Planning a St Patricks Day party and looking for how to dye beer green? This page is all about coloring or dyeing your beer green for St Patricks Day, and covers everything from food coloring choices to quanties to how to make keg beer green-- sort of. Or you can check here for some other great recipes for St Patricks Day drinks and cocktails!

How to Dye Beer Green: Choice of Dye

Most people don't know that you can dye beer green with both green food coloring, AND blue. Which to choose generally depends on your choice of beer... and the shade of green you're looking for.

Using Blue Food Coloring to Dye Beer Green:

You can use blue food coloring to dye any yellow colored beer-- and light or yellow beers are generally the best for dyeing anyway. Blue food coloring results in a richer, darker, more shamrock-y green. But keep in mind that if you have a foamy head on your beer, the head may be a little bit blue-tinged.

Using Green Food Coloring to Dye Beer:

Of course, the most common choice for dying St Patricks Day drinks --and especially beer-- green is green food coloring. Mixed with your average light ale, the green food coloring will result in a bright lime-y green color.

My advice? Buy both and experiment with them the few days before your St Patricks Day party. You may find that you like the effect of one more than the other.

Adding Food Coloring to Bottled or Keg Beer

Chose your food coloring shade? Now's time to dye the beer. When you look around on the net on how to dye beer green, you may find people suggesting you put your food coloring in after your beer. This is the wrong way. The coloring goes into the glass before the beer-- this allows it to mix easily, without any stirring that would cause some of your beer's carbonation to dissipate.

How to dye beer green with food coloring:

1. Color. Add two to three drops of food coloring to the bottom of a mug or cup.

2. Pour. Pour the beer in the glass. It should mix on its own-- no stirring required.

That's it!

How to Dye Keg Beer Green (Whole Kegs)

If you've opted for a keg for your St. Paddy's party, dyeing a whole keg of beer green probably seems like an efficient option-- it's what bars do, right? Unfortunately, it can be difficult to do at home, as the keg is sealed to keep it fresh. When done for bars, etc., the coloring is generally inserted into the beer with a pump (which you probably won't have), and most bars order it that way.

A Better Option for Dyeing Keg Beer Green: The truth is, there's no real need to dye your keg green-- and risk making a mess with the food coloring. Most people --and many bars, too, for that matter-- simple add a few drops of coloring to each glass before they pour. Since it dissipates into the beer without any mixing, it's a little two-second step that's really not at all inconvenient.

My "Try at Your Own Risk" Method

I did read one suggestion for how to dye beer green online... but I've never tried it and would have to call it a "try at your own risk" sort of thing. This person suggests you fill the keg's nozzle with the food coloring before tapping the keg. Then very carefully put the nozzle on your keg-- after a bit, the color should diffuse into the beer. They warn, however, that you'll want to be very careful when you tap the keg, as green food coloring could shoot out everywhere.

So if you DO decide to try this... try it outside!

How Much Food Coloring to Use:

Determined to give the above method a try (and please don't blame me if it doesn't work!), or figured out another way to pump the color into you beer? The amount of food coloring you want to use for a 6 gallon keg is about 10 tablespoons-- that amount should give you just the kind of color you're looking for.