Looking for some advice on a keg conditioning. Perhaps I should say non traditional conditioning because I am looking to use a kumquat marmalade for both flavor and the glucose/sugar to condition a beer. I know the ratio of sugar to beer will be lower than dextrose but will my beer pick up any of the kumquat flavor while conditioning? Also, brings me to ask about adding spices, hops etc. during keg conditioning. Any drawbacks etc.? I want to skip doing any secondary for fear of oxidization and any contamination.
I haven't used kumquats in any form in beer, but with fruit in general, a lot depends on how much sugar is in the fruit. Do you have the sugar value in grams per serving? You can use that to determine how much you'd need to reach your desired CO2 volumes. The more fruit, the more flavor you'll derive from it. Generally though, the amount of fruit needed to hit your CO2 volumes isn't going to be very much. I have dry-hopped in the keg many times and have dry-spiced in the keg a couple times. Essentially, the keg serves as a secondary. It works fine, as long as you're not going to leave a bunch of solids behind in the keg when done.
The marmalade is from France and if I am reading the label correct it looks like a 10 oz jar contains 100 grams or 3.5274 ounces of sugar. I am wanting to use it since it does not contain any artificial colors, preservatives etc. I was also thinking of heating it up with some water much like dissolving sugar for conditioning with DME or corn sugar.
So, for 5 gallons, if you wanted say, 2.5 volumes, you'd need about 4.5 ounces of sugar, which would equate to about 1.28 jars. One jar should get you to a hair over 2.1 volumes. I don't know of any fruits that will contribute a pronounced flavor with so little added, but again, I have not used kumquats. That's probably a good idea. Of course, it will increase your total liquid volume even further, so that would also affect the final CO2 level. But anything that will help avoid solid chunks in the keg is probably a good idea. Honestly, I would normally advise against using fruit (or marmalade) as a priming agent, but I recently heard about an award winning stout made with whoopie pies, so what the hell do I know?
I'm not saying you're wrong, but double-check that label, because that is a pretty low amount of sugar for marmalade. Remember you don't just care about added sugar, but the sugar from the fruit as well. Agreed that diluting it with water is a good idea if you're going to go down this road.
Ha! Thanks for the compliment (sort of) for my whoopie pie stout. Brewing that up again for a brew fest in May. Hey a blind squirrel can find a nut every once in a while. Since the beer I want to use the marmalade on is experimental to begin with, I thought why not try something different. Thanks for the input!
I won't know for sure about the sugar content until I get the jars delivered. Says that no cane sugar has been added. I will keep everybody posted.
