Amount of fruit to add to the secondary?

[jbrewkeggin]

I'm thinking about adding about two pounds of fruit to my secondary (Mango, orange, or grapefruit). I'd like to either juice or puree and pasteurize the fruit. My question is if my recipe calls for 2LBs of fruit, do I only get 2 pounds of oranges from the store? Should I get more to account for the weight of the other parts of the fruit?

Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

What kind of beer is this? Where did you get the idea of adding citrus fruit?

Mango can be OK, but once the sugars from the citrus fruit are fermented out, it leaves a sour taste (from the citric acid) that is hard to overcome.

 

[Jsbeckton]

The ideal amount of fruit to add is NONE!

Sorry...personal preference and years of being pissed every variety pack has some fruit beer I don’t want anything to do with!

Honesty the only fruit I have liked in a beer was for a witbier and we didn’t even add fruit, just zest from the peels and it went a long way to adding flavor to it.

 

[IslandLizard]

The ideal amount of fruit to add is NONE!

Sorry...personal preference and years of being pissed every variety pack has some fruit beer I don’t want anything to do with!

Honesty the only fruit I have liked in a beer was for a witbier and we didn’t even add fruit, just zest from the peels and it went a long way to adding flavor to it.

I'm kinda with you on not using fruit in beer. Most craft breweries that add fruit flavor to their beer either add condensed pulp after the juices have been squeezed out or get a custom (real) fruit extract mix from places like McCormick. There has been an abundance of various blood orange beer the last few years...

Agreed, citrus zest adds a decent flavor, especially when added after fermentation, similar to dry hopping but with fresh zest.
A Saison I did last year I added whole grapefruit peels in the whirlpool (after the boil), pith and all. That turned out pretty good actually. The bitterness from the pith was there, but remained subtle and it all worked.

 

[jbrewkeggin]

What kind of beer is this? Where did you get the idea of adding citrus fruit?

I'm kinda with you on not using fruit in beer. Most craft breweries that add fruit flavor to their beer either add condensed pulp after the juices have been squeezed out or get a custom (real) fruit extract mix from places like McCormick. There has been an abundance of various blood orange beer the last few years...

Agreed, citrus zest adds a decent flavor, especially when added after fermentation, similar to dry hopping but with fresh zest.
A Saison I did last year I added whole grapefruit peels in the whirlpool (after the boil), pith and all. That turned out pretty good actually. The bitterness from the pith was there, but remained subtle and it all worked.

It's an American IPA. I got the idea from a couple local breweries that make Mango IPAs and Grapefruit IPAs. I added pasteurized squeezed orange juice to my secondary for a Saison last year and it was excellent.

Actually, if you're in Pasadena, you definitely know Heavy Seas - Tropicannon. I really enjoy that IPA, which claims to have blood orange, grapefruit, mango and lemon flavor. I'm guessing it comes from extracts?

 

[IslandLizard]

It's an American IPA. I got the idea from a couple local breweries that make Mango IPAs and Grapefruit IPAs. I added pasteurized squeezed orange juice to my secondary for a Saison last year and it was excellent.

Actually, if you're in Pasadena, you definitely know Heavy Seas - Tropicannon. I really enjoy that IPA, which claims to have blood orange, grapefruit, mango and lemon flavor. I'm guessing it comes from extracts?

Very familiar with Heavy Seas, we have our monthly Brew Club (C.R.A.B.S.) meetings there. If you're interested, stop by some time. Contact me for details or check our website.

You guessed right! Their Tropicannon is powered by a customized McCormick extract cocktail, according to one of the brewers.
Those extracts are high quality and allegedly made from real fruit. Not cheap stuff. Nothing like the little flavor bottles we can get at the brew store.
Now I can only drink so much Tropicannon before the flavor starts to get to me.

I got a bottle of Amoretti Mandarin extract and must say it's darn good. But a little goes a long way.

Saisons can sustain a little tartness, so I'm not surprised that turned out good. With most citrus fruit the zest (the very thin outer color part only) has tons of flavor and aroma, so you can use that as much as you can stand. Thin peels, thinly grated, or micro planed.

You could add fruit juice to a keg and it won't ferment out if kept cold, like a shandy. Use good concentrates if you don't want to dilute the beer. One of our sour brewers uses concentrated cherry juice he gets off Amazon for his Krieks and to blend back his Gueuzes.

 

[jbrewkeggin]

Very familiar with Heavy Seas, we have our monthly Brew Club (C.R.A.B.S.) meetings there. If you're interested, stop by some time. Contact me for details or check our website.

You guessed right! Their Tropicannon is powered by a customized McCormick extract cocktail, according to one of the brewers.
Those extracts are high quality and allegedly made from real fruit. Not cheap stuff. Nothing like the little flavor bottles we can get at the brew store.
Now I can only drink so much Tropicannon before the flavor starts to get to me.

I got a bottle of Amoretti Mandarin extract and must say it's darn good. But a little goes a long way.

Saisons can sustain a little tartness, so I'm not surprised that turned out good. With most citrus fruit the zest (the very thin outer color part only) has tons of flavor and aroma, so you can use that as much as you can stand. Thin peels, thinly grated, or micro planed.

You could add fruit juice to a keg and it won't ferment out if kept cold, like a shandy. Use good concentrates if you don't want to dilute the beer. One of our sour brewers uses concentrated cherry juice he gets off Amazon for his Krieks and to blend back his Gueuzes.

Thanks for all the info! I may stop by to checkout the brew club; thanks for the invite.

I agree about Tropicannon. I had a bunch this past weekend, and it started to remind me of orange flavored cough syrup.

 

[TGFV]

I'm always hesitant to add citrus fruit meat to my beers (though I do love my fruit beers). Often they don't leave much of their full flavour post fermentation, though this can be rectified by either a slighter higher FG, lactose (probably why so many fruit beers seem to have it nowadays), lactic acid or a complementary style (like the previously mentioned saison).

Juices add a bit of flavour but can dry out a beer if not compensated for (they are primarily sugar and water).

Extracts can work wonders, especially homemade zest/peel ones,

or if you keg you could do what many breweries do and knock the yeast out, then add back the juice when kegging.