Peach in Belgian Wheat IPA and Yeast Starter

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by milo_leon, Nov 21, 2013.

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  1. milo_leon

    milo_leon Initiate (0) Aug 25, 2012 New York

    I am planning out a couple brews I want to make in the next few months. I am thinking of making a Belgian Wheat IPA from Austin Homebrew and adding peach/apricot in secondary. I have a couple questions about this beer, especially about using peach/apricot.

    I recently made a Double Chocolate stout with raspberries and so far it is a very fruity beer. I used 3.75 lbs in 4.25 gallons and the raspberry is overpowering. Will definitely do .5 lb (or less) per 1 gal next time I use raspberries.

    However, my understanding is the peach flavor is not as strong as raspberry, and I've seen people suggest 2 lbs per 1 gal. How much peach and apricots should I use? Am thinking around 3 to 3.75 lbs of each (6-7.5 lbs total or 1.2-1.5:1 ratio) since I want to have a light touch of peach, not overwhelm the wheat/IPA aspect of this beer.

    If I can't find fresh peaches, should I use a puree? How much puree is equal to a pound of peach? (So I can scale accordingly)

    Also- so far I've been struggling to hit my FG in my homebrews and would like to start using a yeast starter to ensure enough yeast for full fermentation. Austin Homebrew suggests to double pitch with this recipe. I am wondering if I should build a huge starter out of the first yeast vial so I can save the second vial to re-pitch in secondary if I haven't hit my FG? Would re-pitching with peach change the flavors?

    I also tend to use irish moss during the boil to help clear my beer up, so I am wondering if I should avoid this with the Wheat IPA since wheat beer tend to be cloudy?

    Would appreciate any help with my questions. :slight_smile:
     
    #1 milo_leon, Nov 21, 2013
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    I wouldn't recommend repitching in secondary as a planned strategy. Just make a suffiicient starter, using one of the available calculators, like this one...
    http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
    If the fermentation gets stuck, there's time to determine what do.

    Having said that, I wonder where your expectations for FG are coming from. If they are just based on an arbitrary average attenuation for a yeast strain (either from the middle of a published range, or an assumed average in brewing software), you could easily be expecting an unrealistic FG. Attenuation depends on many factors other than yeast strain. Most of those factors are related to the fermentability of the wort itself.

    OTOH, if your attenuation really has been under-achieving, it may well be because of not pitching enough healthy yeast. Either way, a properly sized starter is going to be good for your beers.

    If you want the beer to be cloudy, don't add the irish moss.
     
    #2 VikeMan, Nov 21, 2013
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2013
  3. milo_leon

    milo_leon Initiate (0) Aug 25, 2012 New York

    I have been following extract and mini-mash kits, and my OG is usually close to what the recipe wants, yet my FG usually gets stuck around 1.020-1.025 when it should be closer to 1.012ish. Since this is will be my first big beer, will definitely use a starter.

    Any tips on using peach puree?
     
    #3 milo_leon, Nov 21, 2013
  4. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    “ …my FG usually gets stuck around 1.020-1.025 when it should be closer to 1.012ish.”

    What is your method to aerate/oxygenate your wort? What is your fermentation temperature? Have you solely used liquid yeast?

    Cheers!

    P.S. I have no experience with using fruit in brewing so I can’t help you on that topic.
     
    #4 JackHorzempa, Nov 21, 2013
  5. milo_leon

    milo_leon Initiate (0) Aug 25, 2012 New York

    I strain my wort when I dump into primary. Read that this is great for oxygenation, then when I pitch the yeast (liquid yeast in vials), I give it a few good stirs to mix up the yeast and get more oxygen. I suck at controlling fermentation temps, so will be building a swamp cooler for this brew and try to keep it around 65 degrees.
     
    #5 milo_leon, Nov 21, 2013
  6. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    “I strain my wort when I dump into primary. Read that this is great for oxygenation…”
    Straining your wort will add some aeration but I personally would not characterize it as “great”. You really should do something more wrt aeration to get more oxygen into the wort. The ultimate method is using a tank of O2 and a diffusion stone.

    “ …when I pitch the yeast (liquid yeast in vials), I give it a few good stirs to mix up the yeast and get more oxygen.” That is not really doing too much for you.

    “I suck at controlling fermentation temps, so will be building a swamp cooler for this brew and try to keep it around 65 degrees.” That would be a good thing.

    I recognize why you want to make a starter but it is important to take other proper steps for a healthy fermentation: adding a sufficient amount of oxygen (which you currently are not doing) and maintaining a proper fermentation temperature.

    The other thing you might consider is brewing with dry yeast. You obtain a lot of yeast cells from an 11 gram sachet of dry yeast and dry yeast is not sensitive to aeration/oxygenation techniques. In other words you will obtain a healthy fermentation with less effort/worry.

    Cheers!
     
    #6 JackHorzempa, Nov 21, 2013
  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    +1.
     
    #7 VikeMan, Nov 21, 2013
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