I've never brewed with fruit but I'm planning on brewing a peach saison in a few weeks and looking for some advice. My intention was to use fresh Georgia peaches but that option isn't going to be feasible. My questions are ; out using canned purée or frozen organic peaches w no preservatives , which option is better? Also, which option less messy and would enable me to rack easier? How much beer can I expect to lose from the fruit addition assuming I start with five gallons? My plan is to add the fruit after a few days in the primary and let it sit for a weeks before I rack to the secondary for additional clearing and a cold crash. Thanks in advance for any advice !
I feel like adding the canned fruit would simply be like adding that much sugar. It will completely ferment out and leave nothing behind. So I would use the frozen peaches. Those will be messier though, but racking shouldn't be too difficult using either, its cleaning the carboy that is a pain. No idea on the amount of loss and I think it mostly depends on your process. I would wait to add the fruit until fermentation is basically complete to encourage some fruit to get left behind by the yeast. 1 lb per gallon of beer
I'm going to be racking a saison onto cherries next weekend and was going to use pure cherry puree(cherries/sugar/water). Hmm... Guess I have something to think about now. Puree or frozen whole. If I do the frozen I'm thinking I should crush them slightly before adding them to the bottom of the carboy. Thoughts?
Another question, is pectin harmful in any way to beer? Any negatives to head retention or mouth feel? I'll be brewing a peach ipa (late boil and secondary additions) soon and want a bit of haze, but I'm not sure if I should remove the pectin with enzyme and add some wheat to the grist, or if I should just let the pectin do it's thing. Thoughts?
From what I read pectin is harmful and you want to stay away from boiling fresh fruits. Also, for fruit additions I have always used vintners harvest products (apricot and blueberry) in my secondary.
Given a choice...I'd add bagged puree in a 2ndary. Beersmith sez: "Peach is one fruit that fades when used in beer. Apricot is a good substitute that creates a flavor similar to peach in the finished beer. "Apricot - Much better than peaches, but produce a peach like flavor in the finished beer. If you want peach flavor, use apricots at a rate of 1.5 - 4 pounds per gallon."
