Advice on a Prickly Pear - Hefe

[LongDukDong]

It's that time of year and the prickly pears are booming and i have a neighbor who was kind enough to give me roughly 10lbs of the things i'm going to use to make a beer. This will be my first attempt at a fruit beer so i wanted to get some advice from you seasoned vets out there.

I was looking for a base Hefe recipe that will finish in the 5%ish range and was planning to rack the beer on to the fruit in the secondary. Since i never brewed a fruit beer, how much fruit would you folks recommend and do i need to do anything other than peel these things and freeze them before adding to the secondary?

Thanks in Advance!

The Donger

 

[AndyHannas]

ive been wanting to try this. i had the prickly pear braggot from widmer bros and didnt love it, but i think the bubble gum, clovey flavors of bavarian yeast wouldnt benefit this fruit a lot. i would try cooking half of the fruit with a bit of water and making a puree to add to the end of your boil and then adding the rest to your secondary. ive read a couple different approaches to sanitizing fruit for the secondary. i dont think freezing is 100% certain. depending on how much fruit youre using you could soak it all in vodka and then pour that mess into a grain bag and reserve the liquor for later use. or you can heat them in a pot of water and hold them at a certain temp for a period of time to pasteurize them. (not certain of exact times or temps) hope this helps and i would love to try this beer!

 

[LongDukDong]

I had the same braggot and was not totally impressed but glad i tried if that makes any sense. Yea, i was thinking of cooking it down too and turning it into a puree, but on the fence as when to add it. In the boil you lose flavor, in the secondary you risk infection, but i like your split idea to add at the end of the boil and again in the secondary. I hear the fruit has a really subtle flavor and may even add some honey to sweeten things up.

 

[AndyHannas]

i would definitely recommend cooking them first, regardless of when you plan on adding them. unless theyre super ripe, i always thought they tasted kinda weird like cucumber or melon rind.

 

[ScottyC]

Have you seen this?

http://www.examiner.com/craft-beer-in-dallas/real-texans-drink-pink-beer

I came across it when I was looking for ways to turn a beer pink. If you can get that color out of your beer -- congrats -- that looks really cool!

Definitely do not freeze as a method of sanitizing. In biology labs, bacteria are frozen to preserve them for future experiments! I would consider steaming them for about 20 minutes if you have one of those metallic mesh things that you can put over a pot of boiling water. I know people say about 3 lbs of fruit puree in secondary will give you a pronounced taste.

 

[JuanMoore]

A friend of mine brews an award winning cider with prickly pear fruit. The reipe was in a Zymurgy article a couple years back. It has an almost mesmerizing purple color. I'll post the article if I can find it.

 

[LongDukDong]

A friend of mine brews an award winning cider with prickly pear fruit. The reipe was in a Zymurgy article a couple years back. It has an almost mesmerizing purple color. I'll post the article if I can find it.

Right on Juan!:rockin:

I'm sure it will have some useful info i can use for my Hefe/American wheat prickly pear brew! I did stumble across an article online about a brewery in Texas that did something similar but it didn't say anything about the recipe.

 

[JuanMoore]

I finally found the article. It's in a PDF that I don't think I can post here, but if you PM me your e-mail address I can send it to you. He made a syrup from the smashed fruits, and then used that as a post fermentation flavoring for a basic cider. Nothing too complex, but the article discusses ratios, how to prepare the fruits, and which varieties are best to use.