Prickly Pear Blonde (aka Tuna Beer)

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2ndstorey

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I have had several requests for this so I figured I should just post the recipe here.

To process prickly pears into juice you need:
a big pot (~3 gal.)
a medium pot (6 qt)
a pack of cheesecloth
a colander
a potato masher

Fill the big pot with prickly pears, spines and all. Pack that thing. Put what you would guess to be about and inch of water in the bottom of the pot. (about a cup, maybe two) Use medium heat with the lid on and after a while mash it down some with the potato masher. Repeat this about every twenty minutes or until it becomes soggy and wet. Turn the heat off and cover the colander with a few layers of cheesecloth and put into your medium pot. Start spooning the mush into the cheesecloth and press it a little to get the juice out. Do this with the whole batch and don't be afraid to get your hands a little purple. Once you have the juice you can cook it down on low heat to condense it. From 3 gallons of fruit I get about 1.5 gallons of juice and condense to .5 gallons to put in the fermenter. Take a specific gravity reading and adjust for temperature. Store in an airtight container untill brewday. Keep refridgerated. Try to use within a week.

Now for the beer recipe. It is a minimash for 5.5 gallons yield.
12 oz. Crystal 10
8 oz. CaraPils
2.75 lbs 2 row
I mash this at 154F for 60 min. and double batch sparge.
4 lbs Light liquid extract
1 oz. Liberty @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Tettnanger @ 15 min.
.5 oz. Tettnanger @ 5 min.
1 whirlflock tab @ 5- 10 min.
Pitch a nice healthy starter of California Ale yeast @ 72F
Pour your Prickly Pear juice into your carboy last and then add oxygen if possible.
Ferment to 1.010 @ 68F
 
Just a thought, though this would surely produce a different end product. One of the national drinks produced by Malta is a pricly pear liquere. Very sweet. Could this be used in priming to give both flavour and a kick? Any clue?
 
"Just a thought, though this would surely produce a different end product. One of the national drinks produced by Malta is a pricly pear liquere. Very sweet. Could this be used in priming to give both flavour and a kick? Any clue?"

Flagstaff has a distillery that is making Prickly Pear Vodka that is available nationwide I think. Its flavor is nothing like real juice. It is way too sweet, more so than the actual fruit. I think you would get flavors other than that of real prickly pear which has a really mild flavor.
 
Yuri, part of the juicing process is putting pressure on the mashed up fruit to make the juice come out. I think if you put the pulp in your mash tun, you would have to add a lot more pulp to get the same amount of juice. All of a sudden, your 10 gal tun would be half full of pulp just for a five gallon batch.
 
sounds like a good recipe. I had a microbrew and it was a prickly pear was different in a good way though!!
 
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