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MeThirsty · 06-10-2011, 05:57 AM

Hello Beer Ninjas

Myself and another rookie brewer and going to jump off the deep end and try a cantaloupe beer. So that it doesnt COMPLETELY bomb... i was just looking for some advice on this 5 gallon batch..

We are going with a wheat almost heff like grain bill. thinking of using a american heff yeast or coopers ale yeast.. the big question is.. when to add the cantaloupe!! Ive seen where people throw chunks of fruit on the secondary or extract the fruits flavor into something like vodka.. but im not sure what to do with the cantaloupes mega mellow flavor .... and im sure im biting off more than i can chew!!! But thats kind of the point here!!! So heres what i was thinking, and you guys tell me how much off a green no-knowing baby i am:

I was gonna puree maybe 4 cups of fruit... and put in a cheese cloth bag in the secondary, while having some fruit sit in some midori for about a week or two. then strain and add the midori when bottling/(hopefully) kegging. Kind of combining ideas ive read through the threads here.

haha!! Have at me! And thanks for bearing through my noobness.

ericd · 06-10-2011, 06:46 AM

Well if you want a strong cantaloupe flavor, what I'd do is juice a bunch of cantaloupes to get 5 gallons of juice (yeah a whole lot!) add enough wheat DME to get to your OG and boil like normal, adding like .5 oz of a low alpha hop at 60 mins then ferment it as cool as the yeast will go.

I've found that most fruit flavor gets fermented out, so it's hard to add too much.

When using fresh fruit, always, always pasteurize or you WILL get an infection.

CDbrews · 06-10-2011, 07:09 AM

I wouldnt bother with the midori, just puree the fruit and pasturize it then rack on top of that... It would deffinately make an interesting beer

Scruffy1207 · 06-10-2011, 10:38 AM

I hear some people puree their fruit and the yeast takes the sugars and the flavor out. I'd just stick a ton of cantalope in there in chunks. obviously you want to pasturize it by placing the fruit in vodka first.

**unionrdr** · 06-10-2011, 11:26 AM

I rather like the idea of juicing the melon first. Then maybe bag the pulp & add both.

Insomniac · 06-10-2011, 12:03 PM

I dont know much about beers so correct me if im missing something, but if you plan to heat the fruit you will want a pectic enzyme, otherwise it wont clear. Though, if your doing it on a wheat beer base, maybe that doesn't matter so much!

octoflab · 06-10-2011, 12:21 PM

in the past i have had great success with getting fruit flavors into beer by using a juicer. what i do is juice the fruit, add the pulp to the mash, and freeze the juice. after fermentation has come to a stop, i pasteurize the juice and add it to the fermentation vessel. the pulp in the mash does seem to lower efficiency, but judging by how much flavor i have been getting into my beer with relatively small amounts of fruit makes it worth it to me.

edie · 06-10-2011, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by octoflab

in the past i have had great success with getting fruit flavors into beer by using a juicer. what i do is juice the fruit, add the pulp to the mash, and freeze the juice. after fermentation has come to a stop, i pasteurize the juice and add it to the fermentation vessel. the pulp in the mash does seem to lower efficiency, but judging by how much flavor i have been getting into my beer with relatively small amounts of fruit makes it worth it to me.

why pasteurize after freezing? wouldn't the freeze take care of any nasties?
not saying it's wrong, just wondering. i've really enjoyed the last few fruit beers we've made and looking to find some new ideas.

ReverseApacheMaster · 06-10-2011, 02:07 PM

Cantalope is very mellow so you may not get much flavor or a muted flavor from it. To get a good flavor you may even need to add so much that your beer ends up horribly watered down. Just something to consider.

MeThirsty · 06-10-2011, 02:27 PM

What would be the best way to pasteurize the melon?? I'm half you guys said something!! I didn't think that far ahead..