What should you definitely NOT use in a recipe?

[Notlaw]

Me and the missus are fairly experimental and will try most things (fnar fnar). So when it come to brewing, we'll probably try all sorts of experiments with ingredients on small batch brews.

Before we get to that, are there any things that are a definite "no-no" for adding to a brew? Apart from obvious things like tins of beans, before anyone jumps in!!

Are there certain fruits, for example, that you definitely shouldn't add because they kill the yeast or react with something else in there to make a rotten taste.

Anything along those lines?

 

[Covrich]

What are you thinking about adding?? I have never added fruit to a beer.. I think a lot of those types of flavours you can get from hops.. although things like orange peel ect you can add during the boil.

If you're thinking of adding fruit like a dry hop post fermentation you have to be careful because they can harbour nasties, you can try to combat this by heating or freezing..

 

[jenivida]

Certain ingredients flavours are killed by fermentation. For example the flavour of vanilla that you get from oak and vanilla pods is removed. To get that in the beer it needs to be added when fermentation is complete.

I don't think fruit kills fermentation look at all the types of wines and ciders around. If adding fruit (like orange peel) I always add during last 5 minutes of boil to make sure any nastys are killed.

Only thing I added to a beer which overpowered the flavour was fresh ground nutmeg and I think that was because I added too much.