Sorting through conflicting advice on fruit and sour beer

I'm not super experienced, but I do know that when peaches/nectarines ferment naturally, they always get a sort of turpentine character that is very nasty. So I would guess apricots might do the same thing. In other words, I would not recommend letting the fermentation go wild. Treat with a couple of crushed Campden tablets for a day or two before using and you should be alright, hopefully.

 

I vote for all natural. After thawing out the apricots I would give them a nice mash to get them broken apart some. I hope your gonna be doing this in a 3 gallon carboy/BB. Otherwise your gonna have too much headspace. I'm assuming this Berliner is pretty tart/sour so the acidic environment will render unwanted bugs inactive. Wouldn't worry at all.

This beer sounds awesome!!

 

Campden tabs take 24 - 36 hours to work their magic.
AFAIK ... they're effective against yeast but ineffective against mold.

OTOH ... pasteurizing fruit takes all of 30'.
Kills wild yeasts and mold.

 

I just got done with an Aprium (Part Apricot part Plum) wild ale last month. Quarter the Apricots, maybe throw a pit in for some nutty flavors and seal it up, you'll be fine.

 

I've done a decent amount of fruited beers. I don't do any pasteurization or sterilization pre or post fruit addition. I let the bugs in the beer already do their thing. The acidity and alcohol of your beer is a pretty good defense against most bacteria.

 

I have fruited clean beers with frozen fruits, pasteurization be damned, with no ill effects. I would go with @OldSock recommendations for wild beers.

 

“The plan is to rack 2 gallons of Brett Berliner over the apricots and secondary for approximately 2 months.”

So, the base beer is a Brett Berliner. If you consider Brett to be a wild yeast then this beer is already a wild beer.

My thoughts are:

If you are unconcerned about your wild beer potentially getting a bit ‘wilder’ then just add your apricots with no campden or pasteurization.

If you want your beer to solely have the wild characteristics of the Brett used to brew the base beer then pasteurize the apricots.

Cheers!

 

Assuming the Berliner has some wheat in it and it's already hazy, are there any detrimental effects to pasteurizing? Does pectin hurt the beer in terms of head retention, mouthfeel, or flavor?

 

There are differences between some light haze, and muddy (pectinase would remedy this though). Heating fruit also changes the flavor. Think of the differences between fresh and jam/pie. I think cooked fruit is actually a better batch for darker beers, but for something like a Berliner I'd want it as bright/raw/fresh as possible.

 

Makes sense. Thanks!