Fruit Beer Summers End Peach Wheat

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drevilz4l

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2007
Messages
74
Reaction score
0
Location
New York
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
White Labs #WLP011
Yeast Starter
None
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.046
Final Gravity
1.005
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
15.5
Color
4.9 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7 Days 70 Degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 Days 66 Degrees
Tasting Notes
Currently in Secondary.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.0 %

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Fruit - Peach (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 26.1 %
4.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 34.8 %
4.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 34.8 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.3 %
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (60 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
0.45 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (30 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
1 Pkgs European Ale (White Labs #WLP011) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 8.50 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Step Add 10.63 qt of water at 170.6 F 155.0 F 60 min

Drain Mash Tun
Sparge Add 2.5 gal of water at 168 F 10 min
Sparge Add 2.5 gal of water at 168 F 10 min

Boil Notes:
----------------------------
Add .5 Oz of Hallertauer hops at start of boil
Add .45 Oz of Hallertauer hops at 30 Minutes

Other Notes:
---------------------------
Peaches are to be added to the secondary fermenter. I pitted, and skinned the peaches and froze them for a day before adding them to the secondary. I then racked the beer on top of them.
 
I've read a lot about using peach to flavor beers... It doesn't have a super lot of flavor, and I think it's Randy Mosher that recommends having some apricot extract on hand at bottling/kegging, just to subtly augment the peach flavor with a similar flavor.
 
I've read a lot about using peach to flavor beers... It doesn't have a super lot of flavor, and I think it's Randy Mosher that recommends having some apricot extract on hand at bottling/kegging, just to subtly augment the peach flavor with a similar flavor.

Not a bad Idea. When it gets close to bottling time ill have to sample it and see how its coming along. If not I'll give that a shot.
 
I finally tried a bottle of this. It came out very very good. It has a really clean taste which allows the peach flavor to come thru. Nice citrus like flavor. A good summer beer.
 
I'm looking to make a Blackberry Wheat and this seems like it might be a good recipe to work from. Do you think I could just swap the 3# of peach for blackberry?

My one concern is sanitizing. I was thinking I'd have to boil the fruit at least briefly, but it sounds like you didn't do anything of that sort. Why the freezing?

(I was also going to puree the berries for greater surface area and smaller pieces to make clogging less likely -- the Blackberry Barleywine blew its top even with a blow-off, though in that case the fruit was in the primary.)
 
So the peach flavor really came through well? In Daniels's Designing Great Beers he says peach has a really subtle flavor so you have to use a lot of it - somewhere around 2# per gallon, so I was surprised to see the "small" amount you used.

I was planning on making a similar beer this weekend, using the exact same strategy with the peaches. Mine will be 5.5 gal with an OG around 1.052 so I could see it taking/needing more peach flavor, but I was planning on using somewhere between 7-10# of peaches. Thoughts?
 
I made a very similar recipe to this last summer with 5lbs. of skinned, pitted, and chunked peaches. I used a full lb. of honey malt and it seemed to be plenty peachy to me. SWMBO has been hinting that it's time to make some more.
 
So the peach flavor really came through well? In Daniels's Designing Great Beers he says peach has a really subtle flavor so you have to use a lot of it - somewhere around 2# per gallon, so I was surprised to see the "small" amount you used.

I was planning on making a similar beer this weekend, using the exact same strategy with the peaches. Mine will be 5.5 gal with an OG around 1.052 so I could see it taking/needing more peach flavor, but I was planning on using somewhere between 7-10# of peaches. Thoughts?

It didn't really have a huge peach flavor but its was enough to give it nice citrus like flavor. The beer had a really clean feel to it.
 
I've now bottled my peach wheat - I used 5.5# in 5.5 gallons. It fermented for about a week, then I racked off the peaches for a couple days, then bottled. The peaches added a CONSIDERABLE amount of acidity. Was not expecting that at all... still, it has a lot of potential. The peach comes through strong in the aroma.

When I brewed this beer, I drank some of Dogfish's Festina Peach, and now I suspect this beer will turn out similarly.
 
I just found a bottle of this in my closet when I was cleaning. The peach flavor actually got stronger after a year. Very tangy.
 
As summer ends I've been drinking my peach wheat. It's been an intriguing addition to the usual beers around here. Ultimately
the peach flav and aroma were great but it was lacking in body and sweetness. Both of these could have added some extra perception to the beer. I recommend some crystal, some flaked/torrified wheat, some carapils. All would help with body. Nice beer though.
 
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