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Author Topic: First crack and my own beer idea  (Read 2567 times)

Offline whitey

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First crack and my own beer idea
« on: September 24, 2011, 12:45:04 pm »
Ok, so I got an idea for a unique beer concept. Partly because I wanted to, partly because I want to enter it into a local beer competition once I'm happy with it, partly because my nieces asked me to make her a special beer for her 21st.

I remain a rank amateur at this who has progressed to partial mash kits, and have made 3 or 4 non kit recipes from scratch.

This beer of mine, is a Mango & Jalapeño Ale. I used a Belgian Wit extract kit as a base for ease of use and because it's a first draft. If it tasted awful, I wouldn't feel bad tossing it.

So, made the kit, let it run thru primary ferm, racked it onto 7 skinned and cubed mangos and one jalapeño for secondary, got a small secondary ferm lift off. Left it there for a week and a half. Went to rack it to a keg, and saw the Mango was a brown color not the bright orange when it went in, I took that as a good sign. I could smell citrus and the jalapeño, and after a night in the fridge, I tasted a small smaple.

I like what I tasted, a bit dry, a bit bitter with a slight jalapeño flavor and a very very little hint of heat, although there isn't much of the mango coming thru. I would've liked to have tasted more of the mango. So I was thinking of perhaps fortifying the beer with some mango vodka on my next attempt.

As always, I welcome any thoughts or opinions on this, or the whole concept.
Kegged:
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Offline euge

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2011, 01:33:19 pm »
To me the flavor of mango is extremely delicate, and my experiments with fruit in beer leads me to believe "more" fruit is better. You might need to double,triple or quadruple the amount of mangoes you used. Using 7 peeled and seeded fruits were probably not enough as you've discovered.

But, jalapeño and mango should go well together. Nice idea and effort.
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 whitey

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2011, 03:43:35 pm »
Thanks euge. whats your opinion about the wit as a base. Do you think the orange peel and corriander would have been counter productive to the mango flavour?
Kegged:
Oatmeal Stout
Doppelbock
ESB
Vienna Lager
Belgian Wheat
Heffeweizen

Bottled:

Offline euge

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2011, 03:47:21 pm »
Not really though I would have skipped them. My preference is to make beer without spices. However you just made a spiced-fruit beer. I think it's ok to call this beer a wit as well, so figure out which category you want to submit it to.
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 EHall

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2011, 05:19:25 pm »
with mango being such a light flavor I think the spices compete to much with it. Me personally I would either use a wheat/wit base or just all pale malt base... maybe even a touch of honey malt. But with mango, you have to use alot of fruit or find a high quality mango extract to use....not that extracts that you buy from the HB shops.
Phoenix, AZ

Offline whitey

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2011, 08:22:34 am »
Thanks guys.

Ehall, I've discovered that you're right, after carbing and chilling, I can't really taste the mango. But that is the joy of experimentation... :) I'm surprised at hoe pleasant the jalapeno is though. I wasn't expecting that. I will make it again, with more mango, once I've polished off the 5 gal I have and report back here once its done.

Than so much for your feedback.
Kegged:
Oatmeal Stout
Doppelbock
ESB
Vienna Lager
Belgian Wheat
Heffeweizen

Bottled:

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2011, 11:02:39 am »
Rule of thumb for use of real fruit in beer is about 3 pounds per gallon.  I'm not sure how much 7 mangoes weighs, but it seems under by a lot.  I mean, for 5 gallons you need closer to 15 pounds of mangoes.  Or maybe you could get by with 12 pounds.  Somewhere in that range.

Be aware that real fruit will add a lot of tartness and will dry out the beer pretty significantly, so it doesn't hurt to choose a low attenuating yeast or to add more non-fermentable sugars such as from crystal malt or even lactose.  With lactose you can add it to taste on bottling day without any problems, so you don't need to guess up front as to how much you want to add.  Just ideas...
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline liquidbrewing

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2011, 03:28:55 pm »

  Be aware that real fruit will add a lot of tartness and will dry out the beer pretty significantly, so it doesn't hurt to choose a low attenuating yeast or to add more non-fermentable sugars such as from crystal malt or even lactose.  

+1

  Or mash a few degrees higher.  I've had trouble with a Raspberry Imperial Stout the last time I made it.  If I make it again, I'll mash around 158, cuz the rasberries dried the beer out, it had almost no body.  As much as I'm a proponent of dry beers, it tasted watery, but tasty nonetheless.
Justin
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Offline dmtaylor

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Re: First crack and my own beer idea
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2011, 09:40:47 pm »
Or mash a few degrees higher.  I've had trouble with a Raspberry Imperial Stout the last time I made it.  If I make it again, I'll mash around 158

I meant to say that -- thank you.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.