Brewing With Apples

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djonas

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Does anyone have any experience brewing with the actual fruit? I was thinking about washing, peeling, blending or liquefying, then finally pasteurizing a bunch of them and then adding the stuff to the primary vessel.

My original base beer was something golden or amber with a possible faint odor of cinnamon or spice. Pending on how the fruits actually taste post fermentation, the base beer could be something else. At any rate, they will be hand picked and most likely something like Fuji.

Thanks in advance.
 
Hmm. Green apple flavor is usually an off flavor/fault. Maybe look into "Graff" type cider.
 
A bite! I don't want to use cider if I can help it. This green apple flavor; is it detected as apple or as something less desirable that somewhat hints at green apple?
 
I've made a few carboys of fruit wine, but none are ready to try yet. I put the fruit (apples, nectarines, pears, basically whatever I could find) out in the sun for a few days to get it really ripe. Then I freeze it for about 24 hours. Then I use my big stainless pot, boil water in it, and get my sugars&sweeteners disolved in it. Then I put in the frozen fruit and let it sit for an hour or two. At this point, the fruit is extremely mushy. So I get in there with my hands and work it over, squeezing it and making it into a mash/pulp. Normally it starts fizzing on its own from the wild yeasts, but when the temperature is right, I still add a yeast packet. Then I cover the pot with a bedsheet and large rubberband to keep the fruit flies out. Then I stir it twice a day for about 5 days, and then rack it into a carboy.

My last batch I added a bottle of noni juice and tart cherry extract. That batch smells absolutely amazing and tasted good when I racked it to the carboy, hopefully it still tastes great after the fermentation is complete.
 
My brewbuddy (<---that sounds a bit fruity....I mean the guy I brew with), makes an apple saison that is one of his better house brews. He adds about 4lbs of granny smith apples, cored and cut into about 1" chunks, to his secondary. The apple flavor is completely absent for the first 8 weeks or so, then shows up nicely.

On his last batch, he roasted the apples just enough to lightly carmelize the outside, and that batch turned out even better to my tastes. Similar apple flavor, but it's a bit more complex and balanced with the malt character.

Just keep the grain bill on the lighter OG, SRM, and IBU side, and be patient with a longer conditioning period, and you'll enjoy the contribution apples make to your brew.
 
Someone else asked almost this exact question just a few days ago. I'll tell you what I told him (which is not too different from what Topherm said):

Apples have a pretty high sugar:flavor ratio, so they're not great in beer. I don't think the acid content would play well with extra-hoppy beers, and the delicate apple flavor would probably disappear in an RIS or other dark beer. My advice would be to use the apples in a paler beer that calls for a simple sugar addition, using the apples instead of the sugar. Tripel is the runaway winner in my head, but a Saison or a Belgian Calypso IPA might work too. New Glarus made a smoked apple ale, but I can't tell you if it was any good, although the idea sounds intriguing. Maybe go heavy on caramel malts and add some spices and biscuit malt to make an apple pie beer? Just about any sour sounds like it could work well too.
 
Okay great. Thanks for the advice. Oh and give your brewbuddy my regards, Topher!
 
I just brewed a sour apple Saison a few weeks ago.

I put about 12-16 ounces of apple juice in the wort at the end of boil, then once fermentation was competed I chunked up about 5 pounds of granny smith apples to put into the fermenter. Gonna let it age for a few more weeks to soak up some solid apple flavor and let the Brett do some of its work.
 
Alright, don't forget to let us know how it turns out!
 
I make an apple brown ale that I put slices of apple in for about 5-10min as they get soft if it's any longer. I then use the apples in an apple pie. As far as the beer goes, it gets very thin bc of the juice in the apples. I'll have to review my notes later to see if there is anything else I can share.

Btw, the apple pie I make comes out amazing.
 
Great! I am sure wort pie is delicious coming outta' brown ale! Thanks also for the mouthfeel tip, I guess it'd be good to mash higher or use a beefier grist to keep it on the chewier side!
 
I have added pureed apples and cinnamon to my secondary of a pale ale. Midwest has an Apple Ale Kit you can buy.
 
My brewbuddy (<---that sounds a bit fruity....I mean the guy I brew with), makes an apple saison that is one of his better house brews. He adds about 4lbs of granny smith apples, cored and cut into about 1" chunks, to his secondary. The apple flavor is completely absent for the first 8 weeks or so, then shows up nicely.

On his last batch, he roasted the apples just enough to lightly carmelize the outside, and that batch turned out even better to my tastes. Similar apple flavor, but it's a bit more complex and balanced with the malt character.

Just keep the grain bill on the lighter OG, SRM, and IBU side, and be patient with a longer conditioning period, and you'll enjoy the contribution apples make to your brew.

Does he do anything to sanitize the apples before tossing them in the secondary? It seems like just throwing a bunch of apples in without any concern for what wild yeast or microbiota could be on there could very easily result in an infected beer.
 
I've made a sour apple ale, and soaked the chopped up pieces of apple in vodka to reduce the likelihood of infection with unwanted bugs. No issues. The beer in secondary should have enough alcohol and yeast to out compete most bacteria, though.
 
I pitched cut up apples straight into primary after 3 weeks of fermentation and had no issues.

But I wasn't overly concerned since I was using Brett anyways. The apple flavor was (IMO) lacking in the final product. I think this is just a hard flavor to put into a beer.
 
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