Style Of The Week 10/12/08 - Fruit Beers

[bconnery]

sort of OT, but what is a kolsch and what commercial examples could i try - dan murpheys is down the road so semi decent selection to choose from

back on topic
i did a double batch of wheat beer and split it to experiment with fruit, added about 1.2kg raspberries into a secondary fermenter with 20l
just tasting out of the fermenter it is quite tart but has a nice subtle raspberry background. did i add too much berrys for the tartness or should i have brewed a higher fg beer to combat it or is that the taste i was supposed to get FG is 1010 and hasnt moved for a few days

The amount of berrys is a personal taste. I like the tartness, so it sounds like your beer would be what I aim for when I make them.
You generally expect some tartness from a rasberry beer.
I suppose you could try increasing the final gravity to combat the tartness and the little bit of extra fermentation you'll generally get, I've just never tried it myself, because I wouldn't want that, so I can't speak from experience.

OT
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=13334
Lot's of info in the style of the week thread.
A light coloured german ale, but with lager elements.
Not sure you'll find any in Dan Murphy's, you probably need a specialty beer store or a german club
Examples I have purchased in Australia are:
Sunner Klsch
Hunter Beer Co Klsch
Wig and Pen Kemberry Regional Ale
Red Duck Overland Bright Ale
Reisdorf Klsch

 

[zoidbergmerc]

I just made a raspberry beer and It's amazing.

It was just a cheap wheat beer kit with some BE1 and 30g of sazz Hops, then I racked off 10L and added 1 kg of frozen raspberries and bottled after 5 days in the secondary.

The beer just tasted like raspberries, but instead of the tart\bitter flavour at the end it's replaced with a smooth wheat beer flavour.

I'd reccomend making a cage to put around your tap on the inside of the fermenter to stop the raspberries getting in the tap.

The left over raspberries I made into a pie.

 

[vykuza]

I started another thread about adding pink grapefruit to a wit to get close to a strange (yet delicious) beer the Mrs was keen on.

Would I be better off adding the citrus juice to the boil or the fermenter (secondary?) to maximise the flavour from the juice? Will it not end up a bitter mess? Though I don't remember it being particularly sweet, would I need to backsweeten a little to cut the acidity?

 

[HoppingMad]

In a moment of madness I decided to create an AG watermelon and honey dew melon wheat beer. :blink:

Bottled now and awaiting carbonation so time will tell on this one.

Here's the recipe but currently I would recommend anyone mad enough to try such a venture to ease off on the amount of fruit unlike me - mine currently tastes very melony - more like a fruit punch than a beer at present. Would have preferred more balance or more beer flavour. Tastes like a girly beer at the moment - a bit like a melon barcardi breezer! But was an interesting experiment.

_______________________

Watermelon Beer (19L batch)

2.72 kg Pale Malt
1.81 kg Wheat Malt
20g Hallertau MF 4.7%

1.8kg Honey Dew Melon (one whole fruit was used)
4.2kg Watermelon (two thirds of a large watermelon)

Mash: 66.7oC for 1 hr. 90 min boil.
SG 1050
FG 1008

Yeast - US-05 for neutral flavour to allow fruit flavour to be dominant.

Fermentation process Primary:
Ferment beer as usual for primary without fruit addition. FG 1012 /US-05 yeast at 19 degrees

Fermentation process Secondary:

Cut fruit into chunks and freeze in ziplock bags in preparation. Thaw out in time for secondary. Mash chunks to pulp in a pot and heat to 80 degrees to pasteurise. Hold for one minute at 80 degrees then shut off flame. Allow pot to sit warm for 5-10 mins before attempting any cooling. Avoid higher temps or boiling as too much heat for too long will create 'stewed flavours'. Found melon lost some sweetness under heat application so added 8 tablespoons of cane sugar and stirred in. Cooled pulp then placed in secondary fermenter in a strainer bag. Squeezed some juice through bag, and left some solids in bag tied in the bottom of vessel. Racked primary fermented beer onto fruit in secondary drum. Fermentation re-started, like crazy. Was some gush out of airlock but not heaps. Use a blowoff tube if cleanliness is an issue. My secondary ferment was completed much faster than the first so expect secondary to be vigorous if trying.

Brewer's notes: Finished beer is very red! Reckon a different fruit like a stone fruit using a similar process could be quite interesting also. But with a way smaller fruit amount. Unsure if pasteurisation step is really necessary as freezing may kill off bacteria. Had read on US recipes for watermelon wheat that some had reported beer spoiling in a short time due to the fruit's instability so had opted to pasteurise. Time will tell.

 

[Stuster]

I started another thread about adding pink grapefruit to a wit to get close to a strange (yet delicious) beer the Mrs was keen on.

Would I be better off adding the citrus juice to the boil or the fermenter (secondary?) to maximise the flavour from the juice? Will it not end up a bitter mess? Though I don't remember it being particularly sweet, would I need to backsweeten a little to cut the acidity?

I've never used citrus, but since nobody else has answered....

I'd say to add it to the secondary. If you add it earlier, you'll lose more of the aromatics but still have any sourness it adds. With the acidity issue, I guess it depends on how sweet you want it and how you package. Do you want it sweet? Do you bottle?

 

[bconnery]

I started another thread about adding pink grapefruit to a wit to get close to a strange (yet delicious) beer the Mrs was keen on.

Would I be better off adding the citrus juice to the boil or the fermenter (secondary?) to maximise the flavour from the juice? Will it not end up a bitter mess? Though I don't remember it being particularly sweet, would I need to backsweeten a little to cut the acidity?

I make a beer with a variety of sour citrus. I tend to boil mine but as part of some caramelization of a portion of the wort.
I've also added some right at flameout.

When to add it depends a little on the amounts you want to use too. I think with juice a little less flavour is lost to fermentation, but I don't have any hard data on this, just a feeling.
I'd start by adding to secondary and see how you go.

As to whether it is going to be bitter, and whether to backsweeten, that depends on what you want.
I like my fruit beers tart so I don't.
Given that a wit is not particularly bitter to begin with I don't think you need to backsweeten but that's just me.

If you are doing secondary anyway you could draw off a portion of the beer and add grapefuit juice in measured amounts to a series of samples, determine how much you like, then scale it up to the volume of your batch. This would also allow you to see if you wanted to sweeten.
I'm a chuck it in and see how it goes kind of guy, but the method above might be a good way of getting close to what you want.

 

[vykuza]

Thanks guys, it looks like I'll drag out my extra fermenter and do a secondary for this one. From memory, the beer I'm trying to emulate wasn't particularly sweet, so I'll just mash high and not bother with back sweetening.

 

[winkle]

After having a talk with some pinoys the other day, using tamarind in a beer came up.
(I have the ability to discuss one subject only in conversations these days apparently).
This is what I'm thinking of.

Sampaloc Bruin
Oud Bruin (sort of)
20 litre post boil

3.6kg BB Pale,
60gm Medium Crystal/Carafa 2
30gm saaz 60 min
15gm hallertau 10 min

1 litre Tamarind juice (Tamarind pulp converted to syrup) used in secondary* for two weeks.

I'm not totally convinced on this qty - I'll play around with some pulp and extracts over the next week or two. :icon_cheers:

 

[rheiny]

I started another thread about adding pink grapefruit to a wit to get close to a strange (yet delicious) beer the Mrs was keen on.

Would I be better off adding the citrus juice to the boil or the fermenter (secondary?) to maximise the flavour from the juice? Will it not end up a bitter mess? Though I don't remember it being particularly sweet, would I need to backsweeten a little to cut the acidity?

I made a lime 'radler' last year that worked out as agreat lawnmower beer. Just added juice from 3 limes cut up the rind and added that to the fermenter with a Coopers cerveza kit and brew enhancer (I know it's not all grain but we have to start somewhere). It added a nice bit lime tartness to it but more refreshing than bitter. I didn't boil the fruit it all went straight into the primary.
Ifinished a similar one with lemon about 2 weeks ago. Just waiting for the secondary in the bottle to carbonate before trying it. It was allright staright out the fermentor though.

 

[winkle]

I've brewed a batch of a 35% wheat, 65% Pils ale thats had 1 kg of acerola 'cherries' sitting in secondary for a week, fermented with Wyeast 3724 (Belgian Saison).
The question is - do I filter or simply intercept the fruit bits using a sanitised stocking whilst kegging?
Dunno if I can really bring myself to filter a saison :unsure:

 

[sponge]

Just a quickie.


(the only thing im good for...)


Do people have problems kegging/bottling from secondary once the fruit has gone in?

I would imagine that the fruit may possibly get stirred up a little from transfering to the keg, even after CCing, similarly to hop flowers?


Sponge

 

[winkle]

Depends on the fruit really. The acerolas I was talking about float (mostly) and usually retain thier shape so no real problem, I brew a witbier using guavas and once thawed I stuff them into a stocking then dump them in. Watermelon, strawberries and the like - I guess would settle out with the yeast and could be racked off (haven't done one as yet though - more experienced fruit brewers like Ben may be more informative).
I've ended up just straining out the small fruit bits, everyone can learn to like slightly hazy beer at Christmas B)

 

[manticle]

When I add fruit or other solids to beer (like cacao nibs) I usually use either a sanitised stocking or a minimash grain bag so i can avoid the bits.

Too late now but if they either float or sink, I would have thought racking would be a good way to reduce the solids.

 

[sponge]

I've got a few mates asking for a fruit beer for a party coming up in a months time so I was looking at doing a simple weizen base, 50/50 wheat/pils, 17IBU and 1.040 with wyeast 3068.

I was thinking of 1.040 just because the fruit would probably add a little extra in terms of fermentables and would rather start off a little under gravity to compensate.

Now I was originally tossing up between racking onto either mango or blueberry, but after reading a few posts, will probably lean more towards blueberry and try and get a little extra banana out of the 3068 for a banana-blueberry type flavour.

I was always under the impression blueberry was quite subtle in a weizen though (similarly to the mango as suggested above?). I was originally going for 2kg/20L, but may bump that up to 4kg as helles did in another thread. I understand strawberries are in a similar boat, which only present a subtle strawberry flavour to the weizen, with raspberries being more suitable, although a little tart.

Last year I made a mixed berry saison, but turned out far too dry for my likings with it finishing around 1.003.

I am mainly wondering if I should be leaning more towards one fruit over another? I am thinking blueberry would possibly be best (keeping in mind that I am making this for the ladies and a few of my less masculine mates) as it would lend a nice flavour (and colour) without being too tart (unlike raspberries/cherries), with mango or strawberry being too subtle. I'd prefer a single fruit over a mix of fruits to really see what it brings to a beer by itself.

All comments/suggestions welcome.

 

[raven19]

Brew a bigger batch and split half onto each fruit?
If not agree, go the blueberry - the mango would be quite subtle and may not get you much in terms of flavour.

 

[sponge]

Yea I ended up (well, haven't racked onto fruit yet, but fermenting atm) deciding on blueberries. The mrs seemed to prefer the idea of blueberries over some of the other fruits so that made the decision a little easier still.

Should hopefully get around to racking onto the berries over the weekend, then leave it for another week or so.

I shall report back once kegged and taste tested.

 

[mckenry]

I was in Croatia last year and one of the classic sunshine, waterside beers was a grapefruit radler. This thread seems the most sensible one to post in, but there doesnt seem to be much info around. I was thinking of making a bland beer and adding 100% grapefruit juice to the keg until it tasted right, as I wasnt keen on fermenting the juice as Ive read about loss of flavour during ferment, extra fermentables to consider for ABV etc, but maybe theres a better way? Does anyone have info on making a beer like this? I'm happy to rack onto fruit if thats the best way. If so, how do you treat your grapefruit prior?
Thanks brothers,
mckenry

 

[O'Henry]

I'd probably put some grapefruit rind in, for the oils and punchy aromas. Not sure where though, whirlpool and secondary if needed? You thinking lager or ale?

 

[indica86]

Zest would be the go.
Much more flavour for you $$ that way.

 

[mckenry]

I'd probably put some grapefruit rind in, for the oils and punchy aromas. Not sure where though, whirlpool and secondary if needed? You thinking lager or ale?

Hey O'Henry ! I'm thinking lager, but would like to get away with an ale if I can.