What beer style do you think would do well with a plum addition?

[Sleepy_D]

I have access to plums and was wondering what beer I should use them in. My thoughts were Belgian dubbel and Berliner. What do you think? Also I know little about plums, are only certain varieties good for brewing?

 

[lumpher]

You could do a Porter or Stout, but I you won't get much flavor from the plums. Most recipes with plum additions use plum essence for flavor. Damson plums are what is usually used in the US, but only because they're the most common. Mirabelle, Victoria, and Methley (what I have) are also good. As far as used for brewing, as long as they're ripe and taste good they should be ok.

 

[wsmith1625]

Plum Kolsch

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Gose

 

[Wrendelar]

Kettle Sour or a Wheat Ale

 

[Brewer dad]

A local spot here does a nice sour with plums. But the Berliner or dubbel both sound good. Maybe caramelize them before adding to dubbel?

 

[GoodTruble]

I made a Scottish Ale with cherries last year that was excellent. I could see plums working as well.

Edit: Wait, I confused plums with prunes. Ignore me, I'm clearly an idiot.

 

[AlexKay]

My guess is that the plum taste isn’t going to make it through fermentation. With that in mind, maybe use them in place of grapes in what would otherwise be an Italian Grape Ale?

 

[BrewZer]

Lambic, but only if you're willing to wait a L-O-N-G time.

 

[beren]

Cider?

 

[homebrudoc]

I made a Scottish Ale with cherries last year that was excellent. I could see plums working as well.

Edit: Wait, I confused plums with prunes. Ignore me, I'm clearly an idiot.

Ummmm.......prunes are dried plums.
homebrudoc

 

[shetc]

Here's a Brulosophy experiment in which plums were used. Aside from the actual experiment, the resultant beers apparently taste of plums.

https://brulosophy.com/2020/10/05/f...elgian-dubble-with-plums-exbeeriment-results/

 

[GoodTruble]

@homebrudoc And yet different names and flavors.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use Damsons in gin by just adding them with sugar to a bottle of gin. The damsons need to be pricked before putting in the gin. I use 150g of damsons for 75cl Bottle. I would suggest adding raw damsons (which might need sanitising in boiling water or starsan first) to the secondary fermenter.

 

[Protos]

You'll have very little Plume flavour left after the fermentation so the base style must be fairly plain and light to not overpower the subtle fruit flavour that remains.
I make my fruit beers on American Blonde or, preferrably, American Wheat Ale base no higher than 4.5%ABV. I found that Wiheat complements fruit tartness (which you'll have plenty after the fruit sugar is fermented out) very well, the fruit comes forward better than with a pure Barley grist.
That's why a Berliner Weiss is a good idea too. Belgian Dubbel, I won't suggest it. The plum will be totally lost behind the mighty malt, leaving nothing but increased tartness.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You'll have very little Plume flavour left after the fermentation so the base style must be fairly plain and light to not overpower the subtle fruit flavour that remains.

That depends on your plums. One of the cult beers in Britain that has spawned a host of imitations is Titanic's Plum Porter, and you can certainly taste the plums in that although it's widely suspected that they're using some kind of essence to boost it. And it works better in a British style where it's not being overwhelmed by too much ABV or CO2, it's better on cask. But it's now very common for British breweries to add some kind of dark fruit to their porters, whether it's damsons or whatever, and as CC hints we have a long tradition of making sloe/damson gin etc.