I’ve toyed with the concept of an apple beer for a long time…I’ve made a malted cider, which I happen to be sipping at presently (not as successful as I’d hoped, but not bad). Here’s what I’m wondering…brew up a bock or “doppelmaerzen” style beer, except a smaller batch…good, strong, not too hoppy, with a good malty sweetness, and blend it 60/40 or so with apple juice, and ferment with lager yeast like a normal lager. Or increase the apple juice ratio, perhaps, to make it more pronounced.
Anyone done something similar? Seems like a nice higher gravity lager to follow a session pils (on its yeast cake).
I did something kinda similar to that.It was a year or so ago, if I remember correctly I made an extract English ale split the five gallon batch into two buckets then added about a dozen sliced apples to each.
After fermentation I racked to a carboy with a few sliced apples in it. I let that age for a month, till the apples were wilted.
I bottled it and after a month of aging I tried it.
I wasnt happy with the results at all. It was way to strong. Not that I dont like beer with a high alcohol content it is just that it had to much alcohol vs body.
Some of my friends liked it they called it “whiskey beer” : I still have some in the basement. It has been down there for nearly a year, maybe almost two. Maybe the aging has made it better but I doubt it.
That was the last time I put anything in beer, well other than the traditional ingredients.
I still have some in the basement. It has been down there for nearly a year, maybe almost two. Maybe the aging has made it better but I doubt it.