Adding fruit to a wheat beer

-After 2 weeks and a first fermentation is complete, then adding fruit/adjuncts and you re-start fermentation you are doing a secondary fermentation. You really dont need to move it to a second bucket/carboy for it to be secondary.
-How big of a bucket you using? can you fit the 1lb per gallon (or whatever the amount you are adding into the bucket without over flowing?
- Apricots have more peach flavor than peaches, most peach flavor apparently will ferment off.
-Fresh fruit or canned? From my experience all you need to do freeze the fruit, no need to boil it.


FWIW- when I add fruit to secondary I use a sanitized paint strainer bag to put the fruit in, much like a giant teabag and use some sanitized butchers string to tie to the bucket. Makes cleanup 100x easier. Also wont disturb your yeast cake on the bottom that will be huge being that you are using the same bucket for primary and secondary and it is a wheat beer.
Good luck.

 

If you go this route, use in conjunction with fresh/real fruit. I have been told that extract will taste fake if you use it alone.

 

Also w/ Apricots, make surr it ferments out all the way. Smeells of sulfur if you get any in the bottles and it continues to ferment.

 

Opinions vary as to how good fruit extracts are, and I think the truth is that it also varies depending on the fruit and extract in question. Since you're thinking about apricots... have you ever had Magic Hat #9? That's made with apricot extract.

 

I brewed a raspberry wheat beer back in the winter, and added a 3lb can of raspberry puree to primary fermentation about 4 days after pitching. The beer turned out pretty good, including finishing in second place for fruit beers in a good sized local competition.

 

I ordered my raspberry puree from Midwest Supplies, and it looks like they do stock apricot puree. I did add the whole 3lbs to a five gallon batch.

 

Try Pyramid Apricot Ale. It's made with real apricots (apricot puree) and is very tasty and IMO has more of a real flavor to it over the #9 apricot extract route. Granted apricot puree is way more expensive than apricot extract the flavor is worth it. The puree is in the $18-$19 range vs. the extract in the $6-$7 range. Apricot is more expensive than other fruits.

The Northern Brewery Pro Series Dry Dock Paragon Apricot Blonde uses both Apricot Puree and Apricot Extract. Granted the kit's $57-$61 depending on yeast option and priming sugar addition but supposedly pretty good.

 

I bought 3 lbs of dried apricots at Henry's Market and boiled them in some water for a few minutes. I then threw them in my Blendtec and pulverized them into a puree. I let them cool and threw them into my primary. Everything settled to the bottom after a few days and I siphoned off the top when I bottled. I still have a few bottles months later and the apricot flavor is still there. I would put it up against Magic Hat #9 or Pyramid any day.

 

Walmart carries frozen raspberries for about half the cost of puree and there's no shipping charges other than the cost of gasoline to get you to the store and back.

 

In my mixed berry wheat, I get frozen fruit 2lbs., then pasturize it (160 degrees), let it cool, put in secondary, then rack beer, let it sit for 4-6 weeks.