I have a few whole peaches in my kitchen and I am brewing a Hef tonight. Any suggestions on adding some peach flavor to the beer? I am thinking of halving 2 peaches and adding to the last 15 minutes of the boil.
I just added 7 lbs of peach to a berliner. Can't speak to how it turned out yet, but I'm wondering if adding the fruit to secondary wouldn't lend more flavor. A lot of flavor is lost due to fermentation, or so I've heard.
I have no experience adding fruit to beer at all. With that said I really doubt adding two peaches, especially at 15 mins, would add much flavor at all. I would suggest sticking to brewing the hefe alone and looking more into adding fruit for another time.
Valid points. I added the fruit at start of boil. We'll see if any hints are noted at tasting. Thanks.
Please let us know how it turns out. At the start of boil I would expect no flavor at all, at least nothing positive. Most people add fruit in secondary, if anything.
You're looking at 1 to 2 # per gallon depending on the fruit. Peach is kind of dry and you'll need to add like 1.5# per gal if I had to guess. It should go into late primary or in first when you secondary.
The amount of fruit you added simply isn't enough. Plus peaches are known to impart less lasting flavor/aroma in the final product than many other fruit choices. In addition to that, boiling fruit drives off flavor/aroma, as does co2 being released during fermentation (scrubs flavor/aroma out of the final product). With that being said, I'm confident that any peach essence you detect in the final product will be no more than a false mental projection. Hopefully boiling the fruit for that long won't introduce any off flavors.
Would have 'LIKED' your post but...like...what you described... like...didn't sound...like...something...like...I'd like.
ive used fresh peaches as well as peach puree before. always added towards end of primary or in secondary. if using fresh peaches, you should pasteurize to eliminate any nasties. never boil, results in pectin haze. http://www.byo.com/stories/item/678-fruit-beer-tips-from-the-pros the puree can be added straight without any processing - personally though, i dont love the flavor or taste of pureed fruit. recently i used frozen, which is a nice compromise - microbes should be minimized through freezing, and if added to a fermented beer it will keep any rogue microbes from multiplying. and, freezing retains most of fresh fruit flavor. havent tasted this batch yet though, well see how it goes!
