Peaches in primary or secondary?

[printerroxx]

Hi all,

I am brewing a 5 gallon all grain batch of a peach beer. I have been reading as much as I can and I have found 2 different opinions of when to add the peaches: 1) once the fermentation settles down after a few days in primary and 2) rack on to the peaches in secondary.

I prepared fresh ripe peaches by blanching, peeling, and depitting, then freezing. I am planning on adding about 10 pounds to my 5 gallon batch, and maybe some apricots along with them.

My recipe:
7 lb pale malt
3 lb white wheat malt
0.5 lb carapils
0.5 lb biscuit
0.25 crystal 30L

OG should be around 1.058 according to brewers friend.

0.75oz Saaz (3.83% AA) hops at 60 mins (10 IBU)
0.5oz Saaz at 15 mins (3.5 IBU)

Using White labs burton ale yeast because its what I had.. and it seems to be a pretty neutral yeast.

Does anyone have any experience adding peaches either to primary or secondary and have any insight about the result? I heard that once the peaches are fermented the flavor can change a little but I don't know if that will happen more if theyre put in primary or not.

Thanks!!

 

[MindenMan]

The most common way IMHO, is to add the fruit in the secondary. If you add the fruit in the primary, the possibility of the aroma going out during primary fermentation is an issue. There is also an issue about clearing your beer. After primary fermentation is over, rack onto the fruit, and wait until fermentation is over, and rack into tertiary container to clear, and then rack into bottling bucket. Or, don't worry about perfectly clear beer, and bottle when secondary fermentation is over. Be aware at this point your beer will be very dry, and you may like it very dry, but the drier the beer the is, the flatter the flavor will be. At that point, Splenda, lactose, or some other sweetener that won't ferment out. I learned from experience that fruit beers develop flavor over time, and one must be patient before drinking, and /or overdosing from flavor additions. If you think the flavor from adding extract is still a little less than you want before bottling, in six months it will probably be perfect.

EDIT: many brewers say Mosaic hops produce a "peach" flavor. I would consider it first. Saaz hops are a "noble" hop and used primarily in European brews such as Pilsners and Lagers. Definitely not a good choice for a fruit beer

 

[printerroxx]

That was helpful, thanks! Have you ever added malic or some other type of acid before bottling/kegging? I hear it brings out the fruit flavor a little more. Does the nonfermentable sweetener you were suggesting replace the acid or do they give different results?
Also - is it possible for the beer to sit on the fruit too long? I was thinking of letting it go a couple weeks or so after the secondary fermentation from the fruit sugars finishes. I already took the pits out so I don't need to worry about that.