- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hey Paddlers,
I have never made a recipe that features any fruit additions, and I’m interested to know your tips for simple, but good fruit additions. I’m interested in making something for the summer along the lines of a raspberry berlinner weisse. How much raspberry do I add, in what form (i.e. frozen/thawed, fresh, pureed), and when/how long does it contact the beer?Thanks!
AaronAaron – I used to make this thing I called a Frambozen where I would add 3 or 4 pounds of either fresh raspberries or a raspberry puree to the secondary. I’d just use a huge nylon mesh bag with a bit of stainless steel wire and these huge stainless steel washers in the bag, to make sure it remained submerged in the bier. It usually turned out ok, however I’ve noticed (at least with raspberries), the final product seemed to end up drier than I preferrred. I think that was due to the fruit sugars fermenting out fairly completely and the fact that raspberries aren’t all that “sweet” to begin with.
Aaron:
A few years ago I experimented with a Mango Habanero IPA. Based on advice from Craft Beer and Brewing course on adding fruit, I used frozen mango chunks purchased from Costco. They recommended frozen because that helps insure that you will not introduce bacteria. Also recommended to not add fruit to the hot side (boil) because that will release pectins into the wort and it is difficult to clear up. They recommended adding it to the secondary fermenter. I put the chunks in a large nylon bag, I used 4 pounds in 5 gallons.
I have to say that I did not achieve the taste I was looking for. The Habanero effect was good but the mango seemed to mute the bitterness of the IPA. I am thinking of resurrecting that brew but this time using a Mango extract instead of the fruit itself.
Usually I take the whole frozen fruits as mentioned above. I have also worked with puree, where I take the whole fruits and blend them up, put them in a pot and pasteurize (145-160 F). This worked for blueberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, apples and plums. Then I put everything in a mesh bag to minimize the straining needed later, and then rack beer over the top of it (usually from primary, but sometimes straight from my plate chiller). Most of the fluids come out, so I pour the pot into the mesh bag over a ferm bucket and it drips in. I usually filter when racking to the keg. I seem to get more flavor in the results from the puree-pasteurize version, but usually feel too lazy and just bag up the frozen version, which does fine. One pound seems to be more for coloration, and I usually use ~3 pounds in a 5 gallon batch.
I’ve mostly used frozen fruit in beers. I also freeze local fruit when I make my port wines from scratch.
The extracts have gotten really good over the last few years now. I’d probably look towards one of the many name brands that commercial breweries use at this point, and not bother with frozen fruit, figuring out how much water is in them (they often reduce the ABV of your final beer bc the volume of water is greater than the fermentable sugars available) and dealing with potential wild yeast. And the biggest reason to use an extract is that it’s so much easier to adjust the dosage to taste. I was reminded of that the other week as I was dumping out 3+ year old raspberry porter. Too many raspberries on it and it just never faded enough to be drinkable.
Chuck, that sounds like a difficult beer to balance. With spice, hops and fruit flavor. Curious what the recipe looked like, if you don’t mind sharing/pasting here.
Ryan:
It was difficult to balance and I tried it at a time when my skill level was probably not up to the task. The good news is that it was drinkable and I enjoy the way the heat from the Habanero came on slowly but strong. But it lost some of the IPA character.
I may resurrect it again. Attached is a copy of the recipe. Excuse the poor notes, autosave did not seem to work in Beersmith.
I definitely would try extract for the Mango. On the chili, I chopped it up and froze it then I added one chili. After a few days I tasted and did not get the impact I wanted so I added another one and that seemed to do the trick. The challenge with using Chili peppers is there can be a lot of difference between two chili peppers of the same variety.
Flying Dog Brewery made a Mango Habanero IPA which I liked (they were a client of mine) but since they moved to the East Coast they are not distributed here much.
Cool recipe.
If you brewed it again, I’d make minor adjustments at first. As you say, you’re a better brewer today.
I’d drop the melanoidin malt. You can change the bittering hops to something like Columbus to get more clean bitterness, then up the Citra at the end/in the dry hop a little bit to add more flavor.
But honestly, it could’ve just been oxidized a bit or something if you didn’t take oxygen prevention into consideration when dry hopping back then. In which case, the original recipe may be plenty fine (I’d still drop the melanoidin though personally).
Can’t wait to try the remake sometime (this year?).
- The forum ‘Recipe Discussion’ is closed to new topics and replies.