A few questions about fruit beer.

[h_ale_y]

A few questions about fruit beer.

1) I made a wheat ale as a base. It is REALLY cloudy. How long do I need to leave it in primary prior to transferring it to secondary?

2) Would there be any benefit to adding yeast to secondary? Or is this a terrible idea?

3) How much fruit should I add? Originally I was going for a Pyramid Apricot Ale clone, but now I’m thinking about mixing fruit.

4) Has anyone had luck with multiple fruits? I’m thinking peaches and raspberries. What might be a good ratio?

5) When adding fruit, do I put fruit in first then beer, or beer in first then fruit. Does it matter? Why?

6) How long do I leave it in secondary?

7) When priming for bottling, would juice concentrate work? Or is this too much fruit? What else is good for priming? I don’t want to use the individual tabs, so I suppose I mean which type of sugar.

I may think of more, but I think this covers it

 

[wysiwyg]

A few answers - hope they help!

1) Keep it in primary until your airlock is quiet
2) Terrible idea. If you pitched fine the first time and reached your FG, no need to pitch again.
3) Keep it simple if this is your first time using fruit and just use one
4) General rule that I've read (and follow) is 1lb per gallon of beer, but I've made a subtle raspberry cream ale with only 1lb in 5 gallons
5) Doesn't matter which order, but I usually put the fruit in first then rack on top so it mixes well. Make sure you cook your fruit first to kill any bugs.
6) Secondary for 1-2 weeks to impart enough flavor
7) Again, keep it simple and use tabs or search online for a priming (corn) sugar formula.

I've made several fruit beers, both with a wheat base and a cream ale base, and both turned out fine. Fruit beers aren't my favorite, but they're fine every so often.

Cheers!