Mango Pale Ale Dilemma

Ok so here's my dilemma ill start with the basics... I've got a mango pale ale in primary thats been fermenting for exactly a week. I will soon be racking it onto 4-5 lbs of mango in a secondary fermenter and will be leaving town on thursday for a week probably more like 10-12 days. So heres my dilemma what should I do?

A: rack onto mango tonight and let sit until thursday when I would then rack it to tertiary and let it clear for the week. My concern for this option being that maybe five days on the mango isnt enough time to get all the flavor.

B: Rack onto mango for the whole 10-12 days that I will be gone then rack when I return. My concern is this may be too much time on the fruit.

C: wait until I get back and rack onto mango for 7 days then into tertiary to clear. I really dont want to do this option because I would really like to free up my carboys for another batch as soon as I get back.

Thanks guys, your thoughts are appreciated

I would say one week is a little early, so I would wait till Wednesday to transfer to secondary on the fruit.

ok so you think it would be fine if i left it on the mango for 12 days?

Prolly to late, but I'd say 12 days on mangos won't be to bad. I am planning on racking a pilsner onto mangos for about 7-10 days.

I ended up keeping it on the mango for two weeks it turned out awesome and had a great mango taste towards the end.

Kk, I just bought 6lbs of whole mangos. Going to chop em up, soak em in vodka, and rack the pilsner onto them. My pilsner is still fermenting and it was pitched on 3/22!!! I think its because I can't get my kegerator about 50*, it normally sits around 46-48.

How did yours turn out?

I say rack onto mango and dry hop with Citra for 12 days

Why the vodka?

Etu001 said:

Why the vodka?

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Sanitation. You may be adding bacteria when you cut up the mango. The alcohol in the vodka will sanitize it and can be added to the beer with little flavor change.

Hey guys, a update for you all. The Pilsner tasted good when I racked it off the mangos. I let it sit for 6 days and it had a nice subtle taste, not a strong overpowering MANGO drink with a splash of beer. I have to say I am pretty excited for it. It is lager now for the next 2-3 weeks and then I will give you all the final results. First Lager beer attempt and only 2nd attempt with fruit.

Chris7687 said:

Hey guys, a update for you all. The Pilsner tasted good when I racked it off the mangos. I let it sit for 6 days and it had a nice subtle taste, not a strong overpowering MANGO drink with a splash of beer. I have to say I am pretty excited for it. It is lager now for the next 2-3 weeks and then I will give you all the final results. First Lager beer attempt and only 2nd attempt with fruit.

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update?

Hey Sir Humpsalot, sorry I forgot to come in an update you all on this. It was 6 months ago now so I don't have the exact tasting notes, but I felt like as I lagered longer and longer (or just let it sit between drinking) it definitely changed the flavor drastically, by the end having very little mango taste. I am going to attempt this again but with a light ale. I do not have the correct equipment to lager a beer in yet. Once the spring comes back around I am going to invest in a fermentation chamber.

Humpsalot, is your's a lager or ale?

Chris7687 said:

Hey Sir Humpsalot, sorry I forgot to come in an update you all on this. It was 6 months ago now so I don't have the exact tasting notes, but I felt like as I lagered longer and longer (or just let it sit between drinking) it definitely changed the flavor drastically, by the end having very little mango taste. I am going to attempt this again but with a light ale. I do not have the correct equipment to lager a beer in yet. Once the spring comes back around I am going to invest in a fermentation chamber.

Humpsalot, is your's a lager or ale?

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An Ale. S-05

Here's my thread... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/critique-my-mango-pale-ale-367414/

I'm doing a mango wheat right now.

It was a simple recipe of 5.5# german pilsner and 5.5# flaked wheat, using WLP 400. It was in the primary for 18 days, then racked onto 2 big cans of Desai Mango Pulp. It will sit on the mango for 3 weeks total, then going in the bottle.

I cannot frickin wait for this brew...the smell out of the secondary is outta this world

Unibrow how was it? I've got a mango wheat fermenting right now, going to add about 5 pounds of mango after a week or so.

HopHound12 said:

Unibrow how was it? I've got a mango wheat fermenting right now, going to add about 5 pounds of mango after a week or so.

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Well - I'm about 3 weeks after bottling, and it's disappointing thus far.

I can't say for sure what the problem is, but the beers have an off taste (and off aroma) of sulfur. I'm going to wait it out and try again in 1 month, but it may have been the brand of Mango pulp I used. Out of the can, the pulp is sweet and delicious, but after being ravaged by my yeast, its completely tasteless and doesn't contribute much mango.

I haven't lost hope because time should heal the problem but I would recommend using fresh mango pieces (pasteurized) instead of the canned stuff from an Indian grocery store.

I did fresh mangos and still got that sulfur taste as well. It mellows out in time, but so does the mango flavor unfortunately.

HopHound12 said:

Unibrow how was it? I've got a mango wheat fermenting right now, going to add about 5 pounds of mango after a week or so.

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If you can get your hands on an ounce or 2 of Citra hops, use that for a dry hop with this. I think that will get you the mango flavor you are looking for.

RM-MN said:

If you can get your hands on an ounce or 2 of Citra hops, use that for a dry hop with this. I think that will get you the mango flavor you are looking for.

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Best advice I've heard all day...

Interesting, I did a pale ale with fresh mango last time with all citra hops and it turned out awesome no sulfur at all. This time my LHBS was out of citra hops so i ended up going with cascade for bittering and amarillo for aroma it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Its going to be an american wheat... i used US-05 and also threw in some sweet orange peel in the boil so hopefully what will help the flavor.

Chris7687 said:

I did fresh mangos and still got that sulfur taste as well. It mellows out in time, but so does the mango flavor unfortunately.

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I did fresh mangoes. 5lbs. I started to get pro at cutting them up.

I'll mention my sanitizing technique for any who may be interested: I made 2L of starsan, pulled a mango out of the starsan, and dunked another in there as I cut up the previous one. I used a starsanned knife on a starsanned cutting board. I diced the fruit into baby-bite sized pieces. I selected my fruit for ripeness, but scrupulously avoided anything with open gashes or wounds. The beer is now three weeks on the fruit and I don't even have a speck of mold in the carboy. And I had my first taste the other night, it's still going though.

I did not get a sulfur taste at all. It was very fruity tasting. Maybe the pilsner malt was the issue for you guys? I did Pale Ale malt with some Minute Rice to thin it out and am happy with that result. However, I did feel it was a bit thin and unbeer-like. Next time, I will use a little less rice, and a bit of wheat.

Obviously, I can't speak as to the longevity of the flavor because I'm still in secondary. However, the Citra hops are a good mango substitute. And I can definitely dry hop if I sense the flavor is waning as time goes on.

My beer, with like 25% rice was too light colored. It looked like a mango wine and didn't have enough beer character. Next time, I might try a Belgian yeast to really make it stand out. As it is, I'm worried the flavor might just be a little bland... not from a lack of mango, but from a lack of beeriness.