Brewing with peaches

I have had an idea to brew a Belgian Golden strong ale with peaches for a while now and i think i would like to do it this weekend. But, there are a couple of things i would like to ask the folks around here.

1) Has anyone ever brewed with peaches?
- did it turn out well? anything you would suggest as far as method?

2) I just want a hint of peach. If that is the case, is it better to put the fruit in with the boil, or in with the primary or secondary fermenters?

Here's what i've been thinking:

7 lbs. Muntons Dry Extra Light
1 lbs. Candi Sugar Clear
(Not sure about a specialty grain)
0.5 oz. Galena (Pellets, 12 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.4 %AA) boiled 10 min.
0.5 oz. Hallertau (Pellets, 4.1 %AA) boiled 1 min.
Yeast : White Labs WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale
Adjunct: 3 lbs. ripe Colorado peaches @?

thanks in advance. :rockin:

I have never brewed with Peaches, but can attest that throwing fruit in the boil and essentially cooking it will change the flavor somewhat. My vote would be fruit frozen, then chopped/pureed, and tossed in the secondary. Other than that, I know Randy Mosher said Apricots make a finer peach ale than peaches!!! I wanted to make a "Georgia Pale Ale" with peaches a while back, but put it off. I'd love to hear your results!

I have heard putting honey in the boil causes very little honey flavor, assuming it is the same for other additives. I would probably put in the boil considering you want less flavor and put in primary/secondary if you want more flavor. I am just a noob though, so might not want to go by what I say.

The reason I posted is that I LOVE peaches and would love to hear how this comes out. Good luck!!!

never brewed with peaches but i have had a peach wheat from a companie in bellville il, and shiner cheer had peaches in it too both were very good.

In the boil? One word... pectin

I have brewed with peaches in the past. To be specific, they were about 3 pounds of fresh peaches that I peeled and pitted in early September, and then froze in freezer bags with a little bit of orange juice (grandma's secret trick to keeping them fresher tasting). I thawed them and then blanched them (on advice from a chef friend to try to get them as sanitized as possible) in Feb. to add to my secondary of a pale ale.

Left them in for about 10 days. The result was a nice hint of peach, without being overbearing. I would definitely do it again!

One note. Don't let the way-more-disgusting-looking-than-usual grime from fermenting fruit chunks psych you out into thinking your batch is ruined. I was nervous, but I hung in there, and am glad that I did!

Best of luck!

I pureed them already! I totally forgot to sanitize in some way. I just skinned, pureed, and put in a freezer bag. Hopefully, the batch turns out alright.

Would it make sense to put the bag of thawed peach puree in a pan to pasuturize?

No, like Baldy_Beer_Brewery stated, pectin.

If you boil or pasturize your fruit you will have pectin haze issues, if your adding to secondary the alcohol content and the secondary fermentation will help to ward off any nasties that my have been on your fruit. There is always a possibility of infection, but I just freeze, thaw, and puree then add to secondary and have no issues thus far.

For future reference, some people will soak their fruit in water and add a half a campden tablet which should sanitze it.

IMO if you ABV level is above 5%, and you are adding to secondary (where a true secondary fermentation will take place due to the sugars in the fruit) then you have little to worry about.

So after racking into the keg and carbonating for the last 3-4 weeks I have had a few of the peach beers. First off, I should have done anothe round of fermenting/settling out of the beer. Way too much pulp in the beer. The peach is a bit overwhelming. The beer is pretty dry, and for the most part not too bad. Strong as hell that's for sure. I will try this recipe again next year, just with a few tweeks.

Sounds like an interesting recipe.

What sort of tweeks are you planning for the next time you make it?

I'm for sure going to put it into a third round a fermentation. It was very cloudy when kegging it off of the peaches in the secondary. Other than that I will give it more time. Like every other time I've kegged the last few pints were the best. A spicy note really came out towards the end of the keg.