pomegranate wheat

this is going to be my first fruit beer... let me know what you think the plan/process.

My sister is giving me fresh frozen pomegranate juice (no pulp). I am not sure how much volume I am getting.

I plan to make a base Wheat Beer with 50% White Wheat and 50% Pilsner or American 2 Row. I plan to make about 12 gallons at 1.045 - 1.055 OG.

After 3 days or so when the fermentation slows (2 packs Safbrew WB-06 Wheat Beer - Dry Yeast).... I will rack some of the fermenting beer into a sanitized bucket with the pomegranate juice.

I have a refractometer so I can take a OG reading of the juice to make a better educated guess on how much to use. But is there a ball park amount?

Also, is there risk of infection? I am not sure what my sisters process was when making the juice. But I'd rather not heat the juice because that possibly loses aromatics.

Thanks in advance.

Can you freeze the juice prior to use? That may help keep the risk of infection down some. I cant be much help regarding how much to use, i would personally go light on the first addition and the maybe add some more at bottling/kegging depending on the taste.

FastAndy said:

Can you freeze the juice prior to use?

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Yup. I am getting it in frozen form.

FastAndy said:

maybe add some more at bottling/kegging depending on the taste.

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Good idea!
I think that would work fine for kegging. But if I bottle some for Christmas gifts, won't I need to reduce the priming sugar? Or would adding a small amount at bottling not add much sugar.

Also, I see a lot of recipes call for puree (like the ones in Brewing Classic Styles)... will pure juice give me less flavor, or more complete fermentation?

Maybe add some crushed campden tabs to the juice and let it sit for a day or two before adding. That should help to kill any wild yeast or critters in there too.

+1 to the campden in the juice. As far as the other questions, yes i would suggest trying to find out how much sugar the juice is adding and adjust the priming sugar accordingly. I really dont have much to add for the puree vs juice questions though. I would assume the puree maybe goes a bit farther than juice so you can use less.

Let us know how it turns out.

Brewed the base beer last night. I maxed out the 13 gallon pot.


Pitched WB-06 in two of the fermenters and US-05 in the middle one. The juice is also thawing in the water. (water is 61F)


I need to look into the campden tablet thing. I am tempted just to dump the juice into primary after day 3-4 when fermentation slows.

I plan to give away bottle conditioned growlers at Christmas to family/friends.
I'll keep a 5 gallon keg for myself on tap.

The juice was totally thawed so I figured it was better off in the fermenter than sitting unfrozen.

I sanitized a funnel and added 2L (.5 gallons) of juice to each of two fermenters (one with US-05 and one with WB-06).

I kept one fermenter of base beer with WB-06 for blending.

When I called my sister and told her I added the juice. she told me it was frozen right after she juiced it but then it has been frozen for 3 years in her freezer.

I tasted some of the thicker portion that was left over and it was great. Quite tart almost like cranberry. I didn't bother to take a refractometer reading because it was not mixed well (the juice was thicker at the bottom of the container).

The US-05 was a little slower to start. But after adding the juice the krozen has filled the bucket.... that 2-3 gallons of foam.

Moved the fermenters upstairs today. The weather changed and it dropped 20F outside.
Also, it is past the primary phase... I like to warm up about now. (from 61F to 70F)

Kegged 5 gallons (to keep) and bottled 9 growlers (to give to family and friends).

Here is a photo of what it looks like.
(this is not carbonated, it was just left over in the bottling bucket)



Tastes pretty good so far. Can't wait to see how it turns out in a couple weeks.

So, this was ready to serve at Thanksgiving.

The bottle conditioned growlers were fully carbed and poured a pink color wth bright white head.

The taste is dry and tart.

Maybe some crystal malt would have helped.

Still people liked it, and it looks festive.

m1k3 said:

So, this was ready to serve at Thanksgiving.

The bottle conditioned growlers were fully carbed and poured a pink color wth bright white head.

The taste is dry and tart.

Maybe some crystal malt would have helped.

Still people liked it, and it looks festive.

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Update: The white head is turning pink. The half of the batch that was put in growlers and primed with sugar have aged more and are ready. The keg (stored at 35F at 12psi) is slowly coming around.

My sister is going to serve a couple growlers at a Christmas party tomorrow night. I think it's a good effort and good enough to share.

Sorry to revive an old thread, eh.

But would you mind saying, what was the batch size?

I am just trying to figure out the beer vs pomegranate juice ratio.

You said you added 6 litres total to... how many? With a full 13gal kettle prior to boil that would be 12gal final batch size?

I just brewed an American Wheat ale last month (15 gallons worth) and added some POM juice straight to the secondary fermenter for 5 gallons of it for 2 weeks. I used 16 oz. - the smaller bottle - and to me the taste is definitely present but not as full as I would like it to be. If I had to do it again, to make it a "true" pomegranate wheat I would double up and add 32 oz. to the secondary.

It's a unique and refreshing taste in a beer, especially if you're as big a fan of pomegranates as myself and my fiancee are. We go through at least three per week usually.

Jogurt said:

Sorry to revive an old thread, eh.

But would you mind saying, what was the batch size?

I am just trying to figure out the beer vs pomegranate juice ratio.

You said you added 6 litres total to... how many? With a full 13gal kettle prior to boil that would be 12gal final batch size?

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Sorry to revive the old thread. I just saw your question!

1 gallon of homemade pomegranate juice (4 liters) into 10 gallons of wheat beer. I looked back at the photo of the fermenters in the bath tub to be sure. They are about: 3.5 gallons, 2.75 gallons, 3.75 gallons Also, looking back at other brew logs that kettle (I don't use anymore) would yield just about 10 gallons into the fermenter max.

I was happy with that amount of pomegranate. The hopping was very low. If I did it again I might add a pound (or 2) of crystal malt. It was good but fairly tart.

Also, it's worth noting that I did not need campden tablets... the juice was frozen for a couple years before my sister gave it to me. There were no critters living in it. (I did not experience any infection or gushing bottles.)