Can I just add fruit to a basic wheat recipe?

[corwin3083]

I found a nice, simple american wheat beer recipe on a thread of rexbanner's that consists of wheat lme, hops, and yeast.

My question is, would it be possible to just throw some fruit in the fermenter with the wort and come up with something good?

EDIT: Ok, so based on the info I've gotten here, I'm gonna freeze the fruit, smoosh it up, dump it in the wort immediately post-boil, then dump the whole mess in the fermenter.

The fruit I'd like to use is oranges. Any suggestions for a variety? I assume I'd want something more sweet than tart. Anyone tried this before?

 

[eelpout]

That what I do all the time.
well... some of the time

Red currants work good for me just because I have a ton of them and so does raspberries.
I just freeze em and then smash em up and chuck em in.
probably should try to sterilize em some how,, but never had a problem yet.

Not to Hijack the thread,, but can when those fruits are whole,, could I just spray em with Starsan (maybe a rinse too) then freeze and mash?

 

[nanofreak]

Most brew shops also sell Oregon Fruit Puree. This stuff is nice because you don't need to worry about sanitation, they way it is packaged takes care of that (as compared to fresh fruit or frozen). You can dump it in a secondary and rack onto it.

 

[pericles]

I'd sterilize the fruit by boiling them for five minutes, let them cool, and the dump them into a secondary fermenter. Then rack the beer on top of them for two weeks before you bottle/keg.