Brewing with fruit

[hoppyscotty]

Got a packet of Mango puree hanging around so looking to use up this weekend in a fairly basic IPA recipe but adding the puree to the fermenter at the tail end of fermentation.

Any adjustments to my normal recipe or mash temps I need to consider? have set up a recipe aiming for about 5.4% and thinking a lower mash temp for a direr less sweet base beer to counter the additional sweetness the mango puree will add (assuming it will add some sweetness). Not a fan of sweet IPA's.

Also what's a good hop to accompany mango? Got some left over centennial, sabro, chinook, Amarillo, mosaic that need using up so probably enough to make up a half decent hopstand addition and have time to order more hops if I decide on a dry hop addition.

Experience and suggestions welcome. Will be my first 'Throw in what I've got lying around' recipe.

Thanks.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Any adjustments to my normal recipe or mash temps I need to consider? have set up a recipe aiming for about 5.4% and thinking a lower mash temp for a direr less sweet base beer to counter the additional sweetness the mango puree will add (assuming it will add some sweetness). Not a fan of sweet IPA's.

I wouldn't anticipate your beer being sweet just because you added fruit. The sugar (fructose) that the fruit adds to the beer will be fully fermented by the yeast. Even if you add it at the end of fermentation, it'll start up again because of the sugar (or it'll start up again in the bottle/keg and you'll get bombs).

Also what's a good hop to accompany mango? Got some left over centennial, sabro, chinook, Amarillo, mosaic that need using up so probably enough to make up a half decent hopstand addition and have time to order more hops if I decide on a dry hop addition.

Experience and suggestions welcome. Will be my first 'Throw in what I've got lying around' recipe.

I would go with any Americas hops that impart fruity/tropical flavours as they will go nicely with the mango. Any of the above would be fine.
The other option would be to very lightly hop it, so you can see what flavour the mango imparts into the beer without getting confused by similar flavours from the hops.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Brill thanks. Will be a bit of a mash up using up bits and bobs left over from other brews. What's the worse that can happen eh?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Brill thanks. Will be a bit of a mash up using up bits and bobs left over from other brews. What's the worse that can happen eh?

In my experience, you end up with a fantastic beer in many many regards, but you have no way of recreating it as you didn't save the recipe

 

[The Baron]

I have done a few fruity beers using frozen chunks and they do not make the beer over sweet at all as Agent has said it ferments most of the sugars out. If you add the amount of fruit to your recipe(I use Brewers Friend) it does not add a lot of gravity to the recipe so not loads of sugar.
I add my fruit after the initial strong fermentation subsides say day 3 or 4 and put it in a BIAB bag to that it can be removed and squeezed to extract as much flavour then cold crash it to brighten the beer.
Ps it generally takes a little longer to clear than normal but not that much longer.
I would also use any American fruity hops ypou fancy or use the Tropical England mix from CML which I have done with success

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

It's best practise to get your beer off the yeast before you put the fruit in.

The first time I didn't do this (it was the husband actually) the beer tasted like farts.

I have one in secondary at the moment that has apricot puree in.

 

[AJA]

I'd mash this one reasonably low and use a decent attenuating yeast, e.g. M44, US-05, to give a clean base for the fruit.
That hop cocktail sounds perfect. All of those work.
I wouldn't go too big on IBUs for this. Personal preference but maybe 40 ish?

 

[hoppyscotty]

Great advice thanks. I was not sure if the fruit puree also contained some unfermentable sugars too so wont sweat to much over FG.

It's best practise to get your beer off the yeast before you put the fruit in.

The first time I didn't do this (it was the husband actually) the beer tasted like farts.

I have one in secondary at the moment that has apricot puree in.

When you say get the beer off the yeast before adding the fruit I was planning on adding during the second half of active fermentation. Its puree rather than actual chunks of fruit.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Doesn't matter - you can still get off-flavours from the yeast with puree.

Some people get away with it, but not worth the risk if you ask me.

When we got off-flavours it was strawberry, just so you know and can make a decision.

It was David Heath's video's that taught me this. Unless you have a conical fermenter and can dump the trub out the bottom, it makes sense to transfer the beer to a clean container before you put the fruit in.
Just trying to save you heartache

 

[hoppyscotty]

Gotcha you mean dump the fruit after it's fermented out. No probs. I can dump trub after fermentation has finished. Will be dry hopping so can ether do that after dumping trub or dry hop in a keg.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

No, I mean wait for the primary fermentation to finish, and then rack the beer into a clean container with the fruit inside that one. Then ferment again.

You can't have your fruit in the same vessel as old trub. You'll more than likely get an unclean tasting beer.

You want to be leaving any off flavours behind in the first fermenter.

If you're going to dry hop, I'd put that in the second fermenter at the same time as your fruit. This is so you have some gravity left so the yeast can clean up any diacetyl that may be there.

Be careful with dry-hopping in a fruit beer though as you don't want the flavours to clash.

Good luck with it.

 

[Zoiks]

saw this video online and have wanted to give it a whirl, however unfortunately wasn't able to take a second mortgage out to buy 4kg of blueberry purée

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

That is waaayyyyy too much in my opinion. You don't want to be using more than 2kg for a normal sized 5 gallon batch in my opinion.

Won't even closely resemble beer.

I'm actually subscribed to that channel but he has better videos.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Well to be fair does any sour resemble beer?

Was thinking dry hopping with complimentary hops for a couple of reasons...my assumption is the addition of the fruit (2kg of puree in this case in 23litres of beer) wont turn the beer into Mango juice as the majority of the actual fruit matter will drop out after fermentation, but I'm assuming it will leave some Mango elements for a nice Mango vibe running through the beer. But it will still be a beer with some bitterness, then the dry hops will just compliment the Mango vibe with some of the broader citrous and typical tropical fruity notes you get from modern US style hops. I'm kind of imagining something like Stones Tangerine Express, which is heavy on the tangerine thing but also has other citrous elements going on in the background.

Might be overreaching myself here, but I'll give it a go.

 

[Zoiks]

Was definitely more looking at going down the frozen fruit path as there always seems to be 2 for a fiver sort of deals on.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Yes the purees are not cheap...even before the current inflation increases.

 

[LeeH]

I’m doing a blueberry sour tomorrow with Lidl frozen fruit. I won’t be racking off the trub as I’ve personally not had any issue with farty flavours on any of my kettle sours.

 

[The Baron]

I put my fruit in after 3 days so that it is still good active fermentation (in a Bag or 2 depending on amount) and I have always had a nice beer. I do tend to add a minimum of 2 kilo's of fruit sometime double depending on type.
If I am doing a fruit beer I want it to taste of fruit some people prefer a hint it is subjective to every body. I remove my fruit and squeeze the bag after 5/7 days so all the fruit juice is back in the beer. I will then crash the beer and let it clear naturally.
As I have said never had a bad beer or off taste

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

The first time anybody gets farty flavours, don't say I didn't warn you

 

[AJA]

I’m doing a blueberry sour tomorrow with Lidl frozen fruit. I won’t be racking off the trub as I’ve personally not had any issue with farty flavours on any of my kettle sours.

Lidl is good for frozen fruit. Packaged fruit has a big advantage over fresh in that sanitation/pectin is not required too (although I wouldn't necessarily bother anyway)