[Lazy Ant Brewing]

One of my all-time favorite pies is mince meat, but when Borden --which used to make mince meat and sell it at a price regular folks could afford-- got bought out and the new conglomerate discontinued selling it, the price of mincemeat pie filling skyrocketed beyond what I could justify paying for it.

So I went to the internet and found a recipe for pie filling without the actual meat, but still delicious.  And, I'm thinking about leaving out the pie crust and adding it in the secondary to a porter after initial fermentation is complete and then allowing more time for secondary fermentation.

The bulk of the recipe is apples and raisins along with the spices found in a lot of winter warmers. 

One ingredient in the recipe that I think I should probably omit is pickle juice.  I think even commercial varieties might contain lactobacillus and other microorganisms that might move it into the Sour Beer category.

Comments please.

Also when it comes to preventing unwanted "bugs" in the beer, some have suggested potassium metabisulfite to treat fruit before adding to the fermenter. 

Any suggestions regarding how to use that?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[pete b]

So I guess the flavors you arre looking for are spices, raisins, and apple? Maybe brown sugar?
It sounds like you are actually thinking of making the actual filling? I would just deconstruct and add cinnamon sticks, cloves nutmeg/mace for spices. Raisins don't come through so I would go with stronger dried fruit like currants, maybe figs, in a decent quantity. You may actually want to try a dark belgian candi syrup, they can provide the dark sugar taste and also dried fruit notes. I am thinking some malts can give dried fruit and carmel flavors, special B comes to mind. Yeast selection could help too. Perhaps a belgian but if not an Enlgish strain like WY1469.
If I were making this beer I see it being a hybrid Belgian quad and English Porter. Maybe take a porter recipe and swap out some of the crystal with Special B and add the candi syrup and other goodies.
This could be a good beer, good luck.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

So I guess the flavors you arre looking for are spices, raisins, and apple? Maybe brown sugar?
It sounds like you are actually thinking of making the actual filling? I would just deconstruct and add cinnamon sticks, cloves nutmeg/mace for spices. Raisins don't come through so I would go with stronger dried fruit like currants, maybe figs, in a decent quantity. You may actually want to try a dark belgian candi syrup, they can provide the dark sugar taste and also dried fruit notes. I am thinking some malts can give dried fruit and carmel flavors, special B comes to mind. Yeast selection could help too. Perhaps a belgian but if not an Enlgish strain like WY1469.
If I were making this beer I see it being a hybrid Belgian quad and English Porter. Maybe take a porter recipe and swap out some of the crystal with Special B and add the candi syrup and other goodies.
This could be a good beer, good luck.

Thanks for your suggestions, but I'm not going to deviate from my base recipe which I have developed over the years to suit my taste buds.

Rounding off, it is as follows:

Pale Ale Malt         70%
Light Munich  Malt 16%
Brown Malt 65 L      8%
Chocolate Malt         3 %
Crystal 60               3%

Magnum for bittering, Fuggles for flavor.
SO4 or if I'm in the mood for less esters from the yeast, US05.

While it's not the most typical porter recipe, one guy at my local homebrew club has asked for the recipe and brewed it and most dark beer drinkers seem to think it's good.

And, yes I was pondering making the actual filling for two reasons; the name of the beer would create interest (sounds more exotic than just another porter) and while I'm making pie filling for the actual pie I love to eat, add a few more apples and a handful of raisins and you're 95% there.  How much more labor is it to split a batch of beer into two fermenters and use two different yeast strains to create two different brews? It's the same principal.

And, I'm still wondering about the pickle juice that was in the recipe.  If I don't go whole-hog on sanitation do commercial processors pasteurize pickles and pickle juice before it gets to the store? 

Also I'm unsure how to use campden tablets to sanitize the filling.  It would take more vodka than I'd want to use for that much mass.  I suppose I could just bake the filling for a lesser time than the whole pie, and then add the cooled mixture to the fermenter. 

I'm going to do it, but I'm wandering about the sanitation issue.  Hopefully this reply will generate more feedback from you or others.  Thanks

[fredthecat]

One of my all-time favorite pies is mince meat, but when Borden --which used to make mince meat and sell it at a price regular folks could afford-- got bought out and the new conglomerate discontinued selling it, the price of mincemeat pie filling skyrocketed beyond what I could justify paying for it.

So I went to the internet and found a recipe for pie filling without the actual meat, but still delicious.  And, I'm thinking about leaving out the pie crust and adding it in the secondary to a porter after initial fermentation is complete and then allowing more time for secondary fermentation.

The bulk of the recipe is apples and raisins along with the spices found in a lot of winter warmers. 

One ingredient in the recipe that I think I should probably omit is pickle juice.  I think even commercial varieties might contain lactobacillus and other microorganisms that might move it into the Sour Beer category.

Comments please.

Also when it comes to preventing unwanted "bugs" in the beer, some have suggested potassium metabisulfite to treat fruit before adding to the fermenter. 

Any suggestions regarding how to use that?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

not sure where you live, but we still have very normal and available mince meat filling here though its a bit seasonal.

ive made some from scratch before, and i feel like the flavours arent exactly "fermented" but sort of aged and alcoholic along with intense fruits and spices.

this is just thinking but:

-brandy or rum, a good amount that a drinker notices bigly
-apple juice as a large component of it
-lots of raisins and dried currants
-figs, dates, prunes
-cinnamon, ginger, cloves
-molasses or some kind of brown sugar syrup

etc

[pete b]

I don’t see a sanitation issue for the pie filling, which will be cooked, nor the pickle juice which is very acidic. Just don’t add the pickle juice until after fermentation.

[denny]

I don’t see a sanitation issue for the pie filling, which will be cooked, nor the pickle juice which is very acidic. Just don’t add the pickle juice until after fermentation.

Adding almost anything post fermentation is OK due to alcohol and especially,  low pH. I've proven that to myself many times when I add foraged, unsanitized mushrooms.

[fredthecat]

I don’t see a sanitation issue for the pie filling, which will be cooked, nor the pickle juice which is very acidic. Just don’t add the pickle juice until after fermentation.

i dont get pickle juice though? im guessing this is an american/regional thing?

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

The pickle juice is part of the recipe for the pie and only a small volume of the total, about 1/3 cup.

Thanks again for everyone's comments.