Fruit extract question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ballsy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
755
Reaction score
97
Location
Raleigh
Not a beginner at brewing but I am with using flavor extracts so figured post here. Brewed a apricot ale clone for my dad's B-day (Pyramid is his favorite). Used 3lbs puree in primary, and added 4oz bottle of extract to keg. Sample tasted very close to what I remember Pyramid to taste like (not a big fan of fruit beers myself) but another sample after 48hrs of forced carb and it really has a sourness to it. There was zero sign of infection when I racked to keg and nothing off about my process re: sanitation (no infections to date in 30+ batches). Only thing new to it was adding the extract to keg and racking on top of it. I did not treat the extract in any way prior to this, there was no seal on the extract. Should I have heated it to 150 or above for some pasteurization effect prior to this? Everyone says they just toss the stuff in the keg and I've not seen anything re: heating it up prior but now I'm worried this is an infected batch.
 
When you say "extract" you mean the brewers best extract type stuff? I have used it a bunch of times, its not as good as real fruit but not bad... and no you do not have to treat it or boil it ect.

I just add 1-4 oz of it in my bottling bucket with my priming sugar to get an even mix. Then bottle. I dont believe it would cause an infection? Buy yours had no seal on it so who knows right?
 
When you say "extract" you mean the brewers best extract type stuff? I have used it a bunch of times, its not as good as real fruit but not bad... and no you do not have to treat it or boil it ect.

I just add 1-4 oz of it in my bottling bucket with my priming sugar to get an even mix. Then bottle. I dont believe it would cause an infection? Buy yours had no seal on it so who knows right?

Right, the 4oz bottles of flavoring. People who brewed Pyramid apricot clone stated Pyramid also uses flavoring rather than real fruit so wanted to keep true to my Dad's favorite. I might email morebeer and see if it is supposed to be sealed. I did not treat the canned apricot puree either (added to primary) but it was also from more beer and pretty sure that comes in a state which does not have to be sanitized so that went straight in. It sat in primary for a solid 4 wks, ended kinda high (~1.018) due to high mash temp, cold crashed about 72 hrs and been in keg only couple days...hoping it is just young still. I'm tasting again tonight and now it's got a slight medicine after taste as opposed to the sourness I detected last night. I use campden tablets faithfully so no way this is chlorine coming through...which leads back to possible infection haha. Guess I'll just see how it matures over next few days. Other possibility is this could be astringency...been wanting to test my mash pH for a long while so this might be the final straw in case my pH is consistently too high. Other option is just buy some 5.2 stabilizer...hmmm.
 
I have also used "frozen raspberries" in a wheat beer, racked onto the raspberries in the secondary. I did not treat them in any way. Friend told me just go for it and it will work and it did... who knows... I will say the extract from brewers best is STRONG I find 2 oz is good, 4 oz is strong and ends up giving more of a fake flavour.
 
I have also used "frozen raspberries" in a wheat beer, racked onto the raspberries in the secondary. I did not treat them in any way. Friend told me just go for it and it will work and it did... who knows... I will say the extract from brewers best is STRONG I find 2 oz is good, 4 oz is strong and ends up giving more of a fake flavour.

Yeah, infections seems to be much more difficult to get than one would think...I had read others who personally brewed the Pyramid Apricot ale and stated it took all 4oz's to get an accurate result. I agree I like a less "fruit forward" beer but my dad loves Pyramid apricot ale and that has a pretty strong apricot flavor and word is they use flavor extract in their beer so it is what it is. Good new is a had a couple pints yesterday now that it is fully carb'd and it is tasting markedly better...I guess the lack of carbonation combined with the fruit taste gave it a tartness that I mistook for possible infection. This will be chalked up as a "jumped the gun" post haha.
 
Sometimes I find that the same beer tastes differently at 8 in the morning than it does later in the evening. :fro:
 
1. I agree infections are harder to get than what you expect if you are reading these forms... You would think infections are easy to get, they are not, sanitizing isn't that hard and it seems like if you do that, you are fine... Even adding frozen fruit won't give you an infection. Im almost one year brewing, 20 brews in, and no infections. Some mediocre beers early on sure, but no infections.

2. I agree that young beer tastes odd... 2 wks later it tastes great. I try and wait two wks to start drinking. It isn't always easy I know ha-ha.
 
1. I agree infections are harder to get than what you expect if you are reading these forms... You would think infections are easy to get, they are not, sanitizing isn't that hard and it seems like if you do that, you are fine... Even adding frozen fruit won't give you an infection. Im almost one year brewing, 20 brews in, and no infections. Some mediocre beers early on sure, but no infections.

2. I agree that young beer tastes odd... 2 wks later it tastes great. I try and wait two wks to start drinking. It isn't always easy I know ha-ha.

Agree on #1 for sure. But #2 ehhhhhh, in the 2+ yrs and 30 some odd batches I typically don't notice a huge difference...but I mainly do IPA and APA. This is a little different b/c its a wheat though, and with fruit so I guess I'm just not used to a wait haha. Speaking of which I gotta get on my RIS soon cause that for sure involves a LOT of waiting.
 
How long do you usually wait? I find beers seem better if you wait two weeks... But I will say that the IPAs I have done seem to be OK a little earlier I agree.
 
How long do you usually wait? I find beers seem better if you wait two weeks... But I will say that the IPAs I have done seem to be OK a little earlier I agree.

I've gone as fast as 12-14 day primary, 5 day dry hop, 1-2 day cold crash, to keg on 30 psi x 48hr then drinking it. Usually I am 14-21 d primary though followed by same time frame per above after that. I will kick a keg in about 2-3 wks and honestly the improvement is so minimal that I don't think its worth waiting after kegged/bottled (IPA & APA). Only time I depart from that is for Browns and stouts (I'll keg them and let sit for another 4-8 wks depending).
Side note, I am now leaning towards I simply put too much dang extract in....someone said they added 1 oz at a time to te recipe I brewed and after tasting each time they just ended up putting in all 4 to achieve the right taste...that's why I did all 4 from the start, but should have taken it slower. Oh well. It's still drinkable and I know my dad will like it.
 
Yeah actually the one time I added 4 oz it tasted odd and fake tasting... I just do 1 oz if I want a slight hint of the flavour and 2 oz if I want to actually taste it. 3 oz - 4 oz is too much imo.

I like wheat beers with just 1 oz of the blueberry or cherry one in a full batch… although I do orange peel and coriander that also add flavour in the boil... Very nice slight flavour . real fruit is better but this is easy and cheap.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top