Fruit Beer Tartness

[Philip_T]

Recently made a batch of Mango Blonde Ale and I'm really impressed the beer on the whole, it does pack a bit of a tartness punch that I could do without. Is this natural for all fruit beers? If so, is there a way to reduce it?

I used 3 lbs of frozen mango cubes from Costco (no preservatives) and 3 fresh mangos (peeled). I pureed them all together and mixed with a bit of vodka and froze them for a day. Used sanitized equipment and was careful throughout.

Added the puree to a 2ndary and racked on top, left for 4 days + 3 more days in the fridge to cold crash.

Any tips to mellow the tart?

 

[hopsalot]

How ripe was the fruit?

The fruit will mellow with time, it is still young

 

[Yooper]

In my experience with winemaking and brewing, fruit will ferment, and once the sugars are gone there is a tartness behind- especially with fruits like raspberries.

You could try adding some lactose (unfermentable sugar) to provide some of the sweet flavor that ferments out if you want a sweeter finish.

 

[JeepDiver]

The fruit beers I've done (Strawberry, blackberry, watermelon), have all ended up with that tartness, and just the fruit "essence". Don't think there is much you can do other than stopping fermentation and backsweeting with juice (if you are kegging).

 

[Philip_T]

The Mango's were pretty ripe and sweet, and I'm thinking that the yeast just tore through any sugars the mango's had and left the tartness in its place.

I like the lactose idea Yooper...will give that a try next batch.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Fruit contain sugar and acids (different fruits have different kinds of acid). When you take out the sugar, you just get the acid. Then you let it sit in acidic beer, which gives you more perception of acid. Backsweetening with non-fermentable sugar is really the only way to rebalance the sweet-sour component.