Weird beer idea

Beer Volcano · Nov 22, 2017

It seems every time I come up with an idea for a new way to do a beer, I see that it's been done. Of course, the chances of that are high because beer has been around for ages and just about everything under the sun has already been tried.

So, I was thinking of a weird way to do beer and was wondering if anyone has ever heard of such a thing. Also, I'd like to know if anyone can spot any obvious problems with it.

What I'd like to try is to make a beer that still has a lot of simple sugars in it. I don't necessarily want it to be very sweet. It can be balanced with lots of hops or spices.

I want to try it like this: First brew a strong, bitter ale, something with about 9-10% ABV and a good amount of bittering hops. You might not even want to drink this beer. It would be quite dry and bitter. Let it go through the full fermentation and maybe cold crash it or use isinglass or something like that to remove as much yeast as possible. Then, brew another wort, but this time make it malty and aromatic, and as frothy as you can get it. It could be dark, amber, whatever, just as long as it's malty, frothy, and sweet. Now, once your wort is done boiling, turn off the heat and while it's still piping hot, rack it onto the strong, dry ale. This, I presume, will kill any remaining yeast in the strong ale. Then you just let it settle before bottling/kegging.

I would hope that the flavors of the first beer balance out the flavors of the second beer and you're left with a beer of about 5% ABV but also contains lots of simple sugars. It would have a high gravity and be kind of like a liquid meal.

The main problem would be that the ABV might not be enough to keep away bugs that might want to eat the simple sugars and you'll end up with a lost batch, a sour beer, or maybe even just a strong beer. But, I think if you drink it within a couple of weeks, it'll be ok.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? Is this just a plain old bad idea?

Ck27 · Nov 22, 2017

Beer Volcano said:
It seems every time I come up with an idea for a new way to do a beer, I see that it's been done. Of course, the chances of that are high because beer has been around for ages and just about everything under the sun has already been tried.

So, I was thinking of a weird way to do beer and was wondering if anyone has ever heard of such a thing. Also, I'd like to know if anyone can spot any obvious problems with it.

What I'd like to try is to make a beer that still has a lot of simple sugars in it. I don't necessarily want it to be very sweet. It can be balanced with lots of hops or spices.

I want to try it like this: First brew a strong, bitter ale, something with about 9-10% ABV and a good amount of bittering hops. You might not even want to drink this beer. It would be quite dry and bitter. Let it go through the full fermentation and maybe cold crash it or use isinglass or something like that to remove as much yeast as possible. Then, brew another wort, but this time make it malty and aromatic, and as frothy as you can get it. It could be dark, amber, whatever, just as long as it's malty, frothy, and sweet. Now, once your wort is done boiling, turn off the heat and while it's still piping hot, rack it onto the strong, dry ale. This, I presume, will kill any remaining yeast in the strong ale. Then you just let it settle before bottling/kegging.

I would hope that the flavors of the first beer balance out the flavors of the second beer and you're left with a beer of about 5% ABV but also contains lots of simple sugars. It would have a high gravity and be kind of like a liquid meal.

The main problem would be that the ABV might not be enough to keep away bugs that might want to eat the simple sugars and you'll end up with a lost batch, a sour beer, or maybe even just a strong beer. But, I think if you drink it within a couple of weeks, it'll be ok.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? Is this just a plain old bad idea?

I have made a few new beer styles. Course it was hard to come up with ideas.

brewfun · Nov 29, 2017

There is a drink from Mexico called Malta which is essentially unfermented wort. Some home brewers use it for starter wort!

What if you did a version of canned wort to just add to the fermented beer to taste. Each pint might be a bit different depending on your mood.

It actually doesn't take very much unfermented sugar to make a beer too sweet. Simply unhopped beer can be too sweet to drink. There's also a huge amount of flavor change brought on by fermentation. So, you're in for a lot of experimentation. There's never anything wrong with trying.

KellerBrauer · Nov 29, 2017

brewfun said:
There is a drink from Mexico called Malta which is essentially unfermented wort. Some home brewers use it for starter wort!

What if you did a version of canned wort to just add to the fermented beer to taste. Each pint might be a bit different depending on your mood.

It actually doesn't take very much unfermented sugar to make a beer too sweet. Simply unhopped beer can be too sweet to drink. There's also a huge amount of flavor change brought on by fermentation. So, you're in for a lot of experimentation. There's never anything wrong with trying.

I agree 100% with brewfun. Without experimentation we wouldn?t have the incredible brews we all enjoy now. Your idea sounds great. I say go for it. If I were to offer any suggestions, I would suggest you start slow and work your way up. Disappointments are cheap when you start slow.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out! Baybe someday we?ll read about your brew in BYO!

Beer Volcano · Dec 1, 2017

brewfun said:
There is a drink from Mexico called Malta which is essentially unfermented wort. Some home brewers use it for starter wort!

What if you did a version of canned wort to just add to the fermented beer to taste. Each pint might be a bit different depending on your mood.

Interesting. Yes, I see it around here in grocery stores. I guess I never thought about it, but yeah that might be worth trying just to see how it tastes. But, it would have to be added to a beer that you thought was too bitter. Some IPAs fit the bill, like Lagunitas IPA, which to me is just bitter and not a pleasant beer (maybe I've never had it fresh).

It actually doesn't take very much unfermented sugar to make a beer too sweet. Simply unhopped beer can be too sweet to drink. There's also a huge amount of flavor change brought on by fermentation. So, you're in for a lot of experimentation. There's never anything wrong with trying.

That's true. That's why I wanted to added it to an extremely bitter, thin, strong beer for the contrast. I think it would be a punch in the mouth of flavor. Maybe 50/50 is still too much though and some better ratio could be figured out.

Beer Volcano · Dec 1, 2017

KellerBrauer said:
I agree 100% with brewfun. Without experimentation we wouldn?t have the incredible brews we all enjoy now. Your idea sounds great. I say go for it. If I were to offer any suggestions, I would suggest you start slow and work your way up. Disappointments are cheap when you start slow.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out! Baybe someday we?ll read about your brew in BYO!

Thanks. Yes, I need to experiment with small amounts to see if it would be worth making a whole batch.

I was looking into it and apparently when making mead, sometimes if it's too dry, honey is added after fermentation is complete and all yeast has fallen out. It's not beer, but it's good to know that something like this is done somewhere. We're actually fermenting a cherry mead right now that we recently racked and tasted. It was good, but maybe it could use a little sweet note. We might try adding a tad of honey when we think the yeast is all done, which won't be for a while.

Weird beer idea

Beer Volcano

Brewer

Ck27

brewfun

KellerBrauer

Beer Volcano

Brewer

Beer Volcano

Brewer