Skittlebrau

Discussions about the brewing process, ingredients, etc.
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David Jones
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:21 pm

Skittlebrau

Post by David Jones »

I am sure everyone here has wondered one time or another why can’t you get beer with candy floating in it. I recently purchased a beer starter kit because I wanted the little big mouth bubbler it came with for my small batches. This kit came with fizzy drops for bottle conditioning which got me thinking about using candy for carbonation. The difficulty of using candy is finding one that has the right amount of fermentable sugar without cutting and weighing pieces. Looking at the nutrition label for skittles I learned the following:

• One serving is 28 g is about 27 pieces whitch means each
skittle is about 1.04g (confirmed with my blade scale)
• Total carbohydrates per serving are 26 g with 21 g of added
sugar

Assuming all carbohydrates are fermentable then skittles should be 93% fermentable, but if only the added sugar is fermentable then it would be 75%.
To test this, I decided to brew the kit (brown ale) and carbonate one of the bottles using skittles, and use the fizzy drops for the rest. Typically, when I bottle, I add ½ teaspoon (about 2.5 g) of table sugar per bottle to get to my desired level of carbonation (around 2.5 volumes of CO2) in order to achieve this with skittles I needed to add three to a 12oz bottle resulting between 2.34 g and 2.90 g of fermentable sugar. This should add between 1.65 and 2.04 volumes of CO2 with approximately 0.8 volumes left over from fermentation this gives a total carbonation level between 2.45 and 2.84 volumes. From tasting the sample, I would say it was on the lower end suggesting that Skittles are about 75% fermentable. Based on the amount of stuff floating in the beer would further support the idea that skittles are 75% fermentable.

From these results you can bottle condition beer with candy, but further research is needed. I intend to brew a cream ale to see if there is any perceptible flavor, or color impact when carbonating with skittles.
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James Smith
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:37 am
Location: Plano

Re: Skittlebrau

Post by James Smith »

This reminds me of the recent Brülosophy experiment where a guy used blue Powerade for his brewing water. Completely ridiculous of course, but at the same time thoroughly entertaining and interesting at the same time. Nice work!
Cheers!
Smitty
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James Smith
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:37 am
Location: Plano

Re: Skittlebrau

Post by James Smith »

Try watermelon Jolly Ranchers in your cream ale. Perhaps it will impart some nice flavor.
Cheers!
Smitty
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Jimmy Orkin
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Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:58 pm
Location: Carrollton TX

Re: Skittlebrau

Post by Jimmy Orkin »

How about jelly beans?
Jimmy Orkin
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David Jones
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Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:21 pm

Re: Skittlebrau

Post by David Jones »

Sounds like I will need to try a verity of candy's. This will be a gallon batch, so I should have 9 bottles to experiment with.
David Jones
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:21 pm

Re: Skittlebrau

Post by David Jones »

Update; two weeks ago I brewed 1 gallon of a Cream Ale to test this carbonation method further, yesterday I bottles 5 bottles each with a different color of skittle with the remaining bottled using 1/2 tsp table sugar as a control. I will give these a couple of weeks to carbonate , then a week in the fridge before trying. Cream Ale recipe is below.

Grains:
1 lb - 6 oz Great Western 2-Row
5.4 oz Flaked Corn

Hops:
First Wort Hops (20 minutes) - 4 g Cascade (7.3%)

Yeast:
US-05

Water Profile:
Ca 101 | Mg 3 | Na 23 | Cl 138 | SO4 86 | HCO3 39

Mash at 152° for 40 minutes
Boil for 20 minutes

O.G. 1.046
F.G. 1.009
ABV 4.9%
SRM 3.2
IBU 13
David Jones
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:21 pm

Re: Skittlebrau

Post by David Jones »

SkittleBrau Cream Ale tasting notes: I poured the bottle carbonated with orange Skittles, and one of the control beers carbonated with sugar. The control beer was "homebrew clear" the Skittle carbonated beer was hazy. Both my wife and I detected an orange flavor with the skittle beer that was complimentary to this cream ale. I hope to do some blind tastings with some of the other skittle flavors.
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