BarleyWater

Recipes 

I am posting this thread as a documentation for myself and a tool for others tryng to make a fruit beer. There is a lot of conflicting advice out there, so I though I would document what does, or doesn't work for me.

After much reading and cunsulting I decided on my recipe and method of fruiting my brew. SWMBO likes them REALLY fruity, and this one's for her, so fruity it shall be.

Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.25 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

6.00 lb Fruit - Raspberry, Blackberry, Sweet Black Cherry (0.0 SRM) Adjunct

6.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract (5lb added last 10 min)
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain

0.50 oz Cluster [7.00%] (60 min) Hops 16.5 IBU
0.25 oz Cluster [7.00%] (30 min) Hops 6.3 IBU

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

I decided on 1lb of fruit per 1 lb of DME. Used 2 lbs each of raspberries, blackberries, and sweet black cherries. I pureed, froze, pasteurized, cooled, and mixed the fruit right in my primary with my wort, using it as my top off water, straining out the cherry skins. This is going to be a VERY purple brew. Not sure of the effects of primary versus secondary, but I will soon find out, I have head that both are the preferred way.

Fermentation had began after 3 hrs and 2 bubbles per second after 5 hrs, definatley gonna need the blow off for this bad boy.

I will keep ya'll posted to the progress and result of my brewing attempt. Hopefully this one works out nice, I would rather do primary fruit than secondary, just seems a little easier that way, just a little worried about aroma loss. I'm sure it will turn out great, smells fantastic, and tasted pretty damn good going in too.

EDIT- I used the Ale yeast to allow the fruity flavor from the fruit show through instead of the banana/clove flavor of a traditional hefe yeast.

__________________

Fermenting: Nada
On Tap:Cran Wit, Dr Pepper Dubbel, Cascadian Pale Ale, Dark Chocolate Stout, Imperial Stout, Brown Mild, Schwarzbier
On Board: IIPA

www.franconiabrewing.com

PBRNUT

Recipes 

I will be definitely interested in the end result, I am looking for a camping brew. I think everyone would like something like this(alot of females), along with my mulled apple wine(campfire treat) I am not a wine fan, but it is really good. This is a recipe I got from the Brown County Winery.

Ó Flannagáin

Recipes 

Did the 6lbs of fruit add a lot to the gravity?

BarleyWater

Recipes 

You would think so, but no.

I assumed that it would add a significant amount, but my hydrometer reading was 1.052, adjusted for temp 1.054, spot on what it beersmith said it would be without the fruit.

I can't imagine that it is insoluble, and I KNOW that it has sugars in it, so if anyone has any insight into this phenomenon I would love to know. After setting a while I did have a lot of sediment on the bottom of my hydro tube, much more than usual, but the wort was dark purple, the fruit had to have added something to the beer.

Maybe it just takes a while for the fruit to break down, I don't know, but I would think that it would have to add something. I guess we'll see what is going on when I transfer to secondary.

__________________

Fermenting: Nada
On Tap:Cran Wit, Dr Pepper Dubbel, Cascadian Pale Ale, Dark Chocolate Stout, Imperial Stout, Brown Mild, Schwarzbier
On Board: IIPA

www.franconiabrewing.com

BarleyWater

Recipes 

I should have taken pictures, this is one great looking brew. I promise to have some in a week or so when I transfer to secondary.

Also, I did lose a little DME to a small spill, so the fruit could have made up that small amount of gravity.

__________________

Fermenting: Nada
On Tap:Cran Wit, Dr Pepper Dubbel, Cascadian Pale Ale, Dark Chocolate Stout, Imperial Stout, Brown Mild, Schwarzbier
On Board: IIPA

www.franconiabrewing.com

Ó Flannagáin

Recipes 

That would make sense.

aseelye

Recipes 

I like where your head's at...

Tophe

Recipes 

Maybe a dumb question...but how do you pasteurize the fruit?

__________________
"Give a man a beer, he'll drink for a day. Teach a man to brew, he'll drink for a lifetime"

All tanks are empty :(


Drinking: A two year old keg of Eff'd up MawN Lower Beer I made !
TindleKrauft Brewing

BarleyWater

Recipes 

I heated it to 160 and held it there for about 20 minutes.

You could do it easier by adding it to your wort at the end of the boil, if it's frozen then it will lower your boil pot temp quite a bit, make sure it stays around 150-170 and don't cool your wort for 20 minutes or so after your boil. This is what I would have done, but I don't have a big enough brew pot so I did my fruit in a seperate 2 gallons on the side.

__________________

Fermenting: Nada
On Tap:Cran Wit, Dr Pepper Dubbel, Cascadian Pale Ale, Dark Chocolate Stout, Imperial Stout, Brown Mild, Schwarzbier
On Board: IIPA

www.franconiabrewing.com

feedthebear

Recipes 

When you took the measurement, the fruit sugar was still bound to the fruit and not mixed into the wort like the grain sugars.

You'll get about 0.008 - 0.010 gravity points per pound per gallon. So for 6 lbs of fruit in a 5 gallon batch, you're s.g. will be 0.010 - 0.012 higher.

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Planning: Agave Witbock, Raisin Beer
Primary: GF Hazelnut Stout
Tertiary: Cranberry-Pom pLambic (est. bottle date: 03/01/08)
Drinking: Cab.Sav/Merlot Wine, Grand Cru, Hazelnut Stout #3, Ordinary Bitter