Hello everyone! Looking for some pointers on the topic of goji berries. I'm doing a fairly typical American style wheat beer with a Warrior bittering and an addition of dried thyme at flameout. Then comes the tricky part for me - the addition of dried goji berries. I'm thinking pulp them, sterilise them and then throw then in after primary fermentation is finishes with a 1010 to 1012 FG for a few days. I'm worried about 1. the quantity 2. the residual sugar from the berries restarting fermentation Any advice on the goji bit and also if anyone has ideas about the thyme... quantities and when to add it? We can call it a 5 gal or 19L batch. Cheers!
I think he must be worried about bottling too soon and/or ending up with too thin/dry of a beer. To OP: if you want some residual sweetness without backsweetening with something like lactose, then use some potassium sorbate to inhibit further fermentation or use a less attenuating yeast (my preference).
So we decided to go ahead and throw the pulped goji in after the primary and let it sit a few days at 20 C before starting to lager it for two weeks. Just wondering now about a logical amount of goji to beer ratio.
Have not had goji berries before, but like most fruit in beer, I'm sure it needs to be sanitized (vodka will work)...if these are fresh berries, sometimes it helps to freeze them first (probably not necessary if you are pulping them). Using pure packaged juice is the safest way, but will thin the mouthfeel. As to amounts, I've never seen anyone put too much fruit in. I'd try a kilogram per 19 litres to start...good luck
I have one burning question, Why goji?? they arent really the best tasting things (IMO tomato crossed with orange and slightly bitter)
I was thinking campden soak for 24 hours before adding them. I'm going to actually use sundried goji berries
I think using Sundried is going to make it hard for the beer/yeast to get to the sugars and flavor compound. I could be wrong, because I've never tried it. Having said that, I wouldn't soak any fruit for a long time in something that I'm not planning to add to the beer.
Dont waste Goji in beer. They are expensive, enjoy eating them. There won't be enough residual if you ferment in carboy. If you insist on Goji, pure them in a blender with vodka...let the mixture steep, then add the concentrate to your bottle bucket on bottle day, or keg day, you'll get much more flavor. Goji are fairly subtle. You could also use cranberrie, it would be cheaper and more of a tart kick than the goji would offer
