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Jell-Ale

Jell-Ale: A Unique Experiment

All it took was sitting around a pool with another brewer and the words “jello beer” to come up and I became obsessed.  What is a jello beer?  Sounds as simple as a Jello shot.  But it’s NOT and it took me 3 weeks of trial and error to figure out how to make it.

You could just use beer as the liquid in the jello recipe.  But there’d be a huge thing missing — Carbonation.  Also, there’s potential for oxygen ingress, flavor loss, or loss of alcohol content.  These obstacles had to be solved before it would be actually a tasty jello beer.  In that I mean it’s still gotta taste like beer!  And for the final obstacle — and the biggest one, in my opinion — it needs to come in a can.

I don’t want to give away all the secrets, but all the issues got solved one after another.  The key is creating the highest concentrated solution of gelatin AND extra sugar into a heated beer mixture.  Sugar is very soluble, but gelatin isn’t nearly as easy to get into a solution.  Additionally, temperatures have to be closely monitored to dissolve the solids, reduce dissolved oxygen, and then reduce to “warm” so it can be added to the rest of the carbonated beer without blasting out the carbonation.  With the highly concentrated sugar/gel solution at the right temperature, it was then a “spike test” to determine the small dosage into a 355mL can of beer.  And finally, in the pièce de résistance, a small amount of super thick and warm solution is added to a can during the filling process and mixed immediately to fully integrate and have uniform density throughout — without losing the carbonation!

The resulting can of Jell-Ale can be opened from the top with a can-opener and the insides are firm, jiggly, sweet beer with a tingle when you bite into it from the carbonation.  It’s fun!  It’s also gimmicky, I’m aware. But here at Blue Owl, we love taking on little challenges like this that can do something unique but do it in a way that conserves the quality of the beer and flavor profile.
– Co-Owner/Executive Brewer: Jeff Young

 

Try Jell-Ale today! Visit Blue Owl Brewing’s tasting room and experience this alcoholic carbonated jello beer that will have you jiggling with joy!