Fruit Beer

[Gigantorus]

Recently did my first Hibiscus Ale using Rosella fruit from our bushes. Rosella's are part of the Hibiscus family. We generally grow them to make jam.

But this year I put some aside and pureed it and did up a real light ale using pilsner, vienna & a little carapils malts and threw 640grams of pureed fruit in at flameout. I also added a squeeze of honey to balance the tartness of the rosella. I used 10grams of Magnum just to add a small amount of bitterness. The rosella fruit add an amazing colour to the beer.

The result has been pretty good. A light ale that lets the rosella shine through. To some it has a cider like experience, others say is a very light sour style. Anyway I can now cross this one off my list.

Pics attached
.

 

[Gigantorus]

Recently did my first Hibiscus Ale using Rosella fruit from our bushes. Rosella's are part of the Hibiscus family. We generally grow them to make jam.

But this year I put some aside and pureed it and did up a real light ale using pilsner, vienna & a little carapils malts and threw 640grams of pureed fruit in at flameout. I also added a squeeze of honey to balance the tartness of the rosella. I used 10grams of Magnum just to add a small amount of bitterness. The rosella fruit add an amazing colour to the beer.

The result has been pretty good. A light ale that lets the rosella shine through. To some it has a cider like experience, others say is a very light sour style. Anyway I can now cross this one off my list.

Pics attached
.

Had a couple more bottles across the weekend and this brew doesn't taste too bad. If you like your sours really light then this is for you Attached is the recipe I created for this. Note: Couldn't find Rosella in the fruit listing - so had to use Cherry.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[The Flyingscrapyard]

Interesting choice of fruit. Mum would make Rosella jam when we were kids, but I can't remember the taste now. She also cooked up a lot of rhubarb, and occasional prickly pear fruit to make jam as well. Possible options for a beer if looking for ideas.
I've been thinking for a while of doing a fruit beer, but never attempted. I like nectarines, so this would be where I am looking to start.
Any ideas will be welcome.

 

[Gigantorus]

Hi Fly,

I've used ruby grapefruit, tangelo, orange, lemon & lime (pulp, zest & juice) in brews in the past with good success. So wasn't worried about using rosellas. Only issue is that when adding fruit you really need to drink the brew young, as the flavour/aroma can really drop off quite quickly.

I had wanted to see how they go in a brew for a few years now but never had enough left after doing the jam, and having put in 4 trees this year there was plenty of surplus fruit to do it with. Next year I'll use them in an IPA - I reckon high IBU's will counter the sour/tartness of rosellas well.

I've always added the fruit either very late in the boil (10mins to go or less) or at Flameout. From my research it's not good to boil fruit too long, as you will loose a lot of flavour and colour. I am yet to use fruit as an addition after fermentation. My preference is now as a Flameout addition, as I can then start chilling the wort and not allow the fruit to stay at 100C for too long. I then strain the wort into my fermenter, which leaves a much cleaner end product. I also use a whole whirlfloc tablet at 10mins to go, which also helps with clarity.

My next fruit brew will be a grapefruit IPA - plan to do add 2 x 2litres bottles of pure 100% fresh grapefruit juice at flameout.

Have a look at these articles of brewing with fruit from the USA. They are very informative.

Cheers,

Pete



https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/style-of-the-month-fruit-beer/



https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/how-to-add-fruit-to-beer/



https://byo.com/bock/item/319-brewing-with-fruit-techniques

 

[Gigantorus]

Attached are pics of my (1) Orange & Lemon Pale Ale on the day of bottling, and (2) my Tangelo Pale Ale on the first day of drinking. The tangelo was the best of these 2.

 

[Gigantorus]

Change of plan. Next brew will be either a Blood Orange Pale Ale or Blood Orange IPA (just not sure how early the Magnum hops will go in).

I've been chasing 100% blood orange juice for some time (out of season in Australia right now) and have finally found a supplier in Melbourne (Red Zest) albeit juice from overseas.

But will drop 3 Litres of the juice in at flameout into a nice pale ale brew. Recipe attached.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[Bonenose]

Hi,

I get heaps of limes off my trees when in season after reading this was thinking I may have to try a brew with them. Do you treat the fruit in any way before adding?

Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have read before to add zest, this may help.
https://byo.com/hops/item/1589-what-is-the-best-way-to-add-a-citrus-fruit-flavor-to-your-beer

 

[Gigantorus]

Hi,

I get heaps of limes off my trees when in season after reading this was thinking I may have to try a brew with them. Do you treat the fruit in any way before adding?

Cheers

Depends at what point you use the fruit. Generally I add just before flameout or just after flameout, which sterilises the fruit (zest, pulp or juice).

 

[Gigantorus]

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/fruit-beer-tips-from-dry-dock-brewing/

 

[Bonenose]

Thanks, just saw the other links too was on the phone before trying to read without glasses on, will check them out.

 

[Gigantorus]

In the beginning I only used zest of about 2 or 3 oranges/grapefruit 10mins before flameout. This was fine but the taste was minimal and disappeared within 3 weeks of bottling.

I also tried using a tincture. This is where you soak the citrus zest in a clear spirit like vodka for 3 to 7 days, which kills the bugs and sterilises the zest. The vodka liquid then carries the flavour and some aroma of the citrus, which you add to the fermenter 2 days before kegging/bottling. But sadly the vodka gave the brew an ugly harsh alcoholic flavour which I wasn't impressed with. I did a Corona type lager and had hoped to add the lemon/lime flavour in the tincture to save putting a wedge of lemon/lime on the beer when drinking it.

Then I tried zest and flesh of 3 or 4 fruit 10mins before flameout and this was slightly better in both aroma and taste.

Then I thought what the hell I'll use the juice as well as the zest and flesh of 5 or 6 fruit, which worked the best. But aroma and taste dropped off again after 4 weeks in the bottle.

Then a while later I just tried juice, and large quantities of it (i.e. 2litres) around flameout - 5mins before or just after flameout - neither seemed to make much difference. But then I read an article suggesting that the shorter you can expose the fruit (juice/zest/flesh) to high temps the better. So I added after flameout when the wort temp is between 90C and 80C - this still pasteurises the fruit and kills any unwanted bacteria etc. but doesn't kill as much flavour in the fruit.

So now I tend to use fresh squeezed juice (where I can) and drop it in just after flameout, as this gives me the best results. Obviously the more juice you use the more cloudy the beer with be. The brew will also have a stickiness to it as well - so the clean-up needs to be done well on your brew equipment.

These are my learnings.

My blood orange juice arrived today (pic attached) and I'm now looking forward to making the Blood Orange XPA this weekend. Yeah I decided to go with something between a Pale Ale and IPA. Specs will be something like: 5.5% ABV and 37 IBUs.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[captain crumpet]

Why dont you add that juice at high krausen especially if it has already been pasteurized? Adding fruit on the hot side will diminish flavour impact.

 

[captain crumpet]

How much vodka did you use to make your tincture?

 

[Gigantorus]

Capt,

I don't believe it's pasturised - so don't want to take chances. Yes adding it at the hot stage will diminish the flavour - that's what I said in my comments above. But I don't want an infection and waste everything.

Re vodka. Just enough to cover the zest.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[captain crumpet]

Seems strange you would get funny flavours from that much vodka. Never personally found spirits to adversely affect my brews. I use rectified polish vodka with my tinctures, the 95% stuff.

With the juice, am i wrong to say if it had bugs that could infect the brew wouldn't that be the same for the container it is purchased in?

 

[Gigantorus]

Maybe that was why, as I only used the common vodka which was around 40%. I do recall seeing a comment saying use the highest possible ABV% you can find. But as I only needed 100ml I just bought a little bottle of Smirnoff or something like that. Also maybe because it was a really light lager the flavours came through so much more?

When I say bugs I meant bacterias the juice either had naturally or collected along the packaging equipment. Also could be other particles in the packaging. So I'll strain the juice before adding it to the wort.

 

[captain crumpet]

I don't think you quite get what i am saying, either that or the homebrew paranoia has sunken too deep. Do you also ferment with a lid?

If the juice has bacteria/bugs/yeast, why has it not fermented out already in its juice box, before you add it? Why does your juice not taste like an infected cess pool?
Putting it through a strainer will also add a significant amount of oxygen.

You have more chance of infection from a drifting fart than you do that juice. My .02c anyway.

 

[wobbly]

On the subject of tinctures to infuse falvour have you tried the process called "Nitrogen Cavitation" If interested check out this topic and a couple of links contained therein:-

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/nitrogen-cavitation.93443/

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[Gigantorus]

I don't think you quite get what i am saying, either that or the homebrew paranoia has sunken too deep. Do you also ferment with a lid?

If the juice has bacteria/bugs/yeast, why has it not fermented out already in its juice box, before you add it? Why does your juice not taste like an infected cess pool?
Putting it through a strainer will also add a significant amount of oxygen.

You have more chance of infection from a drifting fart than you do that juice. My .02c anyway.

Capt,

No, I'm not getting what you are saying. Also no need to be rude either. Let me clarify again for you.

Yes, I ferment with a lid and an airlock. If that is your question, then ask that question in plain English.

If the juice is simply pressed out of the fruit and then packaged, how could it have fermented out? It's 100% pure unprocessed juice. What I'm told from the juice supplier/importer is that in the packaging process all air/oxygen is removed but the Tetra pack product is not necessarily pasteurised. Hence my want to add the juice at flameout to pasteurise it to kill unwanted bacteria/yeast etc. The last thing I'd want is wild yeast getting in.

The straining is to ensure there are no foreign bodies etc. loose in the liquid. I have a mate who has worked in the food processing industry for many years and is always telling me about the weird things that are found in packaged food containers.

You may feel my method a little cautious - but I'd rather take these extra steps to ensure no infection and a waste of money. Yes I know some brewers say things like "just chuck in the juice/zest 3 days before bottling unpasteurised" etc. - and good luck to these folks. But I'd rather take a few more steps to ensure a better brew.

Finally, my methods in brewing with fruit have primarily been derived from the various readings of experienced commercial brewers who use fruit in brewing. If you chose not to follow these methods, then good luck to you - that's your choice.

Regards,
Pete