Beer infusion with Randall Jr. (Caught on Video)

June 7, 2012June 7, 2012 Thomas Conner

The Randall Jr is a really neat little gadget. It’s a hand-held version of the Dogfish Head brewery’s Randall The Enamel Animal infuser. It works essentially like a tea bag and sells for about $20 or so bucks on the Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales website. And it’s probably still sold out so do some surfing around and you probably can find one, or follow Dogfish Head instructions and make one.

Once you have one, it’s simple. But neat. Add the ingredients you want the flavor from. Add your favorite beer. Stick it in the refrigerator. Wait 10 minutes. Pour into a chilled glass using a filter. Drink.

The part that really makes it cool is that you can take anything you want and add it to a beer. And I mean anything: Mango, strawberries, pineapple, apples, rocks, gum. You name it; you can do it. But plan ahead, and consider the ability of the ingredients to take on water.

We all know that if you throw fruit in water, it will absorb some of the liquid and give off its flavor, so fruit is a safe bet. Coffee and tea are, of course, known for their flavor giving properties. Chocolate, however, is known for getting all soggy. You don’t make chocolate milk by throwing a chocolate bar in milk and waiting for a few minutes. It takes more than that.

But we tried some chocolate in our beer among some other tests. Watch the video and find out what happened. And let us know of any beers or ingredients you would like us to try in the comments below. Use your imagination. We are game for anything – well, almost anything.

OK, enough. Grab your popcorn and check out the Beer Dude channel.

Thomas Conner

Thomas Conner, the ‘Beer Dude’ has known to taste and make some of the finest beers in Charm City. He figures he has made more beer than he drank or is that vice versa. He doesn’t remember. If you catch him at a nearby Baltimore establishment drinking a beer, he reminds us sternly, it’s solely for research purposes. He doesn’t jot down notes. In fact, he highly recommends not drinking and writing because it interferes with the tasting. As always, he brings along a designated note-taker who also multi-tasks by driving him home. Drink and write responsibly and never at the same time is his motto. If you would like him to test out your establishment’s home brew, just pretend you’re at the O’s game, and yell, “Beer man.” He’ll hear you.