RandalG

Recipes 

I know it's common practice to add fruit to the secondary after the primary has finished. Recently I got the Paragon Apricot Blonde kit from NB and they said to add it 2-3 days into primary and let it finish then move to secondary to clear. The beer turned out very good. I was just wondering is there a reason why this isn't more commonly done.

Mpavlik22

Recipes 

Was it frozen? Fresh? How much did you add?

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ZombieBrew83

Recipes 

I do not use a secondary, typically. Each time I've added fruit it was to the primary after fermentation was complete (between 7-10 days after pitching.) It is my understanding that if you add fruit to your fermenter while your airlock is bubbling you can lose the fruit aroma. It is also my understanding that kit instructions are not always the most accurate guides for how to make the best beer. If my understanding of fruit aroma is correct, your beer may have finished fermenting in the 2-3 days before you added the fruit so your finished product was as you expected.

Hope that helps.

DanH

Recipes 

How do you add berries? Steep them in water and dump it in?

Fathand

Recipes 

I made a cherry wheat a few years ago and simply racked the beer onto the fruit.

I have a current batch that has been fermenting strong since Sunday and I plan to add the cherries tonight right into the bucket where its fermenting. I plan to stem and wash the fruit and add them to a large paint straining bag and weigh it down.

Plan is to leave them for about 6 days and then move to 2ndary to clear. At that point if there isn't enough cherry flavor I will add more.

MMJfan

Recipes 

I just brewed this kit last night. I also have a strawberry wheat that I brewed about 2.5 weeks ago. I racked my wheat over frozen strawberries that I'd heated to 160 about 10 days after it went into primary. With this apricot blonde, I was planning on adding the fruit puree after 7-10 days as well.

Glad to hear your's turned out well. Hoping mine does as well!

RandalG

Recipes 

I added a can of apricot puree about 3 days into primary. I even called NB to make sure it wasn't a typo on the instructions. I should have also mentioned the kit also calls for adding 4 ounces of apricot extract at bottling/kegging. I was afraid that was going to be too much flavoring but it wasn't. I suppose that could have added some aroma I may have lost in primary but it smelled and tasted great and was well received by everyone who tried it at a party I had a few weeks ago. While at the LHBS I did notice different extracts say to add different amounts per 5 gallon batch so all extracts aren't created equal.I have found that out from my own experience as well. But I have to say for apricot the one can/four ounce combo works pretty well.

bleme

Recipes 

I've only used fresh fruit but I've been told, by people much more knowledgable than myself, that using both real fruit and extract flavoring often provides a more natural flavor than you can get by using either on their own. Someday...

MMJfan

Recipes 

Using both is what I was planning on doing.

MindenMan

Recipes 

I just tasted my apricot ale, and I wasn't impressed. I got a lot of alcohol, but only a little, if any, apricot. I put 72 oz's of apricot puree in the secondary
8 days ago, and got a lot of initial fermenting activity for two or three days, and now even if I agitate it, the airlock doesn't even move. I will leave it alone for 2 or 3 days, and see if has cleared or not. If not I guess I wait a little longer. I had planned on having to use apricot flavoring, at least a little, to fortify the flavor at bottling . The other day I had a chance to taste apricot flavoring from a company with the name of Brew-something and was blown away by the "strong" clean flavor it had. Oh well, at least I tried to make a flavored ale using real fruit. As long as the beer tastes like apricot, and doesn't taste phoney, the missus will be happy.