Blackcurrant porter anyone???

[Biganth]

Thinking of making a porter flavoured with blackcurrant. Anyone got any advice on using blackcurrants in brewing? I used to love a guiness with a drop of blackcurrant in it. So think it could be a good experiment to try.

[seymour]

First off: hells yeah, that sounds delicious. I would order a pint and take a growler home for later.

Do you mean blackcurrant juice or actual fruit?

If you mean the juice, extract, etc...especially if it's store bought and sanitized, you could add it straight to the fermentor. If you're not sure about sanitation, add it to the end of boil, just before chilling to pasteurize.

If you're talking about the actual fruit, and I hope you are...I'd suggest BarleyWater's trick. If I recall correctly, when brewing Belgian Dubbel, he draws-off some of the first-runnings of the wort, combines it with raisins in an electric blender, makes a puree, then adds back to a separate pan to boil/caramelize. I've done the same with cranberries in a Dark Mild. I bet a similar Blackcurrant Porter would be awesome too.

Are you going to use a strong blackcurrant flavoured American hop to further emphasize it? Cascade, Centennial, Cluster, Simcoe, Galena, etc? Speaking of Galena, it's English mother Brewer's Gold would be ideal too.

[orlando]

First off: hells yeah, that sounds delicious. I would order a pint and take a growler home for later.

Do you mean blackcurrant juice or actual fruit?

If you mean the juice, extract, etc...especially if it's store bought and sanitized, you could add it straight to the fermentor. If your not sure about sanitation, add it to the end of boil, just before chilling to pasteurize.

If you're talking about the actual fruit, and I hope you are...I'd suggest BarleyWater's trick. If I recall correctly, when brewing Belgian Dubbel, he draws-off some of the first-runnings of the wort, combines it with raisins in an electric blender, makes a puree, then adds back to a separate pan to boil/caramelize. I've done the same with cranberries in a Dark Mild. I bet a similar Blackcurrant Porter would be awesome too.

Are you going to use a strong blackcurrant flavoured American hop to further emphasize it? Cascade, Centennial, Cluster, Simcoe, Galena, etc? Speaking of Galena, it's English mother Brewer's Gold would be ideal too.

Or, you could introduce the blackcurrants as if you were making a fruit beer (assuming you are using fresh). I would first of all freeze them, allow them to thaw then introduce them when the beer has completely fermented out. To preserve maximum flavour don't heat, I do this with raspberries when making my annual raspberry beer and rely on alcohol, low pH and hops to control any bacteria. If you only want a hint err on the side of caution but if you also want a fruity hop Bramling Cross might get you there.

[Biganth]

Thanks for the response guys. I was thinking of using actual blackcurrants. Not an extract. Ive never really looked into hops yet to get a blackcurrant like flavour. But il look into the ones mentioned. Should be doing the brew in around 4 weeks time. Il put the recipe up on this thread and keep you posted

[wilfh]

You may need to age. There is a load of tannin in blackcurrant so it may be a bit astringent to start with. I haven't brewed with BC but dine other things. Cordial is good but does throw a sediment. So I would expect the same in a porter . Wilf