7 replies to this topic

[3rd party JKor]

I've actually been thinking about doing some blending recently. The thing that got me thinking about it was the podcast I was listening to on smoked beers. One of the hosts brought up brewing a 100% rauchmalt beer then blending it back with other beers to get the smoke right. It seemed light a great idea to me. Rather than brewing a beer a bunch of times to dial it in, brew the base beer once and the smoke beer once and have the ability to infinitely vary the smoke level.Another one I thought about is a set of 100% Pils, 100% Vienna, 100% Munich, then blending for Viennas, dunkel, etc. Each beer on it's own would be good, but you can make a bunch of different styles with them. Mash temp and IBUs throw in some extra variables that might limit what you can really make, but you can get the character of the grist for several different german lagers.Thoughts?

Edited by JKoravos, 04 January 2010 - 08:33 PM.

[strangebrewer]

I'd say that's all solid thinking. I've done some blending of beers mostly sours with non-sours to get the taste I'm after. Most blending I have done though has been with wine. I'll blend varaitals to get the depth of flavors I'm after but I'll also do it for oak if i'm not quite sure of how much oak I want in a wine. I'll blend and then pull a portion to oak. Once the removed portion has been oaked I blend it back in to get the desired oak level I'm after.Either way I ferment all my wines unblended so I can shape them into what I want them to contribue to the final wine when blended. I see no reason this wouldn't work just as well with beer. The only issue I can think of you already brought up and that would be how the hops and IBU's come into play.

[Kremer]

I've blended many beers at the faucet/ in my glass to try out some flavor combinations. The RyeIPA and pumpkin mix wasn't so good, But the too-strong smoked porter I made downmixed really well with some 80/- to mellow it.

[Thirsty]

I've blended many beers at the faucet/ in my glass to try out some flavor combinations.

My brewbuddy has been talking about this. I switched a keg over once of DIPA to a vanilla porter, when the line cleared it gave me a 1/4 pint or so of DIPA, and I left it in there for the porter to fill on top of it- came out like a creamsickle porter. The citrus and vanilla were fantastic together. So with the toying of our brewpub idea, my buddy was thinking if we could come up with a list of premeasured pours, to concoct a "soda shop" style beer, almost like we used to blend slush puppies as kids, or blend grape/orrange or root beer/orange soda also as kids. Then a patron could come in and say- I'll take a creamsickle- and you pour them a blend right in front of them off the taps. I am however going to be soon blending a lambic for real and am open to suggestions. I have a stalled tripel that I pitched the Wyeast blend (brett, pedio, lacto) a little over a year ago, it still has its pellicle, but it has got to fall soon. I want to blend this 50/50 with a low gravity wheat fruit wheat beer with a very neutral yeast to make a pseudo lambic. I really wanted to go kriek and get some IQF belaton cherries, my only concern will be how much #s, and how much $s. If I have 5 gallons of soured beer, I will want to mix that with 5 gallons of my wheat- but I would think I would want very intense fruit to endure the blend? HOw much cherry would that take? Any other cheap delicious fruit options? I also thought about waiting until summer and doing a rhubarb lambic, but this is a 18 month project already, I would like to have a couple kegs of something very special.

[strangebrewer]

...I have a stalled tripel that I pitched the Wyeast blend (brett, pedio, lacto) a little over a year ago, it still has its pellicle, but it has got to fall soon. ...

Just an FYI my lambic is now 3 years old and it still has it's pellicle. However mine is a full on turbid mash lambic so it was designed for the long haul. I'm planning to split it up and do raspberries on some, sour cherries on some, and leave 1/3 strait. As for pound per gallon I'm not sure. I'm going to start out at 2lbs of fruit per gallon and see how it goes. If you don't plan to sorbate prior to adding the fruit then the bugs will chew through the sugars in the fruit and the fruit flavor will be more subtle than in your face.

[Stout_fan]

My first smoked beer was a blend.It was well received.So go for it!

[stellarbrew]

The only successful blending I have ever done was pulling a black & tan pint from the stout and pale ale homebrews I had on tap. I like the experiment idea. Maybe it could help you to home in on the right mix that would ultimately enable you to develop your ideal recipe for a certain style.

[Salsgebom]

My concern with making beers for blending is freshness. Unless you're brewing very frequently, those batches are going to get old. Flavor loss, oxidization, increased bacteria growth, etc.