Pale Ale & Fruit

[431brew]

Hi guys....been awhile.

I have a True Brew Pale Ale kit which had a can of LME and 2#'s of DME, some grains, and Williamette hops. Basic kit, and I just put it into the primary. I was thinking about bottling half of it and adding fruit to the secondary on the other half.

I prefer strawberries, but am thinking that probably blue or blackberries the only thing that had any chance of working with a Pale Ale. Have any of you used fruit with this particular beer? If so, what did you use and how did it turn out? Looking for a slightly fruit flavor/aroma.

Next beer will be a strawberry blonde, but wanted to experiment with fruit now because I have about 10 gals total of pale ales and am bored with it.

Thanks.

 

[absolutbmc]

I recently made a Watermelon Wheat beer, my original thought was to make a Watermelon Pale ale. But after talking to my LHBS, he mentioned the pale might not take the fruit flavor as well. I am still interested in this idea though.

 

[SeamusMac]

I think blackberries would compliment a pale ale quite nicely, as long as it's bitter enough to counter the tartness of the blackberries.

 

[SteveM]

I've made raspberry ale with a recipe not too different from what you describe. My recipe plus a lot of discussion on how and when to add the fruit is in the recipe section.

 

[431brew]

I recently made a Watermelon Wheat beer, my original thought was to make a Watermelon Pale ale. But after talking to my LHBS, he mentioned the pale might not take the fruit flavor as well. I am still interested in this idea though.

Watermelon sounds cool. Can you get watermelon flavoring, or using the real thing?

I think blackberries would compliment a pale ale quite nicely, as long as it's bitter enough to counter the tartness of the blackberries.

Blackberries or blueberries is what I had in mind. Prefer the blackberries but am worried about the tartness as you mentioned.

I've made raspberry ale with a recipe not too different from what you describe. My recipe plus a lot of discussion on how and when to add the fruit is in the recipe section.

I will check the recipe section and may give it a try. I may only use fruit in half of it and bottle the rest in case the fruit experiment doesn't work.

 

[red999]

I did a pale ale with pineapple and I love it. It took a while for the pineapple to mellow out but it has a very nice tart/bitterness to it that I'm liking. Its something different and its perfect for summer.

 

[kunstler]

for watermellon you can't use the real deal because well the name explains it all WATERmellon you wouldn't get much flavour, but you'd get a heck of alot of water in your beer (is it worth it esp when there are cheapier alternatives NIMO)

though I haven't done it personally - my swmbo's father is planning one and has come to the conclusion of using watermellon flavoured Jolly Rancher's in the secondary and "supposivly" it won't kickstart fermentation that much even though there is alot of sugar (at least not anymore than your normal fruit addition would add)

What the plan on this was to melt the jolly rancher's into some water (sort of like priming sugar) and then racking on top in the secondary.

Take this info for what its worth, but I do know watermellon is all water and would just water down your beer without adding much flavour.

 

[DubbelDach]

I did a pale ale with pineapple and I love it. It took a while for the pineapple to mellow out but it has a very nice tart/bitterness to it that I'm liking. Its something different and its perfect for summer.

Had one made like that before... It was interesting, and definitely good!

for watermellon you can't use the real deal because well the name explains it all WATERmellon you wouldn't get much flavour, but you'd get a heck of alot of water in your beer

Respectfully, but boisterously, disagree! Did watermelon wheat last summer and 6 cups of fresh pressed juice per 5 gallon batch was too much. I'd do 4 cups in the future. Watermelon = all water, no flavor = MYTH BUSTED!!!

 

[431brew]

The pineapple sounds interesting and I may try that later. I love pineapples, but not sure if I would love them in my beer. Was thinking of something safe like blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries, but will not be able to find fresh ones at a produce stand in my area. Can I just use concentrate or pie filling from the grocery store?

 

[Sigthor]

The pineapple sounds interesting and I may try that later. I love pineapples, but not sure if I would love them in my beer. Was thinking of something safe like blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries, but will not be able to find fresh ones at a produce stand in my area. Can I just use concentrate or pie filling from the grocery store?

I don't have much experience with fruit beers, but pie filling seems to scream no to me, that would probably be too much extra sugars.

not sure about concentrate, but it's also something I would avoid.

My best recommendation would be to wait until the fruit you want is in season, then go for it. My personal prefernce, though. Others may have better experience.

 

[ChillyP]

I don't have much experience with fruit beers, but pie filling seems to scream no to me, that would probably be too much extra sugars.

not sure about concentrate, but it's also something I would avoid.

My best recommendation would be to wait until the fruit you want is in season, then go for it. My personal prefernce, though. Others may have better experience.

Yeah, I'd go with frozen fruit before I'd think about pie filling. Pie filling contains starches and a extra sugar that could make a great beer become a WINE beer. Plus the best part with frozen fruit is it's normally been steam and then nitrogen frozen so it's pretty much been sanitized. Also it's easier to get into a glass carboy when it's frozen.

 

[SilverKing]

Dogfish Head makes an "Aprihop" beer. IPA with Apricot in it. It was...ok. Would have been better fresher.

As for adding fruit, maybe try the oregon purees from LHBS. Not cheap, but already pureed, pasteurized. Just dump it in and you're good.

 

[SteveM]

Right - check the ingredients before you decide on anything. Be wary of anything with added sugars or preservatives. I've done a bunch of fruit beer batches and even though it is more work, I will only use fresh or frozen fruit in any future batches. I advise avoiding extracts even though they seem seductively easy.

 

[431brew]

Ok...after posting and reading your responses, here is my plan:

My beer has been in primary since I started this thread on 5/4. I am only going to add fruit to half of it, so will move that half to a secondary 3 gal carboy and add my fruit (found some frozen blackberries). Since only adding fruit to a little over 2 gals, I am thinking about 2 pounds of berries. I'll add a little water and boil for twenty minutes before putting in secondary.

Since the beer has been in primary for almost two weeks, I am just going to bottle the remaining 2+ gals (or maybe put it in one of my kegs and gas it) instead of putting it in a secondary. Probably going to bottle, though, because I haven't used these kegs before and only have time for one learning experience at the time. Does this sound okay, or would I benefit from racking it this late in the process? (It's in a bucket, so not sure of clarity at this point.)

Does 2 pounds of berries sound sufficient with this basic brew kit and 1 oz. of Williamette hops (don't remember the AAU)? I do not have a spare grain bag, so I am little concerned about getting the berries to filter out when the secondary ferment is over.

Thanks for all of your help with this. I will put it into action after a little feedback on my plan.

 

[SeamusMac]

I used about 2 pounds of clementines in my 5 gallon batch of Clementine Hefeweizen and the zesty citrus flavour is strong enough to notice, as fruit flavours are in a lot of commercial fruit beer (or at least the ones I've tried).

If I were making a 2.5 gallon batch of Blackberry Pale Ale (I wish I were) I'd add less than 1 pound of blackberries. The reason being that it's better to end up with a second batch of Pale Ale with hardly any blackberry flavour that is still drinkable rather than having something incredibly tart.

In my opinion starting out with 3/4 lb. of blackberries would be sufficient for a 2.5 gallon batch. You can incrementally increase the amount of blackberries used in future batches if the flavour isn't strong enough. Keep in mind, some blackberries will be significantly more sweet or tart than others. I've been tasting shipment after shipment of blueberries at work (produce store) for the past month hoping to find an especially sweet shipment of berries to use in a blueberry wheat recipe I've been itching to try!

 

[431brew]

I used about 2 pounds of clementines in my 5 gallon batch of Clementine Hefeweizen and the zesty citrus flavour is strong enough to notice, as fruit flavours are in a lot of commercial fruit beer (or at least the ones I've tried).

If I were making a 2.5 gallon batch of Blackberry Pale Ale (I wish I were) I'd add less than 1 pound of blackberries. The reason being that it's better to end up with a second batch of Pale Ale with hardly any blackberry flavour that is still drinkable rather than having something incredibly tart.

In my opinion starting out with 3/4 lb. of blackberries would be sufficient for a 2.5 gallon batch. You can incrementally increase the amount of blackberries used in future batches if the flavour isn't strong enough. Keep in mind, some blackberries will be significantly more sweet or tart than others. I've been tasting shipment after shipment of blueberries at work (produce store) for the past month hoping to find an especially sweet shipment of berries to use in a blueberry wheat recipe I've been itching to try!

Thanks for the input, SeamusMac. In addition to avoiding the tartness, it will help it clear quicker/cleaner, too. I think that is good advice.

 

[SteveM]

From everything I've read, boiling is not advisable. You can pasteurize them by heating them to 160F for twenty minutes. Without doing a bit of research, I have to admit that I forget why you should not boil - something about flavor or creating stuff that is not fermentable. I will see if I can find the reason.

Edit - I didn't find what I was looking for as far as the reason you don't boil - when I wrote my recipe notes, I guess I had decided that it was a settled issue to the point where I didn't even discuss it. Here is what I wrote:

I give the basic brew a week or two in the fermenter, then rack to a secondary and add my fruit. I pasteurize the fruit by putting it into a pot with enough water to cover the fruit and bringing it to about 160F for ten or fifteen minutes. Stir it to keep it from scorching. Then it all goes into the secondary. I use a sanitized wide mouthed funnel to pour this "fruit slurry" (even without boiling it will become semi-mush) into the secondary.

By the way, the wide mouthed funnel is easily improvised if you don't have one - see my recipes notes.

 

[KUbrew]

Sounds like you've decided but in the future blueberries are great in pale ales. I just did one, I added 4oz of extract when I put it in the keg and it tasted great. I was hoping for a little more aroma so I currently have on in the primary that I'm going add a pound of blueberries while it's in the secondary and also add the extract in the keg.

 

[431brew]

SteveM: I didn't boil...I realized that I shouldn't typed that after I read it later, but thanks for the heads up on that. I followed the directions that you had in your recipe. However, I am concerned that I didn't let it cool enough before adding it to the secondary as there is not much action in the air lock right now. I would think that is should be cooled to <90 as with wort to keep from killing the yeast, but I had my head up my butt cleaning kegs, buckets, etc, and didn't check the temp before adding it.

KUbrew: I will try blueberries next time. I have a blueberry/blackberry pie that I like to cook over fire or grill when camping that is pretty good. The blackberries offset the boldness of the blueberries, and the blueberries cover the tartness of the blackberries. I may just go this route next time and get the best of both.

As for the remaining 2+ gals, I went ahead and put that in a secondary as well. When I opened the lid of my fermenting bucket yesterday to get this started, yeast was all over the place...bottom, floating and still bubbling on surface, sides of the bucket, etc...and the beer was really dark. So I now have half a batch on fruit in the secondary and the other half in the secondary as well. I am going to give them a while there and then keg the fruity one and let it condition in the closet for awhile.

 

[SteveM]

You won't get much additional visible fermentation. Your air lock will be pretty calm and if you put two lbs of 90F fruit into 2.5 gallons of wort, you would not have killed off the yeast. Give it a week or two, then maybe a third stage to really clear up. It will be fine.