Beer Forum

Is there anyway to boost up the final gravity of a beer to make it a little more "carmely"??? I was thinking about literally adding caramel. I'm on week 2 right now. The gravity is at 1.011 ...a little low

You can boost up the FG by adding some maltodextrin. For additional carmel flavor you might want to steep some C60 in a gallon of water, then boil for 10 min, chill and pitch (slowly, as to not introduce O2).

I would stay away from adding caramel to the brew. It's all simple sugars and would do hardly anything for flavor or FG.


Mylo

hmm I like the idea of steeping some more C60 to the batch, but there is no more room in the 5 gallon jug. hmm. what will the maltodextrin add as far as flavor? and what is maltodextrin and where can i get it?

It's a white powder that you can get at your LHBS. It is basically tasteless and unfermentable. It will just improve the body.


Mylo

ya thats the way to go. so what is the weight of malto dextrin? pts/pp/pg?

What would happen if I added sliced up apricots to the mix? or would I need to boil the apricots to get the sugars out? How do I extract the apricot flavor to the beer without getting of tastes from the actual chemical make up of the apricot?

Dmp wrote:What would happen if I added sliced up apricots to the mix? or would I need to boil the apricots to get the sugars out? How do I extract the apricot flavor to the beer without getting of tastes from the actual chemical make up of the apricot?

Whoa there padawan.

Dmp wrote:What would happen if I added sliced up apricots to the mix? or would I need to boil the apricots to get the sugars out? How do I extract the apricot flavor to the beer without getting of tastes from the actual chemical make up of the apricot?

You could use fresh, uncooked Apricots, but it's a hell of a lot easier and more predictable to use a puree.