French Pressing/Infusing Beer

Man, it sounds awesome but Vanilla beans are more expensive than the BCBS!

 

Sometimes, you gotta just say F it!! I will make this happen.

 

I already said that trading for the BCBS! I'm gonna end up saying "F it!! It was worth the divorce!"

 

Sometimes, that's what ya gotta say.

 

i grabbed a very decent dry stout and infused it with vainilla extract, natural cocoa powder, coarsely ground aromatic coffee, and some maple syrup. french pressed it after 3 mins... it turned out pretty nasty (drain poured) haha! had to share my experience. i thing i screwed up with proportions, using a whole teaspoon for all of them. ill try next time using just the tip of the spoon

 

A teaspoon of Vanilla extract? And a teaspoon of Maple syrup? Yikes!!

 

Good timing. I came across a french press still in the box at a garage sale last weekend for $7.00. I plan on pressing centennial hops into a Becks Light, Yuengling Light or some other 3.2ish abv light beer

 

Tangelo Two Hearted

Effing delicious!

 

That had to be amazing.

 

I've had Redeemer from Olde Hickory Brewery french pressed through a handful of fresh calypso hop cones. Absolutely ridiculous hop overload, but it was really good.

 

Quick question, would a jar (to steep the ingredient and beer) and a strainer do the same thing as French pressing?

 

French pressed some toasted coconut in a BCBS last night. Let it steep for about 7 minutes which ended up being too long, the flavor infused great, just a bit too much as the coconut was overpowering the last 1/4 of the snifter. I'll probably try closer to 3 or 4 minutes next time.

Only problem was there was some fine "sediment" layered on top of the beer. You couldn't feel it in your mouth but didn't look very appealing. Is this normal?

 

Good tips people.

 

Well, a press comes with a really fine filter to get all the chunks out. It's so fine that if you just dumped your beer/slash ingredient in a separate filter that was as fine, it would kind just sit there and not filter through. The press forces the liquid through ther really fine filter.

 

With dealing with fruit, is the goal to steep them in the IPA (or other beer) or to actually press them so that the fruit juice is squeezed into the beer?

 

I think that's called the Kentucky Strainer.

 

Ok, I finally got around to trying this. I pressed whole Simcoe Hops into a can of Yuengling Light Lager. It still tasted like a Yuengling Light Lager when I was done.

The experiment was not a total wash. I bought my hops from Brewing World, so I was able to stroll across the small shared parking lot to Kuhnhenns for a Double Rice IPA!!!

 

If infusing with vanilla extract wouldn't it be pointless to do it in a press since it's a liquid in a liquid? And if using vanilla beans isn't it ungodly expensive? If one did try a higher quality vanilla extract what would be a good ratio to one 12oz bottle?

 

This...?

 

Yeah, it's like $8 for two vanilla beans. I got real vanilla extract and a dropper and two drops seems to do the trick for me for a 12oz beer. It may not taste like it at first but as it warms the vanilla comes out.