High OG Fruit Beer

So my wife has requested that I make a fruit type beer. I want to try an accommodate her request since she is the one who got me started brewing and has been very supportive of my fast growing addiciton to homebrewing.

So my thought was, if I am going to have a fruity beer sitting around, how can I step up the ABV? I was thinking of making a blonde ale then rack to secondary with some strawberries or something like that.

I know one fairly easy way to boost the ABV would be to dump a crap ton of corn sugar or something similar near the end of the boil. With it being a fruity beer, I wouldn't mind as much if it turned out sweet.

What do you guys think? Is something along this thought process even feasible?

Yukon_Skiers said:

I know one fairly easy way to boost the ABV would be to dump a crap ton of corn sugar or something similar near the end of the boil. With it being a fruity beer, I wouldn't mind as much if it turned out sweet.

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that would be the opposite of sweet. corn sugar is 100% fermentable so it'll dry out your beer. what you're describing sounds close to a tripel

I am clearly new to this whole brewing thing. You just blew my mind. haha Looks like I have more research in my future.

If anyone can point me towards some good material of making a high ABV fruit beer, it would be greatly appreciated.

Since your new i assume your doing extract kits correct? What if you did 2-extract kits 10gal worth but only add enough water so your fermenting 6-7gal worth. My thinking the increase fermentables for a 10gal batch with the reduce water volume of 6-7gal fement would increase the ABV, just be sure you have a large enough yeast to ferment everything out. Do the experts think this would work?

theres nothing really that wrong with the initial plan, except that it wouldnt be that sweet, it'd be like a belgian tripel. more extract would be a better source to raise the abv. you could do either and then back-sweeten with some lactose and maybe get some kind of berries n cream action going

dcp27 said:

theres nothing really that wrong with the initial plan, except that it wouldnt be that sweet, it'd be like a belgian tripel. more extract would be a better source to raise the abv. you could do either and then back-sweeten with some lactose and maybe get some kind of berries n cream action going

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Thanks for the input. Good advice.

I wasn't really looking for it to be a sweet tasting beer. My knowledge is still limited, so I assumed a ton of sugar would make it sweet. haha

well yes and no. simple sugars, like corn sugar, will be gobbled up by the yeast and dry it out. complex sugars, like those in crystal malts, may not be able to and sweeten it

Or use a lower attenuating yeast. It will leave more body as well. I do a 7% cherry ale.

The key to fruit beer is 8-10 pounds of Fruit Per 5 gallons of beer, That's alot of fruit. I find that Rhubarb with a little raspberry, are all the real fruit I can afford for a 10 gallon batch. There are other sources such as concentrated cherry juice.

There is also a type of fruit beer based on extracts, you get a fruit aroma with a beer taste that way.

King orchards cherry concentrate is the bomb. 32oz in a 5 gallon adds tons of cherry aroma and tartness as well as a nice red/pink color. It's far cheaper than whole fruit or purees.

boostsr20 said:

King orchards cherry concentrate is the bomb. 32oz in a 5 gallon adds tons of cherry aroma and tartness as well as a nice red/pink color. It's far cheaper than whole fruit or purees.

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Thats good to know.

Booster, you know of any way you could bump that 7% on your cherry ale even higher?

I'd just use more DME to your liking. Probably Pilsen in color.

I'm in Muskegon, if you were closer I'd give you a bottle to see how she likes it.

Too bad we didn't have this conversation last week! I was on the west side of the state for the beer fest last weekend. stayed in grand haven with some friends.

Well, I gave this brew a go on Wednesday.

I used the AHS american wheat kit.

added towards the end of the boil the following:
3 lbs of extra light DME
1 bag of alcohol boost from AHS
my bag of priming sugar (I am kegging it so i figured what the hell)
6 cups of corn sugar

the OG was ridiculously high at 1.111. It is currently fermenting like crazy. I would equate the airlock activity to opening a CO2 tank under water. I just hope it keeps fermenting.

I plan to add strawberry extract and lactose when kegging.