Gigantor Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Hi All, Recently did my first Hibiscus Ale (pic attached) using Rosella fruit from our bushes. Rosella's are part of the Hibiscus family for those unaware. We generally grow them to make jam. But this year I put some aside and pureed it and did up a real light ale using pilsner, vienna & a little carapils and threw 640grams of pureed fruit in at flameout. I also added a squeeze of honey to balance the tartness of the rosella. I used 10grams of Magnum just to add a small amount of bitterness. The rosella fruit add an amazing colour to the beer. Specs were 17 IBU and 6.5% ABV. The result has been pretty good. A light ale that lets the rosella shine through. To some it has a cider like experience, others say is a very light sour style. To me it’s a very light sour style, which is quite refreshing. Next year I'll do an IPA with them. Anyone else played with Rosella Fruit in a brew before? Cheers, Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Anyone else played with Rosella Fruit in a brew before? = Yes, I have made a Rosella Saison a few times and really like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted July 7, 2017 Author Share Posted July 7, 2017 Anyone else played with Rosella Fruit in a brew before? = Yes' date=' I have made a Rosella Saison a few times and really like it.[/quote'] A Saison/Farmhouse was an obvious direction with the rosellas. But I'm not a big funky yeast lover. Next brew will be a blood orange pale ale. Am securing some pure blood orange juice and will drop it in at flame-out. Will do a simple pale ale using maris otter, vienna and a little carapils again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 A Saison/Farmhouse was an obvious direction with the rosellas. But I'm not a big funky yeast lover. Doesn't have to be funky. Some strains are very subtle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 I used hibiscus tea in hard apple cider once. I made several batches of hard apple cider in different ways a couple of years ago. It turns out I am not a fan of hard apple cider, but did like the hibiscus one the best. "Based on previous studies, the percentage of organic acids in “hibisci flos” varies: hibiscus acid accounts for 13–24%, citric acid 12–20%, malic acid 2–9%, tartaric acid 8% and 0.02–0.05% of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) (Eggensperger & Wilker, 1996; Schilcher, 1976)." "5.3.2. Hibiscus acid (Fig. 1) is the lactone form of (+)-allo-hydroxycitric acid. It compromises a citric acid moiety with an additional hydroxyl group at the second carbon and has two diastereomers due to the existence of two chiral centers in the molecule (Boll, Sørensen, & Balieu, 1969; Eggensperger & Wilker, 1996; Griebel & Lebensm, 1939, 1942)." Who knew there was such a thing as hibiscus acid? Sometimes I wonder if the reason I dislike hard apple cider is because it's main organic acid is malic acid.... Cheers, Christina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Sometimes I wonder if the reason I dislike hard apple cider is because it's main organic acid is malic Malic acid can be quite dry I think... almost seems to remove the liquid from your mouth at times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Yes' date=' I have made a Rosella Saison a few times and really like it.[/quote']I have been lucky enough to sample Benny's Rosella Saison. What a terrific beer! The colour was sensational I thought. With the right hopping aromatics, it could be quite incredible (IMHO). With the right push & marketing, I feel this beer style has the potential to be the next evolution of mass produced beer in this country. You should seriously get talking with a craft brewer about this beer of yours Benny. I feel it has enormous potential. After tasting & looking at yours, I'd do it myself, but I don't have access to the Rosella flowers as you do up north. Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meves Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Little Bang here in Adelaide make a "Hibiscus Session Sour" called The Pinkening and it is a lovely brew. It is a 3% sour wheat ale with hibiscus in it, and it is a brilliant pink colour. Nice and tart, quite refeshing so it was a regular for me in summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted July 14, 2017 Author Share Posted July 14, 2017 Yeah the hibiscus ale is very refreshing. The colour is fabulous. Gonna have to use way more next year when I do an IPA with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jibtronic Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 The Blood Orange Pale Ale sounds interesting. Would love to see the finishedproduct :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 The Blood Orange Pale Ale sounds interesting. Would love to see the finished product :D Was planning on brewing it on the weekend...but that didn't happen. Hopefully Sunday next week now. As I could decide on whether to do an IPA or Pale Ale' date=' I'll now be splitting the difference and doing an XPA [img']biggrin[/img] Specs will be something like: IBU 37, ABV 5.5% The blood orange supplier was good enough to also send me a couple extra cartons of the juice because one of the original cartons was ripped. So I'm now weighing up whether to add 4Litres of juice not 3Litres. Will report back when bottling with a pic of the end result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpaca Brew Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Hi Gigantor, Your Rosella Light Ale looks wonderful. Would you mind posting the recipe for it? Not sure if I can find Rosella here in France but will look. Thanks, Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 Hi Gigantor' date=' Your Rosella Light Ale looks wonderful. Would you mind posting the recipe for it? Not sure if I can find Rosella here in France but will look. Thanks, Peggy[/quote'] This is it Alpaca. Can't attached pictures/files anymore here? Hibiscus Ale 2017 Method: All Grain Style: Fruit Beer Boil Time: 60 min Batch Size: 23 liters (fermentor volume) Boil Size: 28 liters Boil Gravity: 1.044 (recipe based estimate) Efficiency: 70% (brew house) Original Gravity: 1.059 Final Gravity: 1.010 ABV (standard): 6.44% IBU (tinseth): 17.48 SRM (ebcmorey): 8.09 Fermentables Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill % 5 kg United Kingdom - Pilsen 36 1.8 73.3% 0.5 kg German - Carapils - (late addition) 35 1.3 7.3% 0.5 kg German - Vienna 37 4 7.3% 0.62 kg Rosella Fruit - (late addition) 6.3 0 9.1% 200 g Honey 42 2 2.9% 6.82 kg Total Hops Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU 10 g Magnum Pellet 15 Boil 60 min 17.48 Show Summary View Mash Guidelines Amount Description Type Temp Time 20 L Infusion 67 C 60 min 12 L Sparge 78 C 20 min Starting Mash Thickness: 3.5 L/kg Other Ingredients Amount Name Type Use Time 1 g 1/2 Whirlfloc Tablet Fining Boil 10 min. Yeast Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05 (2 packets) Fermentation Temp: 18 °C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 screen shot of recipe, and PDF of same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted July 24, 2017 Author Share Posted July 24, 2017 The Blood Orange Pale Ale sounds interesting. Would love to see the finished product :D Was planning on brewing it on the weekend...but that didn't happen. Hopefully Sunday next week now. As I could decide on whether to do an IPA or Pale Ale' date=' I'll now be splitting the difference and doing an XPA [img']biggrin[/img] Specs will be something like: IBU 37, ABV 5.5% The blood orange supplier was good enough to also send me a couple extra cartons of the juice because one of the original cartons was ripped. So I'm now weighing up whether to add 4Litres of juice not 3Litres. Will report back when bottling with a pic of the end result. Brewed the blood orange pale ale yesterday. All went well. Wonderful aroma of oranges in the brewhouse yesterday. Ended up doing a 90min boil (not 75mins) and going with 4 x 1Litre of blood orange juice (not 3 x 1Litre). The extra litre will thin the brew slightly but that's OK - this will be somewhat off-set by the longer boil. And a slightly lower ABV and IBU. The attached pics are (1) wort being strained into my large pot, which then got chilled in a sink full of ice blocks (2) full fermenter in the brew fridge - great brew colour. Can't wait to try the first glass of this brew in 3 or 4 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted August 11, 2017 Author Share Posted August 11, 2017 Bottled the blood orange brew on 4th August and had the first bottle tasting last night. Maybe added a touch too much blood orange juice (added 4 litres - could have only added 2 litres). The brew is quite tasty and very orangy with a slight hint of sourness. But it's very refreshing just the same and very sessionable at around 5.5% and IBU of around 33. I look forward killing a few more of these across the weekend. Pic attached of bottling day. Cheers, Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantor Posted August 14, 2017 Author Share Posted August 14, 2017 Had a couple of the blood orange ales on the weekend. Needs a little more conditioning time for the carbonation. But it tasted great. Very Fanta like brew. Pic attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 https://www.amazon.com/Fiesta-Jamaica-Drink-Concentrate-oz/dp/B0000GIR3G Same stuff it seems. Might be easier than picking and deseeding the fookers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpaca Brew Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 Gigantic and Ben if you were to use the concentrate like posted with the link, when would you add it. I am mashing right now and was thinking after the boil. Some say after fermentation. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 I can buy dried sorrel in my grocery store. Think that would be better than the "tea." Generally after fermentation is best. Cheers, Christina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpaca Brew Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Thanks Christina. I will have to see what I can find. I bought a 1L jug of the Jamaica concentrate but it isn't enough for 19L. After taste testing a sample I need about 1.5L of concentrate for my 19L keg. Happy brewing, Peggy Sorry everyone I have been gone for quite awhile. Busy going all grain and building a brew space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Hey Peggy, Building a new space and going all grain? Hey great! Please post a picture of your brew space when it is up and running. Glad your are back Peggy. The guys are great, but it is nice to have another woman on the forum. Cheers, Christina. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now