Fruit addition timing for a kolsch

[ZebulonBrewer]

Today is the fifth day of fermentation of my peach kolsch. It is fermenting nicely at 60F with Wyeast 2565 Kolsch Yeast (they were out of WLP029). The recipe is pretty straightforward, light bodied, ~20IBU, and a smattering of galaxy hops for their stone-fruityness.

Right now, I plan to add four pounds of frozen peaches and one pound of frozen apricots. My question is, when would be best to do this. I plan doing a short (3-4 day) diacetly rest at 68F later this week or early next, and then either putting my fermenter at 48 to do a lager or down to 35 to crash it quick and move on to an ale.

Would it be better to wait until I am ready to crash my kolsch before transferring and adding fruit?

or

Would it be better to transfer before my diacetyl rest?

or

Am I overthinking it and it doesn't really that much?

Thanks ahead of time

 

[Hello]

I've never brewed a kolsch, but if I were doing this, I would fruit before lagering.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

Thanks for the advice, I've been kind of leaning that my way myself.

Happy Brewing!

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

I recently did a pineapple kolsch and instead of using straight pineapple I added pineapple juice after high krausen. Seemed less risky that way (and a hell of a lot cheaper).

I only "lagered" for about a week but I added the juice after primary was completed.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

I recently did a pineapple kolsch and instead of using straight pineapple I added pineapple juice after high krausen. Seemed less risky that way (and a hell of a lot cheaper).

I only "lagered" for about a week but I added the juice after primary was completed.

How did it taste?

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

It isn't ready just yet but going into the bottles it was pretty tasty. I believe I added about a liter of juice and there was a definite hint of pineapple, but it didn't drink like a shandy.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

I have shandy that is just now ready to drink. My wife and I switch out choosing beers to make, so it went Orange Shandy - Jalapeno Cream Ale - Peach Kolsch. My next one will be something more 'normal' because i'm running low on my schwarzbier! (i'm thinking a good pale ale)

The shandy turned out ok I guess. It needs a little more time before I write it off, but the MIL and wife seem to like it, so that's a plus. The hint of aroma from the cluster hops with the orange koolaid is not a very appealing.