As craft beer continues to develop as a creative industry, with breweries trying to produce the best-tasting beer one can find, some breweries are beginning to use terpenes in beer to provide a specific taste and possible effect.
Terpene-infused beer has been inspired by the fast-growing cannabis industry. Terpenes, what gives cannabis its taste and aroma while enhancing its effects, are now being added to beer to provide effects similar to that of the terpenes found cannabis – without the “high” of THC, of course!
While there is so much intricacy involved in brewing beer and working with terpenes, here we provide a brief overview of how to add terpenes to beer.
Understand the Goal
Terpenes are powerful plant compounds that can elicit certain flavors and non-psychoactive effects when added to food and beverages. They exist in all plants such as in citrus fruits (limonene), pine trees (pinene), and mangoes (myrcene).
Adding terpenes to a beverage makes it functional, as it serves a specific purpose with its ingredients. With terpenes, it’s both taste and effect that matter, which is why the brewer should have specific goals for flavor and effect when working with terpenes.
Finding the right blend of terpenes will help the brewer find that balance, although there is definitely both an art and a science to working with terpenes.
Choose Your Terps
As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, hops (humulus) also contain terpenes, which is why beer and cannabis often make a perfect pairing.
Hops contain various levels of myrcene, beta-caryophyllene, limonene, humulene, and alpha-pinene, which are often complimentary terpenes to hops for both effect and taste.
Both limonene and myrcene are becoming increasingly popular terpenes to add to beer, with the former providing energetic properties and the latter being perfect for relaxation.
True Terpenes offers various terpene blends with which a brewer can infuse beer. The company offers choices by strains (inspired by cannabis), or effects like calm, energy, or focus using Dr. Ethan Russo’s Terpology®.
Infuse Terpenes into The Brew
When brewing terpene-infused beer, it’s recommended that the terpenes are added before the beer is carbonated. The injection of CO2 into the beer helps mix (or infuse) the terpenes into the beer.
Brewers will want to be precise about what terpenes they are adding and how much, which is referred to as the terpenes to beer ratio. The most commonly used formula for brewers is a ratio of 0.01-0.02% weight by volume (w/v) of terpenes to beer.
When experimenting with different terpene blends, getting products tested will help with getting the right terpene to beer ratio, and will help the company replicate the product in the future.
If using an insoluble terpene product, a solvent may need to be used. True Terpenes products are pharma-grade and solvent-free, and are designed to be water-soluble, not requiring additional solvents for infusing into beverages.
Explore Terpenes for Beer with True Terpenes
At True Terpenes, we’re pretty excited about how terpenes in cannabis are inspiring the food and beverage industries to embrace how terpenes can enhance their products.
Explore our Shop and look at the terpenes, terpene blends, and isolates we have available. Explore Terpology® to see how we’ve used science to inform our terpene products so that brewers adding terpenes to beer can find the precise blend for their ideal terpene-infused beer product.