Extracts and flavourings (the bottled sort)

[AdeDunn]

I did some tastings with extracts and flavouring recently, using cheap porter. Thought I'd share my findings and musings with you folks:-

Special Ingredients Plum Flavour Drop 30ml - Just don't do it! Tested these in a porter, as I was hoping to use them in a plum porter. Once I had put enough in to taste them, the flavour I can only describe as tasting like nasty fruit flavoured chewing gum! Incredibly artificial, and nothing like plum at all. One of the questions and answers on Amazon was somebody asking about using their flavours for brewing, and was told that people did so regularly, I hate to thing who this might be.... lol

Asda Extra Special Madacascan Vanilla Extract - Lush! Very natural flavour, water, ethanol and vanilla is all that's in there. I used 0.1mls in 1 pint of porter, and it smoothed off the rough edges of the rather cheap porter, softening the flavour without been too sweet. I worked this out as about 4mls in 23 litres or so for a similar effect when scaled up. If you wanted more vanilla flavour, 5mls would probably do it, but I was testing to use alongside cacao nibs to give more of a milk chocolate flavour rather than a dark chocolate one.

Nielsen-Massey Orange Extract - This stuff is amazing! A really delicious and zesty, very natrual, orange flavour. Would be fantastic in an orange infuse pale ale or IPA (eg. a clockwork orange clone). Again, I used about 0.1mls in 1 pint (in a porter once again), but this was a bit too strong, so I would say 2-3mls in 23 litres would be enough, more than this and it'll be less infused, more of full on orange flavour... lol My wife loved it at that strength though....

If anybody else has any experiences with extract and flavourings they'd like to add, please have at it.

Ade

 

[Mungri]

Hi Ade
I’ve used Citra hop aroma oil I got from Malt Miller. 15ml was around £6.00 from what I can remember. The instructions say to add 1ml per 10ltrs of finished beer.
Can’t even taste it at that rate. Added a few drops to a pint of Simcoe smash.
Again, you can’t taste much difference. Not something I’ll be buying again.
Interested in the orange extract you mention. The extract is alot cheaper than the hop oil. I’ve got a Mandarina wheat beer fermenting at the mo. Should go well with that when it’s finished.

 

[AdeDunn]

I found a similar phenomena with the hop sensation sachets from Brewferm Mungri. At first they gave more aroma than flavour. After a few weeks in a bottle though seemed to get more flavour showing up. I reached the conclusion though that the best way to get hop flavour is with a 10 or 15 minute boil addition of said hop (basically I throw it in at the same time as the Protafloc). I tried 5 minutes but found that too unstable, lots of flavour initially but vanishes really quickly and just leaves aroma, good for an IPA though when combined with a 10/15 minute addition for a complex profile . That's just my personal opinion though related to how I like my beer.

You definitely get plenty of flavour with the orange extract (and aroma!). I used Mandarina bavaria in my Belgian Wit too, I didn't use any orange flavour beyond that though, so it's very very subtle, like a much much nicer Hoegaarden. Definitely a good hop in a wheat beer imho, much nicer than Saaz.

 

[Mungri]

I like subtle. Did a Lemondrop wheat a couple of months ago with a very similar recipe. Nice and subtle but very tasty. One of my favourites so far.
I usually do a couple of 2ltr bottles to take to my brothers, so i'll put a couple of mls of the orange extract in one to see how different it is.

 

[JonBrew]

I've recently acquired a tiny dram (3.7ml) bottle of super strong peanut butter flavouring from LorAnn Oils. Planning on adding it to a split batch of Imperial Brown ale very shortly so will update with my results once I've tasted the finished beer.

 

[AdeDunn]

I like subtle. Did a Lemondrop wheat a couple of months ago with a very similar recipe. Nice and subtle but very tasty. One of my favourites so far.
I usually do a couple of 2ltr bottles to take to my brothers, so i'll put a couple of mls of the orange extract in one to see how different it is.

Keep in mind that 0.1 mls in 500mls (measured with a syringe) of porter was a VERY strong orange flavour, so I should think a couple of mls in 2 litres would be incredibly strong indeed.

 

[Mungri]

Keep in mind that 0.1 mls in 500mls (measured with a syringe) of porter was a VERY strong orange flavour, so I should think a couple of mls in 2 litres would be incredibly strong indeed.

Jesus. Thanks Ade. I thought you said 1ml. More attention needed!

 

[AdeDunn]

lol No worries bud, glad I've helped you to avoid the experience of an orange bomb....

 

[soupdragon]

Where did you get the orange from?

Cheers. Tom

 

[Mungri]

Don't know where Ade got his from. I ordered mine from Amazon £5.81 with free delivery.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005K712BO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[AdeDunn]

I bought it from Asda, wasn't very expensive either (£3.48), you'll find it in the baking section. It's 90% ethanol, with a bit of water and orange oil, so nothing to mess up your beer.

 

[soupdragon]

Asda indeed?
I'll get the Mrs to add some to her next online shop

Cheers. Tom

Done

 

[Mungri]

********, that’s £2.33 I’ll never get back.

 

[AdeDunn]

********, that’s £2.33 I’ll never get back.

Sorry Mungri, I feel partly to blame, should have mentioned where I bought it from in my original post really. If you're ever in there area, drop by and I'll pour you a beer. lol

 

[soupdragon]

Our Asda shop came this morning so I'll be trying the orange later in a pint. If I can measure .1 of a ml that is. The syringe I've got has gradients of .2 so I'll have to be careful

Cheers. Tom

 

[soupdragon]

Well that's interesting

Nice orange aroma, can't judge the flavour property as the beer I've dosed is very bitter so I could be mistaking a bitter orange flavour for plain bitterness. It certainly does have some orange flavour to it though.
I tried to get as close to .1 of a ml as possible but I may have added slightly more. Getting some really small pipettes from a friend so will be able to dose more accurately in future.
Will definitely use this again in a full brew.
Magic

Cheers. Tom

 

[AdeDunn]

Glad you like it Tom, it's definitely very zesty and natural tasting eh? Turns out I'm going to be using a bit in my chocolate orange porter, my actual orange zest under performed going by an early sample (or the malt flavours have over-performed... lmao) so are going to need a tiny little boost...

Less is definitely more with it though for sure. I have 2.5ml syringes from one of my other hobbies that I used.

 

[LeeH]

These are great, much better than I was expecting.

The peanut is awesome in a stout.

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product-category/ingredients/flavourings-herbs-spices/

 

[soupdragon]

I wonder what their lemon extract is like?
Hmmmm, I can feel another Asda shop coming on

Cheers . Tom

 

[Spudhead94]

I did some tastings with extracts and flavouring recently, using cheap porter. Thought I'd share my findings and musings with you folks:-

Asda Extra Special Madacascan Vanilla Extract - Lush! Very natural flavour, water, ethanol and vanilla is all that's in there. I used 0.1mls in 1 pint of porter, and it smoothed off the rough edges of the rather cheap porter, softening the flavour without been too sweet. I worked this out as about 4mls in 23 litres or so for a similar effect when scaled up. If you wanted more vanilla flavour, 5mls would probably do it,

Ade

I've got a vanilla choc stout fermenting at the mo and drew a sample so i could forecast how much vanilla i'd need and settled for 12ml in an 8L batch, I found that to be just right not overpowering nor too weak!