Fruit Beer techniques

[paintb22]

I've done a few searches for info about making fruit beers and put together what I thought was a pretty good plan. I went to the LHBS today and picked up some ingredients and asked the shop keep if my plan would work and was told it wouldn't.

What I am planning to do is brew a Red, White & Blue beer for a party on the 4th . I have "Blue Ball's Belgian Wit" bubbling away in primary right now. For the Red I was going to use BM's Centennial Blonde omitting the late Cascade hop additions and subbing Amarillo for the bittering hops, as I have some on hand. After it's reached FG I wanted to add Camden tablets, and potassium sorbate to thawed strawberries and rack on top. Keg to carbonate and bottle from the keg. Will this work or is there a better way?

I want the beer to appeal to the masses as much as possible, I will have some IPA and APA for real beer drinkers. I would like the beer to have a nice fruit aroma, and a mild fruit taste but not taste like a wine cooler.

For the blue beer I am brewing an American Wheat and doing the same techniques except with thawed blueberries.

Also how many lbs of each should I use for a 5gal batch?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ailimup]

I have done a Strawberry amber and it came out great! I did not add any potassium sorbate or Camden tablets though. I took a flat of fresh strawberries and boiled them in water, made almost a puree and added it in the secondary. This did not cause any additional fermentation because most of the yeast had been taken out. THe result was a wonderful strawberry aroma and taste. My batch was 3 gallons.Hope this helps ,Cheers.

Primary: Pale Ale
Secondary: empty
Third: Pineapple Pale Ale
Keg 1 :Rye Roggenbier
Keg 2 : Barleywine

 

[paintb22]

Thanks for the info. If another fermentation didn't happen when the fruit was added was there a sweetness added to the beer from the fruit sugars?

Just wondering if I should adjust the IBU to balance. I mean sweet would probably appeal to the masses as long as it wasn't too intense, but at the same time I will be drinking the leftovers and don't want to feel like I am drinking juice.

I'm just wondering because this was the main reason that the LHBS told me not to stop fermentation.

Any idea how much a flat of strawberries is compared to frozen lbs? From what I have read anywhere from 2-5lbs seems standard but the LHBS recommended 10lbs.

 

[FSR402]

Don't stop the fermentation. Just ferment as normal, then rack onto 1 pound per gallon of frozen (almost thawed) berries.
Here is the kicker. Leave it for a month. A short contact time will give you huge aroma and a sicking sweet beer. The longer contact time will pull some of the tartness and balance out the sweetness.

I took a bronze a few weeks ago with my Strawberry Wheat and even thought it only scored a 34 it was the most talked about beer at the award party.
I'm going to tweak the base of the beer a little and try to perfect it.

 

[paintb22]

Thanks for the info. Ideally I would like to try it that way and let it age for about a month or so to mellow out but the 4th is in 34 days. The Centennial Blonde, well I guess Amarillo Blonde, is in the boil kettle right now.

I guess I was trying to do this the same way you would back sweeten a wine or cider. The potassium sorbate won't kill the yeast but it does keep it from reproducing. So there would still be some fermentation in secondary with the berries but it would not be nearly as much as in the primary.

I mashed at 150-152ish for 90min to try to dry the beer out as much as possible to counter act some of the sweetness of the fruit. I think I am going to try 4lbs frozen berries and adjust from there. I can always add a little extract to the keg if it needs it.

I would like to try your method of fully fermenting out the berries and aging in the future, but right now I'm working with a deadline.

Thanks

 

[beesy]

Why did he/she tell you it wouldn't work? I don't see any big issues.

For my fruit beers, I used frozen fruit that have been pasteurized, so no nasties, plus a lot of people state the freezing ruptures the cell membranes, imparting more of the natural sugars and flavors to your brews.

 

[cimirie]

I will have some IPA and APA for real beer drinkers.

Be careful with this statement, as I take offense to it. I am a real beer drinker. I will try anything somebody gets excited about, and enjoy most of it. The exception to the rule is IPAs and APAs - I've never come across one I enjoy. Not saying they're bad, but there are many of us who don't enjoy hop overload.

So before you save the IPA for REAL beer drinkers... Liking IPAs is not a prerequisite for being a real beer drinker.

Just my $.02

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Be careful with this statement, as I take offense to it. I am a real beer drinker. I will try anything somebody gets excited about, and enjoy most of it. The exception to the rule is IPAs and APAs - I've never come across one I enjoy. Not saying they're bad, but there are many of us who don't enjoy hop overload.

So before you save the IPA for REAL beer drinkers... Liking IPAs is not a prerequisite for being a real beer drinker.

Just my $.02

I'm not a big hop person either, but try a New Belgium Mighty Arrow, is an APA and the citrusy notes are really good. It has become my favorite summer beer (for now). I'm trying to mke an APA with a similar hop character.

 

[cimirie]

Like I said, I'll try anything if somebody gets excited about it. So, New Belgium here I come. Well, next time I'm up north. We don't get NB down here in Florida :-( At any rate, thanks for the rec. I'd love to be able to have a go-to highly hopped ale!

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Its not overwhelmingly hopped it is balanced very well, I think New Belgium does a great job w/all of their mainstream brews. Their Lips of Faith on the other hand are very particular, so you have to really enjoy certain style to the "extreme" if you will, oterwise NB is da bomb (if anyone says "da bomb" any more ).

 

[cprincipe]

Be careful with this statement, as I take offense to it. I am a real beer drinker. I will try anything somebody gets excited about, and enjoy most of it. The exception to the rule is IPAs and APAs - I've never come across one I enjoy. Not saying they're bad, but there are many of us who don't enjoy hop overload.

So before you save the IPA for REAL beer drinkers... Liking IPAs is not a prerequisite for being a real beer drinker.

Just my $.02

In defense of the OP, I think he just meant "non-fruited beer."

 

[DubbelDach]

Sweet! This is where I got the idea for red, white, and blue... Thanks paintb22! I mentioned in another thread that I got the idea from somewhere, but I couldn't find your post. (I used Biermuncher's Blonde recipe as well, but with blueberries... It's tremendous!)

My RWB brews...

 

[C4PNJ4ZZ]

Sweet! This is where I got the idea for red, white, and blue... Thanks paintb22! I mentioned in another thread that I got the idea from somewhere, but I couldn't find your post. (I used Biermuncher's Blonde recipe as well, but with blueberries... It's tremendous!)

My RWB brews...

I was thinking about doing a similar beer for my brothers wedding. What did you use for blueberries (extract, fresh, frozen)?

I will be getting ingredients today for either a blueberry blonde or blueberry wheat.

 

[DubbelDach]

I was thinking about doing a similar beer for my brothers wedding. What did you use for blueberries (extract, fresh, frozen)?

I will be getting ingredients today for either a blueberry blonde or blueberry wheat.

3 lbs of Oregon puree. Then just maybe an ounce of extract at kegging after I tasted it.

It's got the hint of blueberry now... Not an overwhelming cloying taste. Color-wise though... It's so blue that it's blurple!!!