Prickly Pears

[snowtiger87]

I have never used them in a beer before but I have an idea to make a prickly pear Saison. I think the earthy character of the fruit would go well with earthy character of Saison yeast.

My question is how many pounds of processed prickly pears (skinned and seeded) should I use for 5 gallons? I plan to put them in the secondary. I would like a strong prickly pear character in the finished beer.

Thanks for your input.

[majorvices]

Sounds like a great idea! General rule of thumb is 1-2 lbs of fruit per gallon. That would be a good starting point.

[jiggs26.2]

Sounds like it will be good.  Prickly Pears grow all over here is Sicily so they are easy to come by and taste great.  You will have to let me know how it turns out.

[eltharyon]

damn thats a good idea...must not play with the beer in the fermenter...I have a wild rice sort of black saison in and been playing with ideas to tune it up as it conditions.  I've never actually had prickly pear by itself, but its been one of those things that interest me as I walk through the produce section.

[snowtiger87]

You know you are a homebrewer when you walk through the grocery store and say to yourself, "I can ferment that, oh and that, and that too . . ." 

I think I will go with 1.5 lbs of processed fruit per gallon. Thanks for the advice.

[morticaixavier]

You know you are a homebrewer when you walk through the grocery store and say to yourself, "I can ferment that, oh and that, and that too . . ." 

I think I will go with 1.5 lbs of processed fruit per gallon. Thanks for the advice.

should give you a nice color and tartness as well. I think it's a great idea. are you picking your own? Did you know that prickly pear is the only cactus that is native to new england? grows like mad in the sandy soils up in maine.

[snowtiger87]

Since I am in Afghanistan (and have not found any here) I have a friend back home (Denver, CO) picking, processing, and freezing them for me so I can use them when I get back. She is also a beekeeper and will be supplying 2 lbs of honey for the beer. Of course, I have promised her half the batch for all her help so I will have to bump up the recipe to 10 gallons. I will also be using Colorado grown and malted barely for the base malt of this beer, making it an all-Colorado ingredient beer.

Can you tell I was inspired by Drew's Zymurgy article, "A Saison for Every Region"?

I did not know that prickly pears grew in New England. With all the humidty and rain I would expect them to get pretty big and plump.