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Author Topic: Fruit beer questions  (Read 5844 times)

cornershot

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Re: Fruit beer questions
« Reply #15 on: August 02, 2013, 02:01:39 pm »
So you already had the answer to your questions? Why are you asking us then?

I do already have a pretty good idea of what I want to do, but I am looking for input.  But if someone's input seems way out of line, can't I question it?

Anyway, thank you all for the input.  I certainly learned a few things.  Based on Big Al's information, it looks like I'm headed for mild fruit character, which is what I'm after.

I wondered about bacteria on the skin, but also thought that the skin is where the aroma seems to be.  The tradeoff seems OK...a little sour twang in this beer might be nice.

I'm still curious how long this might take to ferment out.

As it turns out a little twang is nice and next time I'd try adding some acidulated malt to get a lactic twang rather than acetic but it definitely works. My base recipe is 50/50 wheat malt and 2 row. I might also add some flaked barley to give it some body and creaminess. It's a really nice fruit beer as it is and the ladies love it, but I think they'd like it even more with a little creamy twang in it!
 A week on the fruit should be sufficient for the yeast to consume the sugars and to extract the fruit flavor. But as always, rely on your hydrometer to tell you when it's finished.

Offline gmac

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Re: Fruit beer questions
« Reply #16 on: August 02, 2013, 02:10:32 pm »
I've tried a few fruit beers and the only way I will even bother to attempt a fruit beer now is with frozen concentrated juice.  Easy to blend, easy to adjust, good taste and no chance of picking up little fruit specks that provide nucleation points when bottled (which may not have happened to anyone else but I had apricot gushers when I made apricot beer on puree).

I'm trying to decide what to do still, how much of the frozen concentrate did you need to use? and what flavor was this that you used it for?

I made 5 gals of wheat beer and added 3 cans of Minute Maid "Wild Berry" juice concentrate a few times.  The berry was perfectly balanced and not excessively fruity nor too subtle.  The beer will have a nice secondary ferment with the added sugar so plan on a blow off tube. 

This recipe has medaled for me in every competition I've entered it in.  The wild berry blend looks to be raspberry and blueberry (and probably a lot of grape as the backbone).  It produces a nice berry flavour.  I've tried peach/apricot before and although it sounds nice, the flavours are too subtle in my opinion to accomplish what I want.  I like berry wheat (I call it "The Walrus" because Berry Wheat is sort of close to Barry White - The Walrus of Love...)

Offline jcwhoffman

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Re: Fruit beer questions
« Reply #17 on: August 03, 2013, 06:38:25 am »
I've tried a few fruit beers and the only way I will even bother to attempt a fruit beer now is with frozen concentrated juice.  Easy to blend, easy to adjust, good taste and no chance of picking up little fruit specks that provide nucleation points when bottled (which may not have happened to anyone else but I had apricot gushers when I made apricot beer on puree).

I'm trying to decide what to do still, how much of the frozen concentrate did you need to use? and what flavor was this that you used it for?

Thanks, I will take that into consideration.. my wife is stuck on wanting Peach, so I will need to figure out where I want to take this ;)


I made 5 gals of wheat beer and added 3 cans of Minute Maid "Wild Berry" juice concentrate a few times.  The berry was perfectly balanced and not excessively fruity nor too subtle.  The beer will have a nice secondary ferment with the added sugar so plan on a blow off tube. 

This recipe has medaled for me in every competition I've entered it in.  The wild berry blend looks to be raspberry and blueberry (and probably a lot of grape as the backbone).  It produces a nice berry flavour.  I've tried peach/apricot before and although it sounds nice, the flavours are too subtle in my opinion to accomplish what I want.  I like berry wheat (I call it "The Walrus" because Berry Wheat is sort of close to Barry White - The Walrus of Love...)

Offline factory

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Re: Fruit beer questions
« Reply #18 on: September 03, 2013, 02:28:52 pm »
I've tried a few fruit beers and the only way I will even bother to attempt a fruit beer now is with frozen concentrated juice.  Easy to blend, easy to adjust, good taste and no chance of picking up little fruit specks that provide nucleation points when bottled (which may not have happened to anyone else but I had apricot gushers when I made apricot beer on puree).


I made 5 gals of wheat beer and added 3 cans of Minute Maid "Wild Berry" juice concentrate a few times.  The berry was perfectly balanced and not excessively fruity nor too subtle.  The beer will have a nice secondary ferment with the added sugar so plan on a blow off tube. 

This recipe has medaled for me in every competition I've entered it in.  The wild berry blend looks to be raspberry and blueberry (and probably a lot of grape as the backbone).  It produces a nice berry flavour.  I've tried peach/apricot before and although it sounds nice, the flavours are too subtle in my opinion to accomplish what I want.  I like berry wheat (I call it "The Walrus" because Berry Wheat is sort of close to Barry White - The Walrus of Love...)

So you add the juice concentrate after the primary fermentation is over?

Offline paul

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Re: Fruit beer questions
« Reply #19 on: September 04, 2013, 10:44:26 pm »
Just to close the loop on my original post...

I put 2.6 gallons of the wheat ale on 3 lb of fresh peaches and 3/4 lb fresh apricots.  I took the pits out of both, left skins on, chopped them, and froze them for a day or two before adding the beer.  Racked off the fruit and bottled after 15 days.  Fermentation seemed to have ceased, and there was some white mold growing on top of the peaches.  (I racked carefully and tried not to disturb the fuzz!)

The result is better than I hoped for.  The peach and apricot aroma is definitely there, and is more than subtle.  I suspect most people would guess peach/apricot aroma without being told what's in the beer.  The beer dried out more than expected...both the fruit half and non-fruit half of the batch ended up with a FG around 1.008.  But this makes it a more refreshing beer IMO.

Things I'd do different next time:
I may or may not increase the fruit.  If I do, it wouldn't be by much.
I'd remember to use some sort of filter on the racking cane (e.g., copper Chore Boy pad) to keep the fruit fragments out of the bottle.
I might consider some sort of fining or pectin.  The fruit beer is way cloudy.  Not a huge concern, but could  be easy to solve.