I'm relatively new to home brewing. My wife has requested I make a cranberry beer for the holidays. I'm likely going to use a 5 gallon ale extract kit. How can I add a mild cranberry flavor? I've read a few methods online. I'm looking to add enough to notice the flavor but not so much as to overwhelm with tart cranberry.
How to add cranberry to beer
- Thread starter Nate187
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Jacinthebox
Well-Known Member
I used 5lbs of frozen cranberries in a saison. just added to the carboy after fermentation slowed down...maybe day 4. They added a nice amount of sour/tart. inline with the style.
You could always use a quality juice...either add it to the fermenter or to the keg
You could always use a quality juice...either add it to the fermenter or to the keg
I'm currently working on a cranberry sour for the holidays as well! My plan is to secondary on top of 6.5lbs of cranberries pureed. I'm going for a more heavy, tart cranberry effect. Personally, that's the route I'd go for you. I would use fresh cranberries but maybe cut it down to 4.5-5 lbs. If you don't want to puree, I'd suggest maybe freezing, thaw, crush, then freeze again. Then put those in your secondary fermenter and rack the beer on top of them.
You could also try this. I just bought a container of this for my mango IPA (Sam Adams Rebel Juiced IPA "clone") that I have in the works right now. Not sure how it worked yet but the mango flavor is right on point. I'd imagine the cranberry flavor would be just as good. I heard pretty good things about these.
myndflyte
Well-Known Member
Since you're just going for something subtle, I sort of agree with going with the cranberry extract. I'd suggest taking a specific amount of beer, add a measured amount of the extract and when you find what is good, scale it up. If you are going to go this route, make sure you get a good, non-imitation extract (if they even have imitation cranberry extract).
I had good luck with 3-4 batches, cooking fresh cranberries in POM juice. 3lbs cranberries/48oz POM for 5+gallons at ~170degrees for about 45-60 minutes. Used a potato ricer to break up the cranberries as they cooked. However, I haven't used this process in a while since I made a batch of Cranberry Belgian Blonde that induced projectile vomiting. I'm 99% certain that my handling/adding of cranberries led to the infection. One of these days, I'll give it a shot again...
I made a 4 gallon batch with 3 gallons of a 1.030 smash, and those three gallons went into the fermenter with a gallon of cranberry wine concentrate. my OG was 1.100. Fermented with EC1118. Finished at 1.020 which I wanted. It pretty much tastes like sparkling cranberry wine. However, if you cut the wine concentrate back to say half a gallon or even less you would be good. just adjust your wort OG and volume to get the total OG you are looking for.
Another option is a bottle of RW Knudsen's Just Cranberry juice, either rack after primary fermentation, or gently pour in. I've used their Just Tart Cherry with some success in a sour. I would not use a hoppy recipe, but a wheat, cream ale, or blonde.
Similar threads
