..... not necessarily TO style.....

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2011, 11:12:22 pm »
It might work as one of three beers for for Mardi Gras ;)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline Hokerer

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2011, 07:50:13 am »
It might work as one of three beers for for Mardi Gras ;)

They've already got Abita Purple Haze down there
Joe

Offline euge

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2011, 11:40:13 am »
It might work as one of three beers for for Mardi Gras ;)

They've already got Abita Purple Haze down there

Not really purple though.

Thought I had posted to this thread last night. ??? Yellow and purple don't combine well (mix) since they are complementary colors. You'll end up with a dingy tint to your beer. But, if you add some cara-red along with the rice it should bring it back to a more vibrant or stronger purplish hue.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline srnoel

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2011, 12:33:00 pm »
How much cara red would you I think need, I was thinking 1.5 lbs to match the rice or should I go for more?

Also, I have never brewed a pilsner before so which yeast would be a good choice?

I was looking at Wyeast 2007 - Pilsner Lager or Wyeast 2278 - Czech Pilsner lager.  I have no experience with either so any suggestions would be great.

Offline euge

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #12 on: February 27, 2011, 12:46:44 pm »
Quote
CaraRed
From Home Brewing Wiki

Cararedâ„¢ is a trademarked name for a variety of crystal malt designed to add both flavor and a deep red color to beer. Also contributes to head retention.
Origin    US
Yield    75.0%
Potential    1.035
Color    20.0 SRM
Max in Batch    20.0%
Moisture    4.0%
Protein    13.2%
Coarse Fine Difference    1.5%
Diastatic Power    0.0%
Recommend Mash    No
Notes    

Maybe half a pound or 5-6%?
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline yaleterrace

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2011, 10:18:05 am »
I would say that you ought to increase the amount of colored rice you plan on using.  Coloring wort naturally and having an end product the same color is no easy task when using natural dyes in foods.  Maybe try using some blue fingerling potatoes, some red beets and some of that rice to really nail down a solid purple color.  Also, if you're making a pilsner, that rice flavor is really going to shine through, possibly in a negative way.  Maybe try a tiny pilot batch of whatever your recipe is and ferment with a neutral ale yeast so you don't have to wait forever for results but you can still see if its purple when it exits secondary.

Offline ryang

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Re: Purple Colored Pilsner
« Reply #14 on: March 03, 2011, 12:04:16 pm »
Just came across this and thought it might help.

http://hopfentreader.blogspot.com/2009/06/forbidden-rice-ale.html