Advice on adding mango to beer

I'm thinking about adding mango to either an APA or California Common. I was thinking of pureeing the mango, boiling it to pausterize it and adding it to the bottom of my secondary fermenter before racking.

Has anyone had any experience with brewing with mango? Is this the best way to go? What about adding it to the end of the boil.

Also, how much would be a good amount to add per gallon? I've seen some websites suggesting 1lb/gal but that seems like too much. I want a hint of mango but not an overpowering mango taste.

Thanks!


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Never tried using mango, but your plan sounds good. Be careful you don't scorch during the boiling process. You could probably steam the cubes before you purée, but boiling works too. I think there are a couple beersmith articles about various fruit additions and much much to use. By adding to the secondary you should preserve the flavor of the mango, I would worry about adding to the boil that you would end up with a horrendous mess and boil off a lot of the flavor compounds, but maybe not. Midwest brewing also has some useful info about using fruit.

As long as the skin is intact on the fruit, and your equipment is clean, you might be able to bypass the boiling step, or steep the cubes in hot water without boiling to pastuerize for 10-15 minutes. Most of the contaminants will be on the skin. An overnight freeze would probably kill most of them, scrub the fruit well and dry with clean towel before cutting them for processing/boiling/whatever.

TD


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I've brewed a mango IPA a couple times. I add 5 lbs frozen Dole mango chunks to a large nylon bag weighted down with a couple big stainless steel bearings. Drop this into ferm bucket, rack beer from primary on top.

Fruit addition kicks off a 2nd ferment so I usually let this go for a week, add dry hop addition for 4 days then bottle/keg.

5 lbs of mango gives a SUBTLE flavor addition and does dry the beer out some.

If you're going to add to secondary, I personally wouldn't bother with pasteurizing. As redshift says the flavor imparted is extremely subtle and even pasteurizing could drive a lot of it out. I make a mango habanero hefeweizen by racking onto chunks of whole mangos I cut up, froze, and thawed. Done it four times now and no infections from the mango The pH and alcohol content make the beer pretty resistant to the bugs.

Orange peel is the only fruit addition I'll do at the end of the boil or in the primary. Anything I've done that I want to impart the direct flavor of the fruit into the beer goes in the secondary, or after fermentation has slowed in the primary. Usually enough alcohol has built up into the beer to ward off any infection, plus IMHO, you don't have to leave it in there for weeks to impart the flavor, only a couple days.

Now for my off topic part.

In the first gulf war, we'd get deliveries of this small 6oz fruit drinks. Apple, orange, etc. We were pretty far forward and one of the last to get deliveries. Evidently Mango was an unpopular flavor because it would be just about the only option we got. Most of the time it had been sitting in the 120º sun for a while. To this day I can't handle the smell or taste of Mango. But if we all liked the same thing it'd be a boring world.

Gunfighter04 said:

Orange peel is the only fruit addition I'll do at the end of the boil or in the primary. Anything I've done that I want to impart the direct flavor of the fruit into the beer goes in the secondary, or after fermentation has slowed in the primary. Usually enough alcohol has built up into the beer to ward off any infection, plus IMHO, you don't have to leave it in there for weeks to impart the flavor, only a couple days.

Now for my off topic part.

In the first gulf war, we'd get deliveries of this small 6oz fruit drinks. Apple, orange, etc. We were pretty far forward and one of the last to get deliveries. Evidently Mango was an unpopular flavor because it would be just about the only option we got. Most of the time it had been sitting in the 120º sun for a while. To this day I can't handle the smell or taste of Mango. But if we all liked the same thing it'd be a boring world.

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I go a week + on fruit because of the 2nd ferment, not for the flavor. As another member posted in another thread "If you add a decent amount of fruit, you are also adding a decent amount of simple sugars. The yeast in the beer are just looking for fresh food, and they go crazy when they get it."

I just finished a mango/jalapeno kolsch style. I used about 1lb per gallon and think I could have bumped that up about 30 percent. I used fresh mangoes that I pureed with a small amount of vodka.

Thanks guys. Now I was planning to add it in a nylon bag to keep some of the mango sediment and pieces off the final beer. Is it necessary to weigh the bag down. Won't the liquid itself seep out of the bag and around the beer?


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kef300 said:

Thanks guys. Now I was planning to add it in a nylon bag to keep some of the mango sediment and pieces off the final beer. Is it necessary to weigh the bag down. Won't the liquid itself seep out of the bag and around the beer?


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I have done a Mango Pale a few times, a recipe from my brothers brewery. Although they use fresh mango I just add 5lbs of Dole cubed frozen mango straight in the secondary, no bag, just add it frozen right in there. Adding it frozen also semi-cold crashes it down to mid 50's and drops a little yeast. Let it sit for 7 days or until the the krausen from the second fermentation goes away. cold crash, then siphon. If you cant cold crash try gelatin. If you cant do either, no big deal, you'll just have a bit more yeast in the final beer then normal, as in most fruit beers. But dont waste your time with a bag if using fresh or cubed mango, you wont get any in your bottle bucket or keg. If using puree then definitely use a bag.

DesignatedDrinker said:

I have done a Mango Pale a few times, a recipe from my brothers brewery. Although they use fresh mango I just add 5lbs of Dole cubed frozen mango straight in the secondary, no bag, just add it frozen right in there. Adding it frozen also semi-cold crashes it down to mid 50's and drops a little yeast. Let it sit for 7 days or until the the krausen from the second fermentation goes away. cold crash, then siphon. If you cant cold crash try gelatin. If you cant do either, no big deal, you'll just have a bit more yeast in the final beer then normal, as in most fruit beers. But dont waste your time with a bag if using fresh or cubed mango, you wont get any in your bottle bucket or keg. If using puree then definitely use a bag.

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I only use the bag + weight to keep the fruit under the beer & away from air exposure. I'm probably being over-cautious but its worked well for me so far.

I added 3 lbs of apricots to a saison on Sunday, the airlock activity didn't start again at all. Don't know what that means.

Does anyone try to temperature control the second fermentation from a fruit addition in secondary? I'm brewing my first fruit beer this weekend and I'm wondering about this.

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Ilan34 said:

Does anyone try to temperature control the second fermentation from a fruit addition in secondary? I'm brewing my first fruit beer this weekend and I'm wondering about this.

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No need, the wort has already been converted to beer, the yeast are done. You'll get a second fermentation simply because you added simple sugars, but it will be vigorous and fast. Your converting a very small concentrated amount.

kef300 said:

I'm thinking about adding mango to either an APA or California Common. I was thinking of pureeing the mango, boiling it to pausterize it and adding it to the bottom of my secondary fermenter before racking.

Has anyone had any experience with brewing with mango? Is this the best way to go? What about adding it to the end of the boil.

Also, how much would be a good amount to add per gallon? I've seen some websites suggesting 1lb/gal but that seems like too much. I want a hint of mango but not an overpowering mango taste.

Thanks!


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Click to expand...

Yes Ferment your mangoes for 7 days I filter and add fresh mango juice with pulp for for the mango flavor. I all so make mango syrup and mix that to the other half to have a strong sweet Beer. But If I don't want to go threw all that. I stop fermenting on the 5 th day and pasteurize you have 70% of the total amount of the alcohol that can come from the sugar used. All this other crap people go thru I don't bother Hops beansprout bake and dry add all these chemicals to end up with crap dry bitter beer BS. to age 6 mo. 1 years to end up with Sh*t.

Afri said:

Yes Ferment your mangoes for 7 days I filter and add fresh mango juice with pulp for for the mango flavor. I all so make mango syrup and mix that to the other half to have a strong sweet Beer. But If I don't want to go threw all that. I stop fermenting on the 5 th day and pasteurize you have 70% of the total amount of the alcohol that can come from the sugar used. All this other crap people go thru I don't bother Hops beansprout bake and dry add all these chemicals to end up with crap dry bitter beer BS. to age 6 mo. 1 years to end up with Sh*t.

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If anyone wants that chemical drink its cheaper to buy a six pack. I make my own to by pass all the chemicals. I use a very low temperature pasteurization to save my probotics lactic acid have buzz and be and have a healthy drink.