Fig Beer

pilgrimhudd · Sep 22, 2020

So I have a recipe book called 'The Homebrew Handbook' by dave law and beshlie grimes. The recipe for this is

23l in the fv

4,5 kg pale
115g Carapils

hops
Amarillo 15g @ 60

Fig puree 3.15kg in secondary

yeast irish ale wy1084

predicted og 1062
fg 1010

So questions are;

I have figs... whole figs, the recipe says pureed figs, should i blend them and leave them in vodka for a few days then add in to the secondary? The recipe also says that raisin works well, my plan was going to be to brew 20l then split batch 2 x10l and add raisin and figs to two seperate 10l fv's. I've never used secondary fermenting before should i leave it in the primary till it's finished? How long do i leave in secondary?

The yeast, irish ale wy1084, is there a dry yeast that would substitute for it?

Any help would be much appreciated!

JonBrew · Sep 23, 2020

I've used figs a couple of times in beer. My best effort was using tinned figs, which being tinned I assumed were sanitary, in an imp stout which was immense. I also used dried figs but stewed them with some spices first to sanitise them before adding to a Xmas beer. Before I opted for tinned figs on my first effort I had bought some fresh figs with the intention of using them but on tasting them they weren't very pleasant so we ended up making jam with those instead.

3.5kg of figs sounds like a lot to sanitise with alcohol. I've heard of folk roasting figs in the oven or in a skillet to caramelise them before adding them to beer which I guess would sanitise them and also possibly enhance the flavours (although you'd be getting more of a cooked flavour rather than a fresh flavour). In any event, that's probably what I'd be incline to do; roast them then blitz then up in sanitised blender then add them to the beer once cooled.

As a side note, I have the same book "the homebrew handbook". It's a lovely book to flick through and there are some nice recipes in it but lots of errors which i'm assuming is one of the reasons why you hardly ever see it referenced.

pilgrimhudd · Sep 23, 2020

It is a nice book, but yes loads of errors haha, I wondered that myself!

Thanks for the reply, I was going to split the batch so it would have been 1.75kg of figs but still quite a lot, hadn't thought about roasting but that's an idea...but yes it would add a roasted taste wouldn't it. Hadnt thought of tinned figs, to be honest didnt know it was a thing, I might keep my eye out for them.

JonBrew · Sep 23, 2020

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/baldjis-kalamata-figs-in-syrup/375679-147887-147888
These are the ones I used. I think I used 7 or 8 tins in a split batch (5 or 6 litres it would have been). The flavour came through in spades and that was in an imperial stout.

If you were to roast fresh figs I think you'd get a jam like character from them.

Interested to hear how you go with this and how it turns out so please let us know.

Cheers