Apricots?

[FlemingsFinest]

Hello all,

Just wondering if any of you out there have any experience blending apricots into your brews. I'm contemplating an amber ale brewed with apricots and certain spices, perhaps cinnamon and/or nutmeg and/or ginger. I would like to get rolling on this as the fall approaches, as I think it could make a nice autmn/holiday beer. Thoughts? Cheers.

 

[HalfPint]

I know in Sam Calagione's book Extreme Brewing, he says to add 4 lbs dried/chopped apricots at the last 10 minutes of boil. After that, I'd cool and transfer all of that into the primary to be fermented. However, I do know that if you want more of the actual fruit flavor/aroma, it's best to add fruit into the secondary. In that case, I'd probably use the same amount and let the beer sit on the chopped fruit until it tastes the way you want.

Cheers,
J

 

[ThreeRatBastards]

This is what I'd do...

1. Puree the apricots
2. Heat the puree to 170 degrees or so to pasteurize it.
3. Let it cool.
4. Pour into secondary vessel.
5. Rack beer into secondary.
6. Give it a week or so and rack to a terciary for further cleaning (or you can rack to a bottling bucket and bottle, but my experience with fruit has led me to the terciary option because it is very hard to not pull some fruit when racking off of it.)

 

[FlemingsFinest]

Thanks for the advice guys, I've never used secondary fermentation so this may become quite an experiement. As for the form in which I add the fruit...I am just looking for gentle apricot notes to supplement the rest of the beer and temper the spices a bit. Would a puree or whole fruit be better to keep the flavor at a subtle, background, level?

 

[iron_city_ap]

Its a matter of personal taste, but I've tried a couple different apricot beers and can't say I'm really a fan. I highly recomend trying one before making a whole batch. If you like it, good for you and go for it !

 

[Morkin]

Oregon Fruite Puree is available at many LHBS and Online. I've used it in an Apricot Hefe.

Use a whole can in the secondary for the fruit to come out.

 

[cell]

Not a good idea to use fruit puree. Unless you want puree in your finished beer. Use sliced apricots instead.