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Pomegranate Ale

bargoon

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Dec 1, 2017
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Location
Vernon, BC, Canada
I'm thinking about making a pomegranate flavored ale. Thinking a wheat ale. In my area only pomegranate juice is available. Everything I've read says to add it after vigorous fermentation has slowed in the primary - don't want to do a secondary if I can avoid it.
Some of questions;
1. Is a wheat ale the right way to go?
2. In a 5 gal batch how much juice would be needed to impart a reasonable flavor?
3. After the juice is added, fermentation probable take off again - is there any way to calculate ABV as this occurs between starting gravity and FG?

thanks for your thoughts
 
Could be an interesting taste. You can't get pomegranate flavor in any other form than juice even online?
 
My thought/experience with using juices is that you are really diluting the flavors when adding it to fermenting wort or any other liquid.  I would recommend testing this by adding small amounts to a lightly flavored beer, a wheat ale would be pretty ideal, and seeing how much you need to add to get a impression of the flavor you want.  Now figure that this flavor impression will be diminished quite a bit through the fermentation process.

I tried using cranberry juice for a cranberry ale and did the above testing to see just how much I would need to add.  Ended up with a double gravity beer which I then diluted with 50% cranberry juice.  Still ended up with a beer where you had to know the cranberry was in there to sense it.  Way too much conformation bias involved on my part as no one else was able to pick it out of the flavor profile without knowing it was in there.
 
I like using pomegranate molasses for a similar beer I make. You can usually find it in middle eastern specialty stores. Alternatively, look for pomegranate concentrate on Amazon.

I find that a little bit of beet juice deepens the color, which adds to the fruit perception. A small amount of blueberry concentrate adds complexity and makes the pomegranate more apparent.
 
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