1st Tiem Brewing with Apricot Puree- American Apricot Wheat Ale

Hello,

First time posting, new to the site.

I'm brewing an American Apricot Wheat Ale (1st time):
6lb Muntons Wheat Dry Malt Extract
1oz Haullertau
3lb Oregon Apricot Puree
Wyeast 1010 Wheat Ale Yeast

My question or concern is that i added 1/2 of my puree (1.5lb) during the last 5 min of boiling. then I added the other 1.5lb of puree to the primary. I'm concerned that I shouldn't have boiled the puree in my wort. Is this going to throw the flavor off on my beer? Can I salvage it?

~I had the most explosive ferment over the airlock for about the first 36hours... what a mess. I live in AZ so the temp was right around 74-75, I tried to cool, but worried ferment was too hot. First time brewing a wheat, and Extract. I think I'll slow down and start taking some recommended recipes before I continue making my own!

Anything I can do, and please give suggestions on how to properly produce a Apricot Wheat ( I was trying to get something comparable to Pyramid Apricot Ale).

Thanks, and Cheers!
Corona Bob

You have a few problems:

1. Fermentation temp was high.. The recommended temp for fermentation is a temperature range of 58-74° F. The higher the temperatures the more likely hood of off flavors. Do a search on the forum about high fermentation temps and there will be a ton of reading. An easy an cheap fix for this problem is a large rubbermaid container filled with water. You can use frozen water bottles added to the water to maintain proper temp. Its commonly refered to as a swamp cooler on here.

2. Boiling of the Puree will just kill the flavor. Also, adding puree to primary while beginning fermentation is going on will kill the flavor. The carbon dioxide from the fermentation removes the flavor. Your probably going to be really light on the apricot flavor. The recipe you have posted sounds like it could lack in the flavor department a little bit as well. You might want to look into adding some steeping grains to your next recipe to increase the flavor and body of your beer.


It sounds like your somewhat new or brand new to brewing. I would start by practicing with a few tried and true recipes before trying to create your own. This way you can see how everything works. This beer might not give you what you were expecting from your own beer but it will definitely be beer.

Hope this helps.

I appreciate the help!
Thanks!

Interestingly, in my opinion, the high fermentation temp may have saved the beer, or not. You'll see I guess!

High temps can give off-products instead of ethanol, some of which are fruity-smelling & tasting esters (think "Juicy-Fruit" gum). If you got a few nice esters, it could really help what you are trying to do; unfortunately if you got fusels or other byproducts you might have brewed up some nasty hangovers. Could go either way, to be honest, but of all the beers to brew at too-high temps I've heard it said that wheat beers are the most tolerant of high primary fermentation temperature.

With fruity beers, I've seen it recommended repeatedly to only flavor in the secondary. The other thing is that different fruits require different amounts to flavor the beer properly. By way of example: the amount of orange peel to add to wheat beer is supposedly best measured in _grams_, while the amount of raspberries to add is measured in _pounds_. 1 lb ~ 450 grams... quite a difference.

But that spirit of exploration and experimentation will serve you well later on, so don't be discouraged!

Bobshannon1 said:

My question or concern is that i added 1/2 of my puree (1.5lb) during the last 5 min of boiling. then I added the other 1.5lb of puree to the primary. I'm concerned that I shouldn't have boiled the puree in my wort. Is this going to throw the flavor off on my beer? Can I salvage it?

Click to expand...

Eh, it will probably be fine. Some fruit beers (i.e. McMenamins Ruby) boil the fruit. This reduces the flavor (boils off some aromatics) and introduces some pectin haze, which is what they wanted. You can compensate by using more fruit if you go this way. Most others use it during fermentation, where less flavor/aroma will be driven off. (Some still is driven off by fermentation tho.)

Boiling (or at least heating to 170F or higher) can also help consistency when you're using plain ol fruit (i.e. non-sterile fruit) but you shouldn't have that issue with Oregon purees.

I took the advise on the swamp cooler... Actually I used our spare bathroom tub until i can get a more permanant plastic tub, but works great, THANK YOU!! Temp is down to about 68 or so.
I plan on racking to a secondary tomorrow evening as I'll be in Vegas for work until Saturday, then plan on bottling. Looking forward to seeing how this brew turned out.

Now that I have a solution to lower fermenting temps (water bucket) , is it possible to brew a LAGER at this temperature or should I stick with ales until the fall?

I'm sure it would be possible to lager with that setup. I doubt it would be very convenient as you would be changing ice regularly. I would stick with the ales until you have a dedicated refrigerator for lagering. Although I could be completely wrong. Let us know how it turns out.

Just tried my first bottle of the American Apricot Wheat. Not too shabby, but I've had better. I do notice a Bitter-Sour aftertaste that I associate with the Apricot flavoring. Overall, success, but will definitly make notes on how to improve this beer for the next batch.
Hopefully as it bottle conditions I will get a more balanced flavor.

Thanks to all that replied to this post!

I'll bet it will condition nicely from here, it's only been about two weeks, am I right?

WOW!!

Some more time in the bottle to condition, and D-Lish!! My best homebrew to date! I wish I already had another batch in the secondary!

Cheers!

Congratulations!!

A happy beer maker is a happy beer maker!
I'm about to dump my third batch, and that, my friends = NOT a happy beer maker.

(just third overall, so that's not SO bad)

Jfriah said:

I'm about to dump my third batch, and that, my friends = NOT a happy beer maker.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry for your loss.