How much fruit?

[MattyIceGfunk]

I just brewed up my first Weizenbier the other day and is in the Primary right now with nice air lock action. I'm thinking about adding some fruit to it when I move it to secondary in a couple weeks. If I plan on throwing in some Strawberries or peaches how much do you need for a 5 gallon batch? I think I read that in order to sanitize the fruit leave it in 160 water for about 15 mins. I'm not much of a fruit guy but its about 100 degrees out so might as well.

Cheers

 

[Oldsock]

It really depends on the quality of the fruit. It takes a lot less high quality ripe fruit than it does with less flavorful examples. Both Strawberries and peaches have a milder flavor than say cherries or raspberries, but I had good luck with 2 lbs of white peaches (sliced, pitted, but skin left on) per gallon in a sour wheat beer. I might go higher than that with strawberries if you really want to have the fruit as a primary flavor.

You can heat sanitize, or give them a dunk in star-san. I tend to just freeze the fruit first which helps to keep the microbes down and breaks up the cell walls (but then I rarely add it to a beer that isn’t sour already). Heat will change the character of the fruit and drive off some of the more delicate aromatics.

 

[MattyIceGfunk]

So I think I decided to go with Strawberries. Any tips?

 

[finny13]

I would go with frozen fruit and about a pound per gallon. Raspberries usually do the best in terms of flavor and aroma.

 

[Moonpile]

Strawberries should be in high season right now in WV (as they are in MD, where I've been enjoying them). My friends and I have done two strawberry beers, and they're doing a third right now (sadly I could not join them). What we did was brew a light, low-hopped base beer, hefe in one case and blonde in another, and racked it onto cut up strawberries in a bucket.

Both beers turned out great. The second time we did it was better because we used more strawberries, a whole flat's worth in 10 gallons. It was ~$40 well spent.

We rinsed them, dipped them in a low-concentration StarSan solution, cut the leaves off and quartered them.

Go for it and you won't regret it. Mind you strawberries in beer don't come out tasting exactly like strawberries when it's done. I feel like you're actually getting a bitter flavor from the seeds. Aroma was fantastic and more strawberry-like. It was like drinking late Spring in a bottle.

 

[MattyIceGfunk]

Thanks for the info guys. Of course I changed my mind and went with oranges. I have the zest marinating in vodka in the fridge as I type. I will have to try the strawberry next. That sounds like good stuff!

 

[MattyIceGfunk]

So I took the zest off of 4 oranges and soaked them in vodka for a day but here's the kicker, I forgot to boil the peel first. I did rinse them off with water though. I guess I will plan on just adding the concoction and hope it tastes good. I'll leave it in secondary for a week. :fingers crossed:

 

[Moonpile]

I think you'll be fine. Boiling it would drive off the essential aromas and whatnot that you're looking for anyway. Citrus oil is anti-microbial, so as long as you cleaned the fruit, it's fine. The vodak probably didn't do much of anything, either.

Note: I have never used citrus, zest or otherwise, in a beer, so this is just, like, my opinion, man.