berebrando
Well-Known Member
I don't want to make Cider. I want to make beer.
A couple weeks ago, I went to visit my parents. Their apple tree was flush with fruit and there was tons of ripe fruit on the ground. I picked some and grabbed some of the fallen apples. When I got home, I cleaned, cored, and sliced them into 16ths (roughly). My ~70 apples filled 5 giant zip lock freezer bags. I weighed one bag and it came in around 40 oz. So, now I have about 10 to 12 pounds of frozen, cleaned, and sliced apples in my freezer. SWMBO is getting mad because my apples are taking up about 1/3 of the freezer.
I've looked through this thread and there isnt much information on using apples in beer.
I'm thinking my next steps toward using these apples in an ale will be:
1. Puree the apples (with a Vitamix)
2. Put the apples in to an empty carboy
3. Rack a beer on top and let the yeast do the hard work
Questions:
1. Will the puree work? Will it cause the beer to be chunky and hazy? Anyone have experience with this? Would I be better off with the apple chunks?
2. I have a couple options for "base beer." I have the following beers in some stage of primary/aging that could be combined with some/all of the apples: all-brettanomyces wild pale ale, hoppy wheat saison, imperial stout, imperial stout aging on bourbon-soaked oak and vanilla bean, american pale ale, hoppy american wheat beer. I'm also planning a simple saison (need to top off my wine barrel) and an all-brettanomyces wild IPA. So, in response to question #2, I'm looking for you to be creative: what will be the best use of my apples and beer? Primary with an un-brewed/upcoming batch? Add at the end of the boil or rack on top of the apples? Secondary with one of my fermenting/aging beers? How much of the apples would you use? All or some?
Here's what I'm leaning towards: rack wild pale ale on top of 1/2 of apple puree. Use the rest down the line. Got a better idea? Let's hear it.
A couple weeks ago, I went to visit my parents. Their apple tree was flush with fruit and there was tons of ripe fruit on the ground. I picked some and grabbed some of the fallen apples. When I got home, I cleaned, cored, and sliced them into 16ths (roughly). My ~70 apples filled 5 giant zip lock freezer bags. I weighed one bag and it came in around 40 oz. So, now I have about 10 to 12 pounds of frozen, cleaned, and sliced apples in my freezer. SWMBO is getting mad because my apples are taking up about 1/3 of the freezer.
I've looked through this thread and there isnt much information on using apples in beer.
I'm thinking my next steps toward using these apples in an ale will be:
1. Puree the apples (with a Vitamix)
2. Put the apples in to an empty carboy
3. Rack a beer on top and let the yeast do the hard work
Questions:
1. Will the puree work? Will it cause the beer to be chunky and hazy? Anyone have experience with this? Would I be better off with the apple chunks?
2. I have a couple options for "base beer." I have the following beers in some stage of primary/aging that could be combined with some/all of the apples: all-brettanomyces wild pale ale, hoppy wheat saison, imperial stout, imperial stout aging on bourbon-soaked oak and vanilla bean, american pale ale, hoppy american wheat beer. I'm also planning a simple saison (need to top off my wine barrel) and an all-brettanomyces wild IPA. So, in response to question #2, I'm looking for you to be creative: what will be the best use of my apples and beer? Primary with an un-brewed/upcoming batch? Add at the end of the boil or rack on top of the apples? Secondary with one of my fermenting/aging beers? How much of the apples would you use? All or some?
Here's what I'm leaning towards: rack wild pale ale on top of 1/2 of apple puree. Use the rest down the line. Got a better idea? Let's hear it.
