I had an idea after having a Blue Hawaiian cocktail to make a "blue hawaiian beer. I figured a belgian wit as a base then aging the beer in a secondary over grilled pineapple and a bit of blue curacao liquor (basically orange flavored so figured it would work in lieu of orange peel and possibly die the beer blue for a cool look) I'm just wondering if anybody has any experience using these sticky sweet fruit liquors in beers for flavoring. How much of a gravity contribution can I expect? Or how do I go about figuring that out. And how much should I added to get the right amount of flavor out of it for a 3 gallon batch?
I make tinctures pretty often, but don't usually do it for the taste of the liquor. Usually I use 375ml of liquor in a closed container with whatever I'm tincturing, then dump the whole mixture into secondary (as the liquor leeches the ingredient but they can still get more in the beer). This provides a nice backing, to me anyway, of the liquor used, without overpowering the recipe. That's for 5gal batches though.
I've not used flavored liquors in beer, but here is the formula for measuring alcohol contribution: ((Beer Volume * ABV of Beer) + (Spirit volume * Spirit ABV)) / Total Volume So (80c * 7%) + (1c * 40%) / 81 = 7.4% (c) = Cups EDIT: Just saw that you are making a 3 gallon batch, the 80c is for 5 gallons.
This is correct as far as direct ABV contribution from blending goes. There's also whatever small amount of sugar is in the liquor, which will ferment in the secondary. (Since OP talked about sweet liqueurs.) You need to know how much sugars/dextrins (by weight) are in the volume of liquor you plan to use. You'll be adding gravity (apart from the ABV from simply blending) according to this formula... (Sugar and Dextrin Weight in Pounds) x 46 / (Gallons of beer + Gallons of Liquor) = Gravity Points from Liquor Since you say "sticky sweet fruit liquors in beers for flavoring" you should be aware that the final result won't really be sweeter than the original beer, because the fermentable sugars in the liquor will be converted to alcohol (and CO2).
also helpful for figuring out the gravity contribution, and yes using the liquor more for the flavor that it has.
I had always been toying with the thought of making an almond/amaretto infused stout, using almonds soaked in Disaronno in the secondary... I think the flavor could get out of hand real quick though. Thanks for the formulas @VikeMan and @JohnSnowNW
I agree, the idea is awesome, but even a little bit of that stuff mixed with a stout... it could turn into cough medicine flavor REAL quick... ala Golden Road's Gingerbread Stout lol
Agreed, that's what I meant when I said the flavor could get out of hand quickly. A slight touch of almond could be good, but I wouldn't wanna ruin a good stout by putting too much of that in there. Could end up tasting like Dr. Pepper! which would be a BAD thing for me.
Are you planning on bottling or kegging this beer? If I was planning on kegging this beer I would just kill the yeast off and then transfer to your keg where you could add the pineapple and blue liquor to get a fuller flavor contribution without the yeast changing sugars/flavor into Co2 and EtOH. Would also be easier to add small amounts of pineapple/blue liquor in a keg over time to see how it interacts so you could add/remove to taste, sample and then serve when it is to your liking. If you are bottling there is no way (If using yeast to carbonate in the bottle) around some of the flavor these additions would contribute from being altered by the yeast; unless of course you have a Co2 set up/keg and a beer gun or counter pressure filler to bottle with that is... I would also recommend soaking the grilled pineapple in a bit of blue curacao for a day before adding; and use a bit of the pineapple juice in the mixture/addition as well. Whatever you end up doing; please post it here after you're finished, I'm interested in how you go about it and how it turns out for you.
plan on bottling. I think I definitely will soak the pineapple in the curacao for a week before hand in the fridge (making a tincture of sorts) and rack the beer over it. In the past working with fruit I've racked the beer a third time off the fruit to make sure fermentation of any sugars provided were done fermenting and will probably do the same with this brew. Will probably get to brewing this after the holidays but I'll be sure to keep you updated with how it goes!
