Every homebrewer gets the urge at some point to add a little something special to their beer. I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that you can easily find a stout at the store, but a mint chocolate stout? Now that’s something special!
One popular way of adding flavors to homebrew is what Randy Mosher calls a potion. This is essentially a mixture of alcohol and whatever flavoring ingredient you want in your beer. Another term for this is an extract. That’s what this post is about, how to make and use these potions or extract to flavor your homebrews.
So what kinds of potions can you make?
Though you can make a potion out of just about anything, here are a few of the most common:

• vanilla
• cacao/chocolate
• orange peel
• mint
• cardamom
• coffee
• licorice

The main benefit of using a potion or extract is that it’s easy to adjust how much of the flavor you want in the beer. It can be difficult, for example, to figure out how much flavor three vanilla beans might bring to your vanilla porter. With an extract of vanilla bean, all you have to do is take a sample of beer and use a dropper to measure how much of the potion is needed to reach the intensity of flavor you want. Then you scale up to figure out how much to add to your batch.
The main drawback of using a potion is that it takes some foresight. To fully extract the flavor from your ingredient of choice, you will need to let it soak in alcohol for at least a week, ideally three or four. This means that if you plan to add your potion at bottling time, it should be prepared on brew day or even several days before. Just be sure to use a digital scale to measure how much of the ingredient you added to the jar. Save this information in your brewing notes so you can recreate the potion if you want to.

How to Add a Potion to Your Homebrew

1. Choose a flavoring ingredient that will blend well with your beer style.
2. Buy some cheap vodka or similar alcohol.
3. Put the ingredient in a mason jar and pour in enough liquor to fully cover the ingredient.
4. Let sit for about three weeks.
5. When it’s time to add the potion to your beer (usually bottling day), take a measured sample of beer for a taste test.
6. Use a measured dropper or pipette (ideally in fractions of a milliliter) to add small amounts of potion to the beer until desired flavor is reached.
7. Scale up to figure out how much potion to add to your homebrew.

Example:
Let’s say you find that 1 mL of potion is ideal for eight ounces of beer. There are 80, eight-ounce servings in five gallons of beer, so add 80 mL of potion to your homebrew.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Making flavor extracts for your homebrew is just one more way to add a lot of fun to the process. It’s one more avenue for a lot of creativity. What kind of beer would you make with your homemade potion?
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David Ackley is a beer writer, homebrewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

Adventures in Homebrewing is proud to announce an expanded offering of malted brewing grains. We now carry nearly 100 different malts and specialty grains to add to your homebrewing arsenal. We have grain products from some of the best malt producers the world has to offer, including Briess, Weyermann, Crisp, and more. Want to brew an authentic German, Belgian, or English ale? Now you can build your beer recipe around malt from the region where your favorite beer is traditionally brewed.

Adventures in Homebrewing offers malted brewing grains from the following malt houses:

• Avangard – Avangard Malz, based in Germany, is the largest maltster in that country. Use Avangard pilsner malt for your German lagers, Avangard wheat malt in your hefeweizen, and Avangard Munich Light or Munich Dark in your Munich-style lagers.

• Briess – Briess is the largest maltster in America. We carry a variety of Briess 6-row and 2-row base malts, a complete range of Briess caramel malts, and several specialty malts, including chocolate malt, Vienna malt, smoked malt, and Carapils, just to name a few.

• Crisp – Crisp is the leading maltster of the UK. Many homebrewers swear by their Finest Maris Otter malt. Crisp is also one of the few producers of such specialty malts as amber malt, brown malt, pale chocolate malt, and crystal malts 15°L, 45°L, and 77°L. Use these Crisp malts for your English pale ales, porters, and stouts.

• Dingeman’s – Mouterij Dingeman’s is a Belgian maltster producing some of the specialty malts you’ll need for your favorite Belgian beer recipes. Use Belgian biscuit malt, special B malt, and aromatic malt to bring authenticity to your Belgian beer recipes, or add them to other recipes for a touch of complexity.

• Gambrinus – Canadian maltster Gambrinus is famous for its honey malt, also known as “Brumalt”. As the name implies, honey malt can lend a pleasing sweetness to just about any beer. It worked great in my Flower Power IPA!

• Munton’s – Another highly regarded British maltster is Munton’s, who makes some one-of-a-kind malts like English lager malt and English mild ale malt. Their unmalted roasted barley contributes characteristics roasted flavor to porters and stouts.

• Weyermann – Germany’s Weyermann is one of the most well-respected maltsters in the world. We now carry 31 malts from Weyermann, from their Bohemian pilsner and pale wheat, to a chocolate rye malt and Carafa Type I, Type II and Type III. Weyermann malts can be used in any style of beer, but will really excel when recreating the traditional beers of Germany.

Our expanded of malted and unmalted grains now give the homebrewer even more control and versatility over the beers they make. Whether you brew all-grain or extract, these grains can help bring a range of character and flavor to your homemade beer.
What are some of your favorite malts for homebrewing?
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David Ackley is a beer writer, homebrewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

Guest blogger Matt Chrispen shares the impact that various minerals can have on different styles of beer. To get the whole story start at Part 1 of this 3 part series.
There is no hard and fast rule in the application of brewing minerals. Every person’s tastes differ. As such, we are exploring the art of “seasoning” the finished beer, like adding a little salt and pepper to your favorite dish. A little may be good, but too much could ruin the batch.
Below are some starting points for 5 gallons of extract beer. Some minerals are already concentrated in the malt extract, so we recommend using reverse osmosis (RO) or distilled (DI) water. When using tap or spring water, reduce the recommendations to taste. Fully dissolve mineral salts in water before the extract is added to boil.
Mineral Recommendations for Different Beer Styles

• Lagers are historically brewed with soft water.
  • No mineral additions recommended.
• Malty, Roasty Ales include browns, porters and stouts where malt flavors and sweetness are expected.
  • Add ½ tsp (~2 grams) of calcium chloride.
• Hoppy Ales include most American pale ales, hoppy ambers, and IPAs.
  • Add ½ tsp (2 grams) to 1 tsp (4 grams) gypsum.
• Mineral-Rich Ales include English bitters or Burton ales.
  • Add ½ tsp (2 grams) to 1 tsp (4 grams) each of gypsum ands calcium chloride

Personalizing Additions:
To determine how much mineral(s) might influence your beer, try the procedure below.

1. Fill a clean 1-liter bottle or flask with RO water, and dissolving 2 grams of gypsum or calcium chloride. Shake to dissolve completely, creating a 2000 ppm solution of the salt.
2. Pick a homebrew and split into four 3-ounce (89 ml) servings. Use gypsum for hoppy or calcium chloride for malty beers.
3. Using a calibrated pipette or eyedropper, add 1 milliliter of solution into the first serving, 2 into the second, and so forth. Start with the first serving and work toward the fourth, taking notes.
4. Decide which serving you prefer. Mark that down. If you preferred serving #4, open another beer and continue the process.
5. Take the serving number (with equivalent number of additions) and do the math:
   1. The 1 milliliter dose equals 2 milligrams of the salt
   2. Multiply the preferred dose by 2, yielding the milligrams of salt added
   3. There are roughly 43 three-ounce samples in 5 gallons
   4. Multiply the milligrams dosed by 43, yielding milligrams needed for 5 gallons, and divide by 1000 to yield grams. 1 tsp = roughly 2 grams of gypsum or calcium chloride
   5. Use this amount of mineral salt in your next brew of that recipe!

What changes to you typically make to your brewing water?
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Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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Matt Chrispen is a passionate, experienced home brewer, craft beer fanatic, and collector of brewing gear. He also maintains a blog on advanced brewing topics at Accidentalis.com.
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Sources:
A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer, Homebrewtalk.com, AJ DeLange
Water Treatment for Extract Brewers, Beerandwinejournal.com, C Colby
Water Adjustment in Highly Hopped Beers, Homebrewtalk.com, M Brungard
Calibration Series: Personalized Sulfate and Chloride in Beer, Accidentalis.com, M Chrispen
Bru’n Water, Water Knowledge, M Brungard
How to Brew, John Palmer

Guest blogger Matt Chrispen shares some tips for adjusting water chemistry when brewing with partial mash recipes. This is part 2 of a 3 part series. To get the whole story start with Part 1.

Dry Malt Extract (DME) and Liquid Malt Extract (LME) products contain minerals from the mashing process. These minerals provide flavor nuances to the beer and the specific concentrations are proprietary to the maltster, but they directly influence the flavor and mouthfeel of recipe. Extract brewers can further enhance their recipes with additional minerals.
Introduction to Minerals for Brewing
Since the extract brewer is not mashing grain, we can focus solely on flavor components. Ion concentrations of sulfate, chloride, magnesium, and sodium influence perceived flavors and mouthfeel.

• Gypsum or Calcium Sulfate increases calcium and sulfate ions levels. Sulfates generally enhance dryness and increase the sharpness and bitterness of hops.
• Calcium Chloride increases calcium and chloride ion levels. Chlorides tend to round out and enrich mouthfeel and enhance malt characteristics.
• Sea/Kosher Salts or Sodium Chloride (without iodine) increases sodium and chloride ions, and like calcium chloride can enhance sweeter malt forward beers. Not recommended for an extract brewer, except in very traditionally salty styles, such as a gose.
• Magnesium Sulfate increases both magnesium and sulfate ions. Malt extract should contain sufficient magnesium to support healthy fermentation. Only in specific cases is magnesium sulfate useful to an extract brewer.

Water choice is important. Hard water (already rich in minerals) will add minerals into the beer in unknown amounts in addition to the extract’s contribution. By using reverse osmosis (RO) or distilled water, we can exert more control without risking off-flavors, providing a clean starting point for mineral additions.
To keep things simple, we can rely on gypsum and calcium chloride for “seasoning” our homebrew, and the resulting sulfate, chloride, and calcium ion contributions. As mentioned above:

• Sulfates enhance perceived dryness. Increases perceived hop bitterness and sharpness. Pale Ales and IPAs often have elevated levels of sulfates, but large amounts can be off putting.
• Chlorides enrich perceived mouth feel and malt flavors. Many darker, malt-driven beers benefit from a small amount of chloride.
• Calcium is beneficial in lowering the boil pH and precipitating proteins (hot and cold break). While there is no direct flavor impact, the resulting wort is clearer and more stable.

These flavors are recipe driven, and should be used appropriately and in moderation. A hoppy pale ale may need a little gypsum where a malty porter might benefit from calcium chloride.
In Part 3, we look specifically at applying these minerals to general beer styles.
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Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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Matt Chrispen is a passionate, experienced home brewer, craft beer fanatic, and collector of brewing gear. He also maintains a blog on advanced brewing topics at Accidentalis.com.