Peach IPA- dry hopping with fruit

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Sarpy

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Hi-beginner brewer. I have brewed a few times using kits with success and will be using another kit to brew an ipa. The recipe calls for dry hopping but I also plan on adding peaches to a secondary. My mind is made up, I’m adding peaches and you can’t stop me. I know you don’t NEED a secondary but it’s my plan.

I plan on doing a primary fermentation for 7 days, then racking onto 4 lbs of peaches in a secondary and letting that sit for another 5-7 days. After that I will dry hop for another 5-7 days. About 3 weeks total before bottling.
The peaches will be diced and frozen- not boiled at all.

Just looking for some constructive criticism as I have never dry hopped or added fruit to my home brews. Thanks!
 
I did a peach blonde for my wife . I used 3# of frozen peaches . I thawed and put them in a clean and sanitized fermenter. Then I racked the beer over . I then added 1# of pureed apricot to bring out the sweetness a tad . Peaches didnt give off the sweet taste that I thought . Apricot helped and I kegged . It was too dry so I ended up back sweeting it . Turned out really good . If I were to do it again I'd probably use peach pure extract.
 
You could add them to your "primary" fermenter.
Do so while fermentation is still ongoing somewhat to replace the air, that got into the headspace while tinkering, with (mostly) CO2.

But if you want to rack, go for it!
Try to do so without introducing a lot of air into your beer. No gurgling, no splashing, no huge headspace left. Leaving one inch under the bung is the general guide. Due to their wide aspect, buckets used as secondaries are typically out.
Rehearse the racking process with a bucket of water to get the hang of it, while ironing out any potential snafus.

Since fruit tends to float at first, you may have to swirl the fermenter once a day to keep the fruit coated/doused with beer. That prevents nasties growing on top of it.
 
Oh I'm sorry I missed the dry hop part. Usually I dont do secondary. The only time is when racking over fruit. I dry hop 3-5 days before kegging.
 
Oh I'm sorry I missed the dry hop part. Usually I dont do secondary. The only time is when racking over fruit. I dry hop 3-5 days before kegging.

So you’re saying you do rack to a secondary over fruit? Then dry hop on that?
 
As others will say just add fruit to primary. I'll try it on my next fruit beer. I was adamant on doing secondaries when I first started because the one who taught me was old school . I held on to it stubbornly for a while . Brewers here are the ones who got me to stay away from it and I've had excellent results . My advise is try different ways and see what you like .
 
Seems similar yea. Still no mention of the dry hopping part. Maybe I’ll just throw everything in the primary. it just feels weird putting the fruit in with the trub- just seems gross. Feel like if you racked onto fruit in a secondary you’d get a more pure fruit flavor?
Of course you can dry hop after your fruit addition, whether the fruit was done in primary or secondary. 3-5 days before packaging is all dry hops need. A little agitation (swirling) helps with extraction. Just leave the lid/cap/stopper on the fermenter unless you can flush the headspace with CO2 afterward.

Now since the flavor and aroma from fruit additions can be rather subtle, not sure why you'd want to dry hop on top of that? One is going to prevail over the other unless you know how to strike a good balance.
 
Of course you can dry hop after your fruit addition, whether the fruit was done in primary or secondary. 3-5 days before packaging is all dry hops need. A little agitation (swirling) helps with extraction. Just leave the lid/cap/stopper on the fermenter unless you can flush the headspace with CO2 afterward.

Now since the flavor and aroma from fruit additions can be rather subtle, not sure why you'd want to dry hop on top of that? One is going to prevail over the other unless you know how to strike a good balance.

Right, I was wondering about that... the recipe calls for dry hopping with 2oz of 2 different types of hops and I was nervous to stray from that with the thought the beer won’t end up as good tasting. I didn’t realize until after I bought the kit, honestly. Maybe I’ll just use 1oz instead so it’s not too overpowering and some peach flavor gets through.
 
New thought- what about adding the fruit to the primary, then rack about 1/2 of it to a secondary and dry hop that and see how each tastes?
 
New thought- what about adding the fruit to the primary, then rack about 1/2 of it to a secondary and dry hop that and see how each tastes?
Leaving huge headspaces is not good, increasing oxidation and infection risks.

What variety are the dry hops?
Link to the recipe?
 
You can but you need smaller vessels. Something around 2-1/2 gallon, which is an odd size I think. You could use a few single gallons. I use the glass Carlo Rossi wine bottles. They are like a mini glass carboy. I personally like doing stuff like this. I use 5gals +1gal x 5 from a 10 gal brew just to dry different dry hops, flavor additions, additives like lactose or maltodextrin for body type things. I don’t secondary that way. I split from the kettle. I say go for it. It’s a way of getting more options for you to weed out faster. Otherwise you’d have to wait to do another batch of the same thing to try the other option.
 
I’m not the OP but I’ve been eyeing this recipe myself. Why would he/I need to add 2 row. Why do you say you can not steep the oats? Still easing into mashing.
 
So what is the best way to add safely add the fruit? I’m using frozen fruit from a bag should I put it in sterilizing solution or just drop that **** in?
 
So what is the best way to add safely add the fruit? I’m using frozen fruit from a bag should I put it in sterilizing solution or just drop that **** in?

I've dropped mine in multiple times and had no issues. I have pureed also but tend to just drop em.
 
I’m not the OP but I’ve been eyeing this recipe myself. Why would he/I need to add 2 row. Why do you say you can not steep the oats? Still easing into mashing.
You can’t steep the oats alone since they have such low (malted oat) or no (flaked grains) enzymatic power meaning you will only extract starches(no fermentable sugars)and large protein chains, both of which will drop out during fermentation and contribute very little to the beer. That’s why @IslandLizard is suggesting steeping 2row or Pilsner with it because they both have good enzymatic power and their enzymes will convert the starches of the oats into simple sugars that your yeast can eat.
 
I’m using frozen fruit from a bag should I put it in sterilizing solution or just drop that **** in?
We don't sterilize anything in brewing unless you have access to an autoclave. We sanitize the heck out of everything though! But don't Starsan mushy or cut up fruit.
I have pureed also but tend to just drop em.
They can be pureed in the freezer bag by going through several (2-5 depending on the fruit and its ripeness*) defrost, smack, refreezing cycles, without opening the bag even once.
It's fun! Until the bag bursts... So easy on the smacking and the rolling pin. I think the smacking speeds up the pureeing process.

* Sadly, Dole stone fruit tends to be frozen in an unripe state, not doing flavor any favors. Peaches, apricots, especially.
Berries in general are OK. They also mush faster when freezing.
 
To follow up my brew has now been fermenting for a week and my frozen peaches have been thawed and smashed up a bit. They’re back in the freezer now. Question is- when is the best time to add them to the fermenter? I have 4 lbs of peaches/ 5 gallon batch. I’m looking for a decent amount of peach flavor and I’ve read that adding them around week 1 or 2 and letting them sit for a few days, then bottling, is the best technique... any thoughts?
 
I’m looking for a decent amount of peach flavor and I’ve read that adding them around week 1 or 2 and letting them sit for a few days, then bottling, is the best technique... any thoughts?

Whenever you add them, you need to make sure all the sugars from the peaches have fermented out before you bottle. Or risk gushers (or worse).
 
You can’t steep the oats alone since they have such low (malted oat) or no (flaked grains) enzymatic power meaning you will only extract starches(no fermentable sugars)and large protein chains, both of which will drop out during fermentation and contribute very little to the beer.

Malted Oats have enough DP to self convert, and people have done experimental beers with 100% malted oats. Here's one...
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2011.tb00487.x
I also know a local pro who did a 100% oat malt beer a couple years ago. It wasn't awesome from what he told me.
 
Malted Oats have enough DP to self convert, and people have done experimental beers with 100% malted oats. Here's one...
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2011.tb00487.x
I also know a local pro who did a 100% oat malt beer a couple years ago. It wasn't awesome from what he told me.
I know malted oat has some ability since they are able to germinate in the malting process but I was under the impression that it’s low in comparison to other malted grains and efficiency is lowered. In my Oat cream ipas where I used close to 40% malted oats, my efficiency drops by 8-12%. I always figured that was the reason
 
I know malted oat has some ability since they are able to germinate in the malting process but I was under the impression that it’s low in comparison to other malted grains and efficiency is lowered. In my Oat cream ipas where I used close to 40% malted oats, my efficiency drops by 8-12%. I always figured that was the reason

Malted Oats actually have, IIRC, about 10% less starches by weight than malted barley. So unless you or your software accounted for that (i.e. with appropriately lower PPG), that would certainly look like some drop in efficiency just from that.

ETA: I meant to mention...in that linked study, they did iodine test for starches after mashing and they were negative.
 
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To follow up my brew has now been fermenting for a week and my frozen peaches have been thawed and smashed up a bit. They’re back in the freezer now. Question is- when is the best time to add them to the fermenter? I have 4 lbs of peaches/ 5 gallon batch. I’m looking for a decent amount of peach flavor and I’ve read that adding them around week 1 or 2 and letting them sit for a few days, then bottling, is the best technique... any thoughts?

I leave my fruit in for a week. As Vikeman said you need to be sure it's done fermenting before you bottle.
 
Update- brew has been in fermenter for 13 days. Added peaches/dry hopped 2 days ago. Letting it sit for about a week making sure it is done fermenting. I forgot to weigh the peaches down but I’m not going to open it up again to do that cause I’ve read fruit can sit at the top without molding for a while. More updates soon!
 
I forgot to weigh the peaches down but I’m not going to open it up again to do that cause I’ve read fruit can sit at the top without molding for a while.

I've never weighed down the fruit (in beer anyway), an have not had any issues. (YMMV?)
 
Sorry to say, but I do not believe you’ll be able to detect the peach at all at a rate of less than 1lb per gallon. I just aged a very light sour on peaches, 4 lbs for 4 gallons, for 2 weeks and...nothing. It’s a very light flavor, so it probably won’t be detectable alongside the other prominent flavors of your beer. I’ve read that apricots will give you more peach flavor than peach ever will, so I’ll try that next time.

Dan
 
I've never weighed down the fruit (in beer anyway), an have not had any issues. (YMMV?)

have you had success with peaches adding flavor? If so in what form were the peaches added and how much? Just wanna know if all this is worth the effort cause according to the dude above it’s not...
 
have you had success with peaches adding flavor? If so in what form were the peaches added and how much? Just wanna know if all this is worth the effort cause according to the dude above it’s not...
Peaches are fine to use. I make a milkshake ipa with them. It’s a delicate flavor so you need to add like 1.5-2.0 lb/ gallon. Just get more or if you’re lucky enough that your supermarket has some form of apricots, even dried can work
 
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Yeah, the apricot advice seems to be a good way to go, IMO. Not trying to rain on your parade! I just wanted to pass along my experience so you had a chance to alter your recipe should you want to.

Dan
 
Another thing to consider is to add a touch of honey malt to counter the tartness of fruit. Since fruit is a simple sugar it will ferment completely out leaving some characteristic but also very tart. Honey malt has a perceived c-malt sweetness the balances the tart very well.

I've used apricot puree in a blonde a couple of times. The first I just added the puree and nothing else. It was very tart almost sour. The second time I added 6 oz of honey malt and it balanced it perfectly.

IMO honey malt is very strong and I wouldn't go over 8oz in a fruit beer (per 5 gallons).
 
I had to add 1 # of apricot to my peach ale , but I did use less peaches then I should have . 1 # of apricot took over slightly of 3 # of peaches .

Looking back I think it was 2# apricot. I'm terrible at keeping notes sometimes
 
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Damn seems like the apricot thing is legit. Lotta people doin that. My peaches have been sitting in the fermenter for about 3 days. Would it be weird to add apricot now? I know it’ll just add more time to the fermentation but that shouldn’t be a big deal...?
 
So the 4lbs of peaches have been sitting in the fermenter for about 5 days and I’m still seeing bubbling?? How long does it normally take for fermentation to stop with this?
 
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