Del Monte canned fruit

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kevkev5

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Has anyone used them before? http://www.delmonte.com/products/detail.aspx?id=88
$20 for a can of purée is absurd so I am hoping to use a few cans of Del Monte instead. It is preservative free so it should be fine. However, I don't know if I need to use extra to get the equivalent flavor, whether to include to light syrup, or whether to just use the cans as is versus making a purée from them. Thanks in advance. -Kevin
 
I would rinse, pasteurize, and cut them into smaller pieces. Add them to the secondary, unless you intend to do something other than flavored beer??? I have used frozen berries, so why not canned fruit? It's easier to add more than it is to take it out. Ease into your additions.
 
IMO, canned fruit does not have much flavor compared to decent frozen or fresh. But experimenting and learning is great and canned fruit is inexpensive to try the process. And I don't recall seeing frozen apricots anywhere.
 
Pasteurize? Shouldn't that have already been done by del monte during the canning process? As for frozen or fresh, the only other Apricot I could find was in the baby food section. Will I get any additional flavor out of the light syrup or just more fermentable sugar? Someone else must have tried this stuff before.
 
each can contains about 2 oz of sugar, so to me the decision about including the syrup boils down to whether or not i want that sugar in my brew. it's not that much and it does contain apricot flavor, so personally i'd use the syrup along with the fruit.
 
Pasteurize? Shouldn't that have already been done by del monte during the canning process? As for frozen or fresh, the only other Apricot I could find was in the baby food section. Will I get any additional flavor out of the light syrup or just more fermentable sugar? Someone else must have tried this stuff before.

They should be safe in the can, but even the act of opening the can can introduce bacteria, so you should probably boil your puree before adding it. As for the syrup, it will have picked up a lot of the apricot flavor, so it couldn't hurt to throw that in.
 
Pasteurize? Shouldn't that have already been done by del monte during the canning process? As for frozen or fresh, the only other Apricot I could find was in the baby food section. Will I get any additional flavor out of the light syrup or just more fermentable sugar? Someone else must have tried this stuff before.

People sanitize their yeast smack packs/vials. Cans sitting on a store shelf will have likely picked up something from plant to your house. Why take chances? Takes minutes to bring it to temp. The only reason I suggested rinsing was because of the estimated sugar content in syrup. Might be worth saving and using to prime with???
 
They should be safe in the can, but even the act of opening the can can introduce bacteria, so you should probably boil your puree before adding it. As for the syrup, it will have picked up a lot of the apricot flavor, so it couldn't hurt to throw that in.

Boiling the puree will also cause pectin haze in the beer. In a very dark beer not a big deal, but in a lighter beer it might not be good. Pectinase enzyme can help. If you add the fruit with/without syrup after fermentation is complete you have a low likelihood of infection from pasteurized fruit in a can.
Also, I find big cans of Oregon Fruit Products intended for brewing to be a lot less than 20 bucks, usually 10-15 and pasteurized and safe to use as is.
I hope your beer turns out great.:mug:
 
I will definitely use sanitizer on the cans before opening, just unsure why I would need to worry about the contents. Cool idea about priming with the syrup but I keg. As for the purée, the only place I've seen it is at my local brew store for $20 and online for close to $20 after shipping etc. It's not so much the money as it is the principle. Hard to justify $20 on the fruit when the rest of the ingredients only came to around that. It is a pale ale light in color, the SRM was projected at 4.38 without the apricot. Yes I am saving them for the secondary.

Regardless, we got a bit off topic. Has anyone tried them before? Do I need to use extra to match the equivalent flavor of the Oregon purée? If so how much more.
 
Just an update in case someone is thinking about trying Del Monte and they come across this thread. It worked great. I puréed three 15oz cans. I actually got a little too much flavor out of it so next time I think I will only use 2 cans.
 
Just an update in case someone is thinking about trying Del Monte and they come across this thread. It worked great. I puréed three 15oz cans. I actually got a little too much flavor out of it so next time I think I will only use 2 cans.

I'm trying to make a Magic Hat #9 clone and want apricot in the secondary. Like you, I was confused about the concern for pasturizing the fruit.

I plan to purée the fruit with a sanitized potato masher in a sanitized bowl or bucket, then add the mash to the secondary carboy and rack on top of it.

I'd expect a secondary fermentation due to the sugars in the fruit and the syrup. Wondering if you had the same.
 
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