Peach and Ginger additions in Gose

[TheMarkWhite]

I'm brewing a 5 gal batch Gose and am looking to add some peach and ginger. I plan on adding .5 oz of freshly grated ginger the last 5-10 minutes of the boil. Then once primary fermentation is done, add about 6 pounds of peaches to secondary for a week.

Will the .5 oz of ginger be enough and be noticeable in the end product?
Is the 6 gal of peaches enough? Should I peel the peaches or just dice them? And lastly, many state that sanitizing isn't necessary, just to make sure they are obviously clean.

Any thoughts and or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Good luck with this. I'd be curious to hear how this comes out.

In regards to the ginger, I can't comment on it as I hate ginger in beer and have not used it. Someone else will have to comment on that.

With the peaches, it depends on how strong you want the peach flavor. At 6lbs, you're at 1.2lbs / gallon, which is a good starting point. If you want HEAVY peach flavor, I might go to 8 or 9 lbs. I just did a blackberry peach sour with 3.5lbs of peaches and the peach is VERY faint, but it's there. Really depends on what kind of peach flavor you're going for.

In regards to the peel, I'd peel them. I don't know if the peel would give any weird flavors or not but since I don't know, I peeled all of mine. I would say peel, dice and then freeze. When you go to use the peaches, I'd dump the frozen peaches in a clean and sanitized secondary container and transfer the beer on top of them.

Some people say you need to sanitize fruit but I've used fruit in 3 beers now, all of which were just diced and frozen, and haven't had any issues. With a sour or gose, you not only have the alcohol that will help keep stuff from growing, you have a lower pH that will also help keep nasties out of it.

Those are my suggestions. Let us know what you do and how it comes out.

The only other thing I'll mention is in regards to your secondary container. If you're using a normal carboy as your secondary, you need to dice them REALLY small or puree them. If you're using something like a big mouth bubbler, then you have a bit more freedom in regards to how small you dice them up.

Good luck.

 

[TheMarkWhite]

Good luck with this. I'd be curious to hear how this comes out.

In regards to the ginger, I can't comment on it as I hate ginger in beer and have not used it. Someone else will have to comment on that.

With the peaches, it depends on how strong you want the peach flavor. At 6lbs, you're at 1.2lbs / gallon, which is a good starting point. If you want HEAVY peach flavor, I might go to 8 or 9 lbs. I just did a blackberry peach sour with 3.5lbs of peaches and the peach is VERY faint, but it's there. Really depends on what kind of peach flavor you're going for.

In regards to the peel, I'd peel them. I don't know if the peel would give any weird flavors or not but since I don't know, I peeled all of mine. I would say peel, dice and then freeze. When you go to use the peaches, I'd dump the frozen peaches in a clean and sanitized secondary container and transfer the beer on top of them.

Some people say you need to sanitize fruit but I've used fruit in 3 beers now, all of which were just diced and frozen, and haven't had any issues. With a sour or gose, you not only have the alcohol that will help keep stuff from growing, you have a lower pH that will also help keep nasties out of it.

Those are my suggestions. Let us know what you do and how it comes out.

The only other thing I'll mention is in regards to your secondary container. If you're using a normal carboy as your secondary, you need to dice them REALLY small or puree them. If you're using something like a big mouth bubbler, then you have a bit more freedom in regards to how small you dice them up.

Good luck.

Thank you for the quick response. I appreciate all of the information you provided. I definitely want the peach to be noticeable so maybe I will up the amount to 7 or so.

I use a SS Brewtech conical as my main fermentation vessel and usually don't do a secondary. However since this will have additions and I dislike using the car boys, I thought about transferring the beer after fermentation into the sanitized carboy or boil pot, cleaning the conical, then racking the beer on top the peaches in the conical. I know there's room for oxygenating and exposure of possible contamination, but what are your thoughts?.

 

[Rob2010SS]

No, I wouldn't do that. Personally that's too risky for oxidation in my opinion. I don't have a conical so I'm not sure how they work but I'm assuming you can open the top correct? I would just open the top and gently put them in the beer, avoiding splashing. Just gently set them in there and let them go, close it up and be done.

The only other think I might do is put the diced peaches in sanitized muslin bags. Use multiple bags, to increase fruit contact with the beer. This way you can lower the bags gently into the fermenter without splashing. If you just drop the diced peaches in without a bag, you're going to be doing a lot of splashing which is not good. Unless you have another way of getting the peaches in there without splashing, this is how I'd approach it.

 

[TheMarkWhite]

No, I wouldn't do that. Personally that's too risky for oxidation in my opinion. I don't have a conical so I'm not sure how they work but I'm assuming you can open the top correct? I would just open the top and gently put them in the beer, avoiding splashing. Just gently set them in there and let them go, close it up and be done.

The only other think I might do is put the diced peaches in sanitized muslin bags. Use multiple bags, to increase fruit contact with the beer. This way you can lower the bags gently into the fermenter without splashing. If you just drop the diced peaches in without a bag, you're going to be doing a lot of splashing which is not good. Unless you have another way of getting the peaches in there without splashing, this is how I'd approach it.

That's the way I've been doing it in the past. If it ain''t broke why fix it I guess, right?

 

[Rob2010SS]

That's the way I've been doing it in the past. If it ain''t broke why fix it I guess, right?

Ha, absolutely! No need to reinvent the wheel.

 

[TheMarkWhite]

Can anyone chime in regarding the ginger?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I recommend sanitizing additions, especially fruit.

 

[TheMarkWhite]

I recommend sanitizing additions, especially fruit.

How would you go about sanitizing them?

 

[madscientist451]

A local (hobbyist) winemaker that uses peaches told me he uses skins and all.
I've usually peeled them, but his method saves a lot of time.
He says the skins is where all the best flavor is.
Grab a peach with 2 hands and twist it, pull the pit out and go to the next one. Do this over a bucket to catch the juice.
I would then freeze them before fermenting but my winemaking buddy doesn't bother doing that.
When adding to already fermented beer, I don't worry about the wild yeast on the peaches, the alcohol in the beer will take care of them. Bacteria infections are still something to be concerned about, you can add some water to the peaches and then some campden tablets. You can also heat the peaches to kill anything present.
Peach flavor is somewhat delicate and the peach character is hard to detect unless you go with a large amount of peaches. Also, peaches are much more acidic than most people think. Once the sugar in the peaches ferments away, what's less is somewhat tart. Having some residual sweetness in the beer will help offset that.

 

[TheMarkWhite]

A local (hobbyist) winemaker that uses peaches told me he uses skins and all.
I've usually peeled them, but his method saves a lot of time.
He says the skins is where all the best flavor is.
Grab a peach with 2 hands and twist it, pull the pit out and go to the next one. Do this over a bucket to catch the juice.
I would then freeze them before fermenting but my winemaking buddy doesn't bother doing that.
When adding to already fermented beer, I don't worry about the wild yeast on the peaches, the alcohol in the beer will take care of them. Bacteria infections are still something to be concerned about, you can add some water to the peaches and then some campden tablets. You can also heat the peaches to kill anything present.
Peach flavor is somewhat delicate and the peach character is hard to detect unless you go with a large amount of peaches. Also, peaches are much more acidic than most people think. Once the sugar in the peaches ferments away, what's less is somewhat tart. Having some residual sweetness in the beer will help offset that.

Thanks for the insight. Since this is a Gose, the extra wild yeast, funk and tartness would be welcomed.

 

[RPh_Guy]

How would you go about sanitizing them?

you can add some water to the peaches and then some campden tablets. You can also heat the peaches to kill anything present.

This. Campden (potassium metabisulfite) at around 50-100 ppm will stop the bacteria and most wild yeast.
Heating is an option but may change the flavor.