Looking for fruit to go with fermenting pale wheat ale

[BrewingChip]

Hey all,

Almost two weeks ago I brewed a 5 gallon extract pale wheat ale. I want to add fruit to some of it but I’m not sure what would work best with this style. I have done a raspberry wheat ale and everyone loved that, but I am not sure if raspberry would work with this particular style as well.

I am toying around with adding raspberries to part of it, leaving some of it as is, and potentially adding blood oranges to part of it too.

Any recommendations of what to do/use?

 

[Steveruch]

What's your favorite fruit?

 

[catdaddy66]

I just brewed this style with apricot puree added over a week ago. Man! It kicked off a super fast restart of fermentation that resulted in a massive blowoff! I am set to bottle this on the weekend but it probably will have less fruitiness as a generous portion left the primary.

This was less than 12 hours after introducing the fruit. The coke bottle is frozen water to keep temps in the proper range.

 

[catdaddy66]

Raspberries should go very well, as would oranges/pineapple/ etc.

 

[Yooper]

The best fruit beer I've ever made was a watermelon wheat. I pureed a personal size watermelon, and added that to secondary and racked the beer into that. I let it sit about 10 days and then kegged it up. It was really good!

 

[BrewingChip]

I might end up going with half raspberry and half blood orange. I’ve never brewed with oranges before and I think this could be a good opportunity to experiment with them.

What’s the best method of adding the oranges at this point? Try to juice them? Just cut them into quarters and toss them in?

 

[SHAIV]

I just brewed this style with apricot puree added over a week ago. Man! It kicked off a super fast restart of fermentation that resulted in a massive blowoff! I am set to bottle this on the weekend but it probably will have less fruitiness as a generous portion left the primary.

This was less than 12 hours after introducing the fruit. The coke bottle is frozen water to keep temps in the proper range.

Doesnt look very appealing brother. But what do i know, i just took a swig of some very questionable tequila? I got in mexico like 4 years ago. Im sure itll taste great when its done

 

[Lifer59]

The best fruit beer I've ever made was a watermelon wheat. I pureed a personal size watermelon, and added that to secondary and racked the beer into that. I let it sit about 10 days and then kegged it up. It was really good!

Puréed the whole thing, rind and all?

 

[Yooper]

Puréed the whole thing, rind and all?

Well, no, not the rind. Just the red part. It was really thick, and then I just poured it into the carboy and racked the beer into it. Then I racked it to the keg after it fermented.

 

[fatnhappy]

I've added orange to my saison. I like to zest a bunch and put them in a hop bag with sanitized glass marbles. I then tie unwaxed, plain dental floss to the top of the bag. It keeps the zest fully submerged and not just floating on top

 

[BaldApe]

I put Mango in a Kolsch a while back. Gave it a nice tart fruitiness. Might go well in wheat.

 

[r4dyce]

The best fruit beer I've ever made was a watermelon wheat. I pureed a personal size watermelon, and added that to secondary and racked the beer into that. I let it sit about 10 days and then kegged it up. It was really good!

I'd also vote watermelon. I did one last summer that was fantastic and super simple. Pretty much same process Yooper describes. Watermelon can actually be very subtle and aromatic. I think it would go well in a pale ale style as the flavor/aroma would give some percieved sweetness that would balance well with happier styles. Couple things I would note:
Keep your ABV in mind. Watermelon contains a lot of water (duh). Which can dilute your product. But it also contains some sugars which can increase your ABV. About 5-6% sugar by weight.
Also, regular watermelon is pink (duh again)... So expect the color to change. I like this, but you can also find yellow watermelon.
Lastly, I'd stain it before going in, it will catch the larger pulp and hopefully most of the seeds or what's left of them after blending

 

[chewyheel]

Blackberry is a good option as well, they are coming in season now too if you’re in the south anyway

 

[thenugsmoustache]

Cherries are in season here in California. I just got several pounds from my neighbor whose daughter lives on a orchard, and they are delicious!

 

[applescrap]

The best fruit beer I've ever made was a watermelon wheat. I pureed a personal size watermelon, and added that to secondary and racked the beer into that. I let it sit about 10 days and then kegged it up. It was really good!

I had a watermelon beer once at Great American Beer Fest, from a san francisco coop and i was blown away. I loved that beer and begged them to give me one. I need to try this. What a great summer beer too!

 

[applescrap]

Doesnt look very appealing brother. But what do i know, i just took a swig of some very questionable tequila? I got in mexico like 4 years ago. Im sure itll taste great when its done

Sry ot here, but I won this bottle of tequila at a cheap hotel years ago. It was so bad that I put it in my garage. Four years later the stuff drinks like it was a $40 bottle, no kidding.

On topic i think you would freeze fresh oranges to burst cells then add to secondary. Maybe use juice to?! Also orange extract and frsh orange would make a good taste, i wonder.

 

[JimRausch]

Using the Bluemoon clone as a base (check out the extensive thread on this forum) I've done it with blueberries, raspberries, apricot, grapefruit, and cranberries. My favorite is the apricot, but the raspberry seems to be the favorite of those I share it with.

 

[rhags138]

I did a 5 gallon pale wheat with apricot and I don't think that the 5 gallons survived a month. EVERYONE was drinking it. It was very refreshing, though with the pureed apricot alone there wasn't enough flavor coming through. I added some extract after secondary and it was perfect. Watermelon wheat is also good. But experiment and go nuts. Find out what you like

 

[JimRausch]

with the pureed apricot alone there wasn't enough flavor coming through. I added some extract after secondary and it was perfect.

Agreed about the apricot extract(the LDCarlson one). I add 1oz per gallon at bottling time and it's perfect. I have not been thrilled with other extracts, but the apricot one is great.

 

[rhags138]

That is the extract I used

 

[bleme]

What late addition hops did you use?

When I am designing a fruit beer, I usually try to find hops that compliment the fruit I want to use. Since you've already made the beer, I'd look for fruits that compliment the hops instead.

 

[catdaddy66]

I have 4oz of LDCarlson cherry extract... Hmmmmmmm.

 

[JimRausch]

Your tastes may vary, but it's specifically the cherry extract that I have had poor results with. To me, it's too much 'cherry cough syrup'. This has been in NB's cherry stout. 1st time I used the recommended 4oz per 5G and wound up dumping 1/2 the batch after a year. 2nd time I used 2 oz. Better, but still too much cough syrup flavor. Maybe it's just me.....

 

[rhags138]

I have 4oz of LDCarlson cherry extract... Hmmmmmmm.

I have used real cherrys in a few brews and the flavour seemed to come through just fine

 

[applescrap]

Your tastes may vary, but it's specifically the cherry extract that I have had poor results with. To me, it's too much 'cherry cough syrup'. This has been in NB's cherry stout. 1st time I used the recommended 4oz per 5G and wound up dumping 1/2 the batch after a year. 2nd time I used 2 oz. Better, but still too much cough syrup flavor. Maybe it's just me.....

Just a little extract, with a mixture of real cherries?

 

[SHAIV]

Sry ot here, but I won this bottle of tequila at a cheap hotel years ago. It was so bad that I put it in my garage. Four years later the stuff drinks like it was a $40 bottle, no kidding.

On topic i think you would freeze fresh oranges to burst cells then add to secondary. Maybe use juice to?! Also orange extract and frsh orange would make a good taste, i wonder.

Yes sir! That would be easy for me to do since i dont really drink liquor. Oh and i looked at the bottle again and its 6 years old but i think i got it 5 years ago.

Anyways i just got an email from all about beer magazine on fruit beers maybe theres some good info in there to help the op decide on what to use
http://allaboutbeer.com/article/berry-beers/

 

[chickypad]

As others have said watermelon is always a big hit. I juice the watermelon and add the juice to the keg. Passionfruit is also really good if you like tart, it's hard to source though IME. I use The Perfect Puree concentrate but it's pricey. Thawed it's pretty much a liquid, I dilute to regular juice strength per their directions and add it to the keg. A little goes a long way.

 

[BrewingChip]

I have used real cherrys in a few brews and the flavour seemed to come through just fine

How many cherries did you use? Also, if I added cherries, should i get tart or sweet cherries? A grocery store near me has both of those options and i do not want the kind that might taste like a fake cherry cough syrup.

 

[rhags138]

I have used both tart and sweet depending on style. I believe it was a pound in a 5 gallon batch, but I have to double check my brew day notes. The tart cherrys I halved and soaked in vodka before pitching into the secondary. I just pureed and boiled the sweet cherry. Niether had a cough syrup flavor. For the wheat, of say tart cherry......but that is just my taste

 

[Northern_Brewer]

How many cherries did you use? Also, if I added cherries, should i get tart or sweet cherries? A grocery store near me has both of those options and i do not want the kind that might taste like a fake cherry cough syrup.

200-300g/litre is pretty typical, some Belgian brewers go up to 400g/l but that is probably using their local cherries which don't have much flesh on them.

A mix of sweet and tart would be closest to the Belgian ones.