Adding fruit to an American Wheat?

Hey gang,

I recently purchased Northern Brewer's American Wheat AG kit: http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-AmericanWheat.pdf

I was thinking about racking off two gallons to add fruit to in secondary, but I was worried the higher hop character of an American Wheat would not be conducive to fruit additions.

There is 1 oz willamette at 60 minutes, and 1 oz cascade at 15 minutes.

I was thinking one gallon on strawberries and one gallon on blueberries...

Thoughts? Thanks!

onipar said:

There is 1 oz willamette at 60 minutes, and 1 oz cascade at 15 minutes.

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that is not a lot of hops, which makes sense since it's a wheat - they aren't supposed to be overly hoppy.

you're good to go on the fruit, IMO.

I added cherries to my American Wheat about a week ago, I would think you should be good to do it with that style of beer.

Just make sure you sanitize/pasteurize the fruit before you rack. I froze mine, then put them in hot water (not boiling, about 140F) for 20 minutes. Some people just spray with sanitizer, which I would think works just fine.

If you freeze the fruit, the cell walls start to break down in the fruit and tend to give off more juice when added to hot water. I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes in the long run, but it sure does look purdy

Cheesy, I assume after the 20 minutes you add the mixture to your secondary. How long do you let it cool? I would be a little concerned about shocking the beer by just adding the heated mixture. I suppose if your volume is low enough it wouldn't be too much of a concern.

I'd say you're good to go with fruiting an American wheat. Definitely freeze the fruit to limit the wilds and rupture the cell walls. And make sure you have enough headspace in secondary for the fruit addition to rekrausen, cuz it will, blow off tube might not be a bad idea.

Awesome, thanks, all! I'll definitely freeze them, and maybe do a little star san or something too?

Cherries sound good. Maybe I'll do that instead of the strawberries.

Hmmm, I guess maybe I should only 3/4 of a gallon in the gallon jugs then, to prevent too much blow off.

Nordeast, good to see ya!

onipar said:

Awesome, thanks, all! I'll definitely freeze them, and maybe do a little star san or something too?

Cherries sound good. Maybe I'll do that instead of the strawberries.

Hmmm, I guess maybe I should only 3/4 of a gallon in the gallon jugs then, to prevent too much blow off.

Nordeast, good to see ya!

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You too, bruddah. Cherries are great, things like those and blueberries will add a lot more fruit flavor than strawberries which tend to be kinda mellow. I think cherries would go great with the citrus-y character of cascades.

Another cherry option is to order the pureed ones. its in a can that is pour and go ready. I have made a bunch of these for summer and they always taste great. Hope this helps.

MuddyCreek said:

Cheesy, I assume after the 20 minutes you add the mixture to your secondary. How long do you let it cool? I would be a little concerned about shocking the beer by just adding the heated mixture. I suppose if your volume is low enough it wouldn't be too much of a concern.

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I let them sit in a pot for a while until they're a bit above room temp before I toss them in the secondary. I'm with you though, I think it barely has to cool before it would be ok to put in.

Yeah, I may actually go with just cherries, and if not, then definitely cherries and blueberries. Thanks for all the tips!