tomato

so I like red beers, or bloody beers what ever you want to call it a beer with tomator juive in it. And that gave me a idea could you use tomatoes or tomato juice in brewing up a brew?

if you can where and how can you use it?

No! Nonononononononononononononononononono.

I had a tomato weizen once, it was catastrophic.  Don’t do it.  It was truly the worst beer I’ve ever had.  I can’t even express how horrible it was.  Well, I suggested to the brewer that he turn in his brewing gear, does that give you an idea? ;D  It wasn’t that he brewed it, we all have crazy ideas that don’t turn out to be good in retrospect.  The problem was that he brought a keg of it to a meeting as if it was something good, as opposed to as a cautionary tale.

If you like a beer with tomato juice in it, blend it in the glass.

Or, screw it, ferment it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.  While you’re at it throw a couple of pounds of peated malt in it, it can’t make it any worse.  Probably. :wink: ;D ;D ;D

Mmmmm, peated tomato ale.

A lot of folks around here make tomato wine but never hear of it in beer. Hmmm…

Oh yeah! Pine needled, peated, tomato ale. Report back with your findings… :wink:

maybe do it all brett

+1

The natural sugars in the tomato will ferment if added to the secondary leading to a very different flavor than it would if it was blended.

Blending it in the glass is my recommendation as well. You can play with the ratios until you get it where you want it.

Is there a chance the tomato would drop the pH so low that the yeast couldn’t deal with it?

Good point Denny…I don’t know but it would definitely weigh toward the acidic side of the spectrum.

Maybe add some clam juice too?

And some beef bouillon.  Then you’d have a Bloody Mary!  Or surf-n-turf!

just boil for about 15 minutes so that you leave plenty of dms. i brewed a saison once in major wind and had serious boil-off issues. the beer tasted vaguely like tomatoes but oddly i got no corn flavor. i wished it away. your a bad batch… your a very bad batch!

Remember, with water chemistry adjustment we can surmount the pH problem.  The question is: will it improve the taste to the point of making it worth it?

mmm, love me some clamato.

+1 but its only good with lesser beers (Bud or Miller) IMO.  I tried it with a couple of craft brews and it was a mistake… again IMO.  Brewing with tomatos wouldn’t effect the pH too much unless you mashed with it would it?  :-\  Either way… I wouldn’t do it.  JMO… :smiley:

Very true on BOTH points, Martin!

I came to this topic late but want to add some info you all might be interested in.  I live in Northern Michigan and I went to a beer dinner at Short’s brewing in Bellaire, MI and he had a Tomato beer he called “Bloody Beer” and it was remarkably good if you like bloody mary’s.  Here’s Joe Short’s description:  Specialty beer fermented with roma tomatoes, tellichery pepper, celery seeds, fresh horseradish & dill.  That’s all I know.  I dont know if he only put tomatoes in the ferm. or added any in the mash, or boil, you would have to experiment to find out what works best.

I drank a bloody beer last week, and I can second that it was fantastic!  It is certainly not like a pale ale or stout by any means… but it was good.  It was great paired with roasted pepper hummus.

The dill character was very important, and I think the horseradish balanced the tomato similar to how hops would balance a normal beer.  I agree, though, it is more like a bloody marry than a typical beer.

I have brewed what you are talking about.  And so far, everyone has liked it.  (I’ll bring a bottle to San Diego for you Tom, LOL)

But I did not ferment the tomatos.  We brewed an english bitter, and made a home made bloody mary mix.  Tested out different concentrations with SNPA.  We then added to the keg just before force carbination.  If you like Bloody Mary’s, you will like this beer.  It’s a bit on the spicy side, but some folks like that.

I would definitely try your chelada Mic.  If you’re checking a bag feel free to bring me a bottle :)  But don’t check a bag just for that.