I have ideas to try for a new beers I might like.
Seems to be all kinds of things added to beer for sugar or flavoring or aroma etc…
I might try to do some 1gal batches for testing.
How would I best go about adding things like Coconut or Banana etc. ?
Shred and mash to pulp and add to grain in mash tun?
Steep in a bag during boil?
Just toss in pot during boil and leave it?
Add to fermenter or secondary?
I mostly want the aroma and flavors, but if the sugars add to the OG that could be good also.
I don’t want the final beer to be too sweet though.
If you’re looking for ideas, you could achieve the banana through yeast choice. I’d do coconut at the end of the boil (a few minutes at most). I’ve never had fermented banana, and I don’t know how much of the flavor and aroma would survive fermentation. Some people are concerned about the oils in coconut with respect to head retention and shelf-life, but I wouldn’t worry about that; I’ve read accounts on both sides of that issue. Keep in mind that a little bit goes a long way when you’re looking at flavorings.
Some time in the next couple of months I plan to brew a coconut wheat beer. I’ve brewed this twice before and I added dried unsweetened coconut to the secondary which worked pretty good.
You’ll get plenty of banana if you ferment something like wy3068 warm (75f+). You could just add unsweetened coconut milk to your bottling bucket to taste.
Or you could get historical. Bake a few coconut banana loafs and add them to your fermentor in place of your grain. At least, that’s how the egyptians used to make coco-banana beer :cheers: