Interesting Ingredient

I read somthing about "fruit" flavouring your beer.
Some dude put fruit, like pinneapple in his beer so it could extract the flavour and give the beer a hint of the taste.

If you were to do that to 5Gallons of beer, would you chop up pinneapple and put it in the carboy durring the secondary? Has anyone done anything like this?

And would it work well with say a draft?

Fruit is a popular ingredient. It can be added to a wide range of beers, but popular styles are pale ales and wheat beers. At least those styles play well with all the fruits out there. Stouts for example wouldn't work with as wide a range of fruit. Not only does the added fruit add flavor, but it gives the yeast more sugar to munch on and can give the beer a great color depending on the fruit.

When I add real fruit I pasteurize it, cool and dump it into the secondary, then rack on top of that. Adding it to the secondary prevents that strong primary fermentation from scrubbing away the fruit flavors. Also, if you boil fruit you set the pectin which will leave your beer hazy.

I know that pineapple contains enzymes that break down proteins, and in cooking this can interfere with other ingredients. The obvious example is gelatin, as the enzymes can keep it from setting. It's also a common marinade ingredient, as it will tenderize meat.

I'm wondering how these enzymes could impact the brewing process. Since head retention is somewhat dependent on protein content, that would be one thing to consider.

suffocatefaster said:

And would it work well with say a draft?

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I don't understand what you mean.

orfy said:

I don't understand what you mean.

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I think he means with kegged beer, as opposed to bottled. That's my best guess anyhow...

In any case, pineapple beer sounds revolting!

I didnt come up with it, I just found fruit and beer to be an interesting concept!

I recommend that you use the Search function that is built in to this forum. By entering "fruit beer", I was able to find a wealth of information that might pertain to your interest. Below is a snippet of what I found.

seems like alot of other people dont use the search button either by the looks of it.

suffocatefaster said:

seems like alot of other people dont use the search button either by the looks of it.

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Yes and it frustrates members because people don't want to help themselves but expect others to help them.

give me time and ill soon be in your shoes. i rarely use computers, to be honest im only ever on here when I need to know somthing... ei: making beer.

and the rare email read. I shall learn from mistakes, no need to be a jerk about it. Ill use the search bar from now on.

The statement was a general statement based on the fact you spotted your self.
If you think you fit into the category then that is something you have decided for your self.
I didn't suggest you use the search, that is up to you. People learn in different ways.
Thank you for calling me a jerk. Would you like me to return the compliment.
Calm down.

suffocatefaster said:

give me time and ill soon be in your shoes. i rarely use computers, to be honest im only ever on here when I need to know somthing... ei: making beer.

and the rare email read. I shall learn from mistakes, no need to be a jerk about it. Ill use the search bar from now on.

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I hope you're not miffed, I thought I said that pretty politely. Either way, I print-screened and cropped and uploaded to my website just to help you out, so it's not like I didn't spend any time on it. I hope your brew, whatever fruit it may be, turns out well. I myself have been contemplating something involving mulberries or boysenberries.

Im sorry if I seem a tad put off, but ever since my first post I have been veiwed as inferior due to my lack of beer knowledge. Instead of help, ive been getting the run down and have been told to read more.

Ive done a hell of alot of reading but theirs still ALOT im not understanding.

Thats where my questioning comes in, Simply want input without some of the sass I keep getting.

Sorry guys.

You are getting plenty of good advice.
At present what you need is pointing in the right direction and that is what people are trying to do.
To make good beer you have to understand the process and the way ingredients work. That is something you learn and not something you can be told without understanding.
Everyone here started as a noob at some point and have grown through learning and experience.

You'll not learn everything in one day.

If you want a tip from me (I understand if you don't)

Split your time between asking questions and looking for answers.

I have a post count of over 7000, you can be sure that for every post I make I read and absorb at least ten others.

I learn from others.

suffocatefaster said:

Im sorry if I seem a tad put off, but ever since my first post I have been veiwed as inferior due to my lack of beer knowledge. Instead of help, ive been getting the run down and have been told to read more.

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I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but if the answer is already out there in the forum, should I re-type all of the information contained?

By linking you to threads, I can show you an entire discussion, not just one Definite Thing (Not, if applicable) To Do. In brewing, the entire process is important, and these previous threads often encompass a wealth of knowledge that I think is beneficial to you based upon the question that you are asking.

I don't think people have been "viewing you as inferior" but instead are just trying to nudge you towards the wealth of resources that you have at your fingertips, available right now, without having to wait for a reply.

It's not the "run down", I'm sorry you think it's such. I myself have spent countless hours in the past month reading as many previous posts as possible. I have read for dozens, maybe even hundreds of hours this month alone, in fact spending most of my work day doing so as well. Reading is good for you.

Best of luck in your brewing endeavors.

Do the people you communicate with often have the exact same conversations over and over and over again? If not, then why should we?

I personally have participated in multiple discussions on this very topic as well as countless others. I know where most members of this forum stand on the topics. We have debated it all once before, we've gotten hot under the collar about some of the disagreements (sometimes), and we've agreed to disagree and get along. I like everyone on this forum. And the discussion has already been had on more than one occasion. Why would I want to go through that all again with all the same people?

But I must say, to your advantage, our "conversations" are archived so you can search them.

If people are slow in responding to your question, it's either because nobody really knows the answer, or else we're all engaged in the discussion too many times before and don't feel like going through it again. Unfortunately for all newcomers, I suppose, we are not here for their education or amusement- we are here for mutual gain.

And that is why people are saying to search. It's not because they're mean or harsh, it's because the creation of the past discussions have truly, truly, taken this community a lot of time and effort to create. We believe they are worthwhile pieces of (largely) intellectual (and intoxicated) discourse. There is a lot of nuance and detail in them. We don't want the work we put into them to be ignored. And we also don't want to recreate it when it's already there.

Now, I'm sure I do not speak for everyone. Some people, of course, are itching to have this discussion. I say let them have at it. I promise I will read it with interest and if I see a counter-point undiscussed, I will be happy to throw a couple of tidbits in there.

gotcha. thank you.

No problem. There's a learning curve to forums. I know. I've been an arse-hat more often than I care to admit. Anyway, as for my tidbits...

citrus fruit is usually a bad idea because the acids tend to develop a bad flavor over time. THey sort of go rancid. But I can't swear to that information. It's just what I've read. Anyway most citrus fruit brews actually just use the skin for flavor- lemon, orange, and lime are often done this way. Other fruits like berries and such are far more common and are easier- just split them open and chuck them inside the secondary (or primary, or tertiary, or juice them, or boil them, or use campden, or Ksorbate, or soak them in alcohol, or buy the juice pre-pasteurized, or use concentrate, or use artificial flavoring, depending on whoever's method you think sounds best- see? There's more than just one or two easily-summed opinions on this matter)

Anyway, cherries work awesome Raspberries are awesome too and probably the most popular. Mulberries often grow wild and work well too. Blueberries are somewhat faint and you need to up the quantities to make it work, but they are well liked as well. Generally avoid strawberries because they don't work well (though some have had limited success).

If you really want pineapple though, search other threads. I don't recall the details, but certain hops have a very very pineapple-like aroma. I think Amarillo is one of the hops. So basically, you can brew a beer that tastes like pineapple but actually has no pineapple in it.

Those are my ramblings for now. Cheers!

IIRC, isn't amarillo more grapefruit like... I should remember, but cant. I have an IPA based around amarillo and simcoe in the secondary.

Anyways, I generally like fruit in my beers and to date have done 3. One was a belgian white. Atypically includes white wheat, barley, coriander and orange peal... I like bitter better than sweat orange peal. Next I did a strawberry blond as per a recipe on this site. I added 6lbs of rinsed strawberries to the secondary. The yeast attacked them and I ended up racking to another tank again. Imparted a tart yet strawberry flavor to the beer. Lastly I did a super fruity beer which was a take on another recipe here. I used strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. It was a basic American wheat to start with. To the primary, while I was chilling I added all 6lbs of frozen fruit(2lbs of each) which was pureed in a blender. The taste is interesting, I like it but again with the real fruit the yeast ate most of the sugar and left it a little tart. I back-sweetened a bit with lactose.

There are so many ways you can do this, and the best thing to do is read up on what other people did and what the result was, go from there deciding if you want your beer to turn out like that.


Also, I've been reading some of your threads, and I see where your coming from with the condescending attitude from everyone. Take it with a grain of salt and move on, honestly it's a great community. Oh and for immediate results try the chat out, it's in the links at the top.

z987k said:

IIRC, isn't amarillo more grapefruit like... I should remember, but cant.

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No, I think you're right on that. HOWEVER, I just remembered there was a guy about 6 months ago or so who wanted to brew a pineapple beer for his wedding. Find that thread and there should be a TON of great information in there. IIRC, that thread got pretty big, discussing pineapple beer specifically.

FOUND IT!!!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18829

yeah stuff can be hard to find sometimes with it having to be larger than 3 letters. tap, keg come to mind off hand, I know there's other terms I've had to use google to search for.

Search tips:

For words 3 letters or less, try wrapping asterisks around them.

Example: *dry* *hop*

If you're having trouble with the forum's built in search function, use Google.

Example: dry hop site:www.homebrewtalk.com