[livefreebrewfree]

Hey everyone. Just joined up on the forum and also joined the AHA. So far I've done 3 batches, the first being an Anchor Steam and the 2nd being a Czech Pils. Both were kits from my local shop. The third was the Scottish Ale from the Big Brew Day and it's just about ready to bottle. My wife wanted to get in on the fun and wanted an Apricot Wheat. I came across two recipes, one from here and one from some other website that I can't remember. The one from AHA used just the flavoring and the other used just puree. I was going with the puree AND the flavoring. Using mostly the puree and then dialing up the apricot-ness to her liking right before bottling with the flavoring. So basically, here's my combined recipe.

Apricot Wheat
90 min boil
5 gal

3.3 lbs Briess Bavarian Wheat LME
2.4 lbs Briess Golden DME
1 lb CaraPils Dextrine Malt

.7 oz Cascade 60 min
.3 oz Cascade 20 min

Wyeast American Wheat 1010

3lbs Apricot Puree
Apricot Flavoring Syrup as needed before bottling

Going to start off with 2.5 gal cold water and steep the CaraPils while slowly bringing up the water to boil, taking the mesh grain bag out at about 170 F (about 30-45 min). Add malt extracts and stir, then bring to boil. Boil total 90 minutes adding .7 oz Cascade @ 60 min and then .3 oz Cascade @ 20 min. Aerate, pitch smackpack, ferment with apricot puree.

If my final volume is going to be 5 gal, could I do a full boil with as close to 5 gal will fit in my kettle? I have a big kettle and usually have tons of room with no chance for a boil over when I do partial boils of around 2 or so gallons. Thanks for any replies. I'm excited to be a part of the community.

[tygo]

If your kettle can hold it without boiling over then go for the bigger boil.

[livefreebrewfree]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to give it a shot today.

[majorvices]

I would recommend skipping the cara pils. There is no reason why this beer shouldn't have plenty of body, especially considering extract is usually less fermentable than all grain. You want the beer to be leaning towards the dry side, not the sweet side.

Otherwise it looks good!

[babalu87]

I'm with Keith, dump the Cara-Pils

Dont put the Apricot in until the primary slows down, you dont want ALL the aroma to go away via the air lock.

Also, you dont need to boil that for 90 minutes

[richardt]

Agree with above.  Apricot puree should give both flavor and aroma, but you should wait until the bulk of the fermentation is done, otherwise you're just making the bathroom (assuming you're fermenting in the tub) smell better. 

[livefreebrewfree]

Thanks.
The brewing went well. Hit an OG of 1.041 which wasn't too far off. I didn't put the puree in yet, so I'll take your advice and put in in the primary after the intense bubbling slows down. I was going to give it a little taste before bottling to see if it needed a little apricot kick. It's my wife's beer so it's entirely up to her how "apricoty" she wants it. I still used the CaraPils. We'll see how much body this has. Maybe the next batch I'll go ahead and skip it.

I cut the boil down to 60 minutes, worked just fine like you guys said.

Thanks again.

[monk]

I've made several apricot ales and found that with the particular flavoring I get at the lhbs, I shouldn't go more than 1 oz.  The bottle is 2 oz, but if I use more than 1 the flavor seems artificial.  Like you said, you just want to give the flavor a little kick.  Good luck.