# Thoughts?



## Olaf (Apr 15, 2010)

Hi gang,
Thought a few of you that also make beer may have some input on this.

I have a "house" IPA that I make and really like, typically I follow the same general base recipe for my pale ales. I am going to stick with that for this beer, but I am going back and fourth on when to make some fruit an honey additions...

2# 2-row steeped at 156F for 30 min
2# munich steeped at 156F for 30 min
.25# cara-pils steeped at 156F for 30 min
.25# crystal 20 steeped at 156F for 30 min
5# light DME boil 60 min
.5 oz galena boil 60 min
Nottingham yeast

I may do a late addition of hops (galena, columbus, goldings or cascade)

Then the hard part.

I want to add: 
2# whole blackberries (thinking primary for color extraction)
1 can (3#) rasperry puree (oregon) (perhaps secondary)
2.25# blackberry blossom honey (again secondary)

When to add the fruit and honey is the question...
I am looking for a sweet product with some fruit and honey charecter, and I know that notty will handle a lot of alcohol.

I will keg this one.

Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Olaf


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## Wade E (Apr 15, 2010)

I think that might be a lot of fruit for a beer. I would think 2-2 1/2 lbs total for a 5 gallon batch would be enough but lets see what others say as I havent made any fruit beer as of yet besides an apricot Pale Ale which was a partial mash kit.


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## jeepingchick (Apr 15, 2010)

heck of allota fruit... i personally wouldnt go for those amounts, and agree with wade on this, nock it back to 2 pounds (ish) ... were doing a 5 gallon peach ale this weeked and are adding only 2 pounds peaches. i want to tast the ale also. if i want all fruit tast, ill drink wine.... good luck with your decision


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## Tom (Apr 15, 2010)

OK I make rasp wheat. I need 4# for flavor . ALL fruit is added in the secondary NOT the primary. You will get color in the secondary. For a IPA I would only add ONE fruit or none as the hops may mask the flavor of the fruit.
What are your hops and times for this?


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## Malkore (Apr 16, 2010)

I'm not sure an IPA is the right base style. If you look at the bulk of fruit beers out there, they are never 'bitter' beers. Nearly all commercial examples are anywhere from a blond ale to a wheat with low IBU's and aren't very dry either. That helps set the stage for the fruit to come through.

Too dry or too hoppy and you'll be fighting the flavors instead of complimenting them.

That's my two cents. I'm not saying you are 'wrong', just deviating from 'typical'.


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## Olaf (May 17, 2010)

*Turned out very nice!*

Well I only added 1/2 Ounce of galena for 60 min. And I only did the honey and raspberry puree in secondary. It turned out very nice. The initial ferment started at 1.060 and dropped to 1.010, after adding the fruit and honey I failed to take a reading, but it finally finished and cleared at 1.018. Both the honey and berries are present, a little sweeter than I wanted but the bite of carbonation is taking care of that.

Olaf


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## Wade E (May 17, 2010)

Glad all worked well.


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