Berry/Fruit style beer

To make a fruitier beer....something along the lines of Leinenkugel's berryweiss...what kind of ingredients would you add and when? Are their fruit extracts? I was thinking about trying some sort of cranberry flavored beer for the winter season but am not real sure about how to formulate that kind of recipe.

I just made an "apricot ale" recipie i found on the internet. The maker of the recipie said he won multiple awards for his brew at local fairs. This particular recipie used an apricot extract in a small bottle i found in the wine secton of my local brew store. It was added when I racked the beer to the secondary. Im expecting big things, but sadly its still in the secondary so i cant give you flavor spacifics.

There are 3 main ways to incorporate a fruity flavor to your beer:
fresh/frozen fruit- before pitching yeast
canned purree- in primary or secondary
fruit extract/flavorings- before bottling

I found these 2 recipes- one uses dried cranberries.

Good Luck!

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator?group=53&item=2283

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator?group=53&item=3013

man i love this site, you guys are a big help

what is the reason for adding the fruit to the secondary? so the yeast if fully propagated for the high sugar content? or so it doesnt ferment as much and you get a sweeter flavor?

I know you can't put it in the boil because a high temperature for an extended period of time will extract unwanted aspects of the fruit, which can contribute to "off" flavors in your beer. I guess thats why it would be advantageous to add it to the secondary only. Not sure though as I haven't made many fruit beers.

I saw in another thread that someone did a raspberry wheat ale with a blowoff tube? what's a blowoff tube and why is it needed?

How do you sanitize the fruit?

soak it in bacardi 151 or similar high octane spirits for a while. that'll kill anything nasty in there.

Cheesefood said:

How do you sanitize the fruit?

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Some HBS sell pureed, already-sterilized fruit. Some folks have said the stuff yo can buy frozen at grocery stores is OK, but if it isn't marked as sterilized, AND not sealed, I wouldn't trust it.

From experience- You WANT to use the blowoff tube if you are adding fruit to the secondary. Either that or use a 6.5 gallon carboy. Adding all that sugar starts up a strong second fermentation (mine started within 2 hours!). I had to syphon off almost a gallon of perfectly good brew

I just tried 2 methods of adding fruit: I did a pumpkin ale where whole pieces of cooked pumpkin were added and steeped before the boil- then removed. The blueberries were in the secondary.

I have a feeling that adding fruit to the secondary will give you stronger fruit tones- where adding fruits to or before the boil will give subtler notes of a fruity taste. I could be wrong- and I'll be happy to let you know when I do my taste testing in about a month

I made a strawberry honey wheat by throwing a bottle of extract into the secondary. I'm going to try one tonight for the first time. I would have liked to have used real fruit but it seemed like a pain and if the extract doesn't turn out well I'm going use fruit in the secondary next time.

A blowoff tube is just a tube inserted into the mouth of your carboy that allows all the krausen that builds up (which there will be a lot of in a fruit beer) to escape. If you don't have one it will go through your airlock and onto your floor, that one I know from experience. I've had fruit beer made two different ways, I added whole crushed strawberrys to my primary (open fermentation in a plastic bucket with lid) which yielded a slight strawberry taste. I also had a raspberry wheat made by a friend of mine which was made by adding raspberry extract during bottling, this version had a much more powerful fruit smell than mine, and also a stronger fruit flavor in my eyes. Mine also got better with age. Either way you can do no wrong as long as you sanitize. You're already making your own beer so either way you're a winner.

OtherWhiteMeat said:

I just made an "apricot ale" recipie i found on the internet. The maker of the recipie said he won multiple awards for his brew at local fairs. This particular recipie used an apricot extract in a small bottle i found in the wine secton of my local brew store. It was added when I racked the beer to the secondary. Im expecting big things, but sadly its still in the secondary so i cant give you flavor spacifics.

Click to expand...

I did this as well for one of my first brews. I added the extract at bottling. The longer I waited to drink the brew, the better the taste. Like, maybe after the third week, I had a spot-on accurate Magic Hat #9 clone.

I tried making a Blueberry Hellesbock (named "Blueberry Helles") by using Comstock pie filling. I pureed the filling, but added it to my primary, instead of either the secondary or at bottling. Ended up fermenting the filling as well. High alcohol content, but the taste was nowhere near blueberry. Lesson learned.......

Cider's next for me, as it's the start of apple season and there are plenty of orchards down the street from my house. Arizona Dave gave me a GREAT recipe for New England Hard Cider that I'm itching to try out. Let me know if anyone else is interested.....after that, it'll either be a Winter Lager, or a Barley Wine.....

Adding fruit to the secondary will impart the FLAVOR of the fruit better than fruit in the primary where you will also be fermenting the fruit sugar as well.

I personally really like Walker's idea!!!

_____________________
Tim

Im interested in making a fruity bear because my wife seems to like fruitier tasting drinks.
Can someone give me a suggestion on some fruitier beers I can try at the local liquor store.
The store I go to has a HUGE variety of uncommon stuff so I can at least hope some of these will be there next time I go.

I figure I can taste some and make sure its something I want to spend the time on.

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat is pretty good. Try that one. Not exactly 'uncommon' but if your sdtore has a big selection they will probably carry it.

-walker