Fruit beers. Where do I start?

With the unseasonably warm few days here in the northeast I really got the itch to make some fruit beers for the summer. I do have some questions about them that I could use some help with:

I am thinking of using a wheat beer as a base for all of these beers. I'm thinking like a Hefe. I'm looking for a extract or partial mash recipe. Anyone have a good one? If not I'm going to use the Northern Brewer Bavarian Hefeweizen one gallon kit as a base.


I've noticed that there is a debate in whether to rack to a secondary and use fresh fruit or add extract at bottling. I want to do a blueberry and an apricot version of these and both extracts are readily available. What do you think?

Thanks for your help in advance!

I'm a big fan of the fruit and wheat. Secondary is a good idea. Also I've heard good things about the watermelon extract by lorann(ordered some today). I'm making the dubbel dach watermelon but he has a lot of good looking recipes on his site.

If you google it some, I think you'll find that fruit puree, frozen fruit, fresh, and dried fruit get good reviews. Have bottled a cherry puree, fresh mango, and apricot puree. About 0.5 to 1 pound per gallon...depends on the taster and type of fruit.

jethro55 said:

If you google it some, I think you'll find that fruit puree, frozen fruit, fresh, and dried fruit get good reviews. Have bottled a cherry puree, fresh mango, and apricot puree. About 0.5 to 1 pound per gallon...depends on the taster and type of fruit.

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Do you have to do anything to the purée or fresh fruit before adding to the beer?

Some people puree and some don't. Just sanitize the outside of the fruit and any surface it might touch. If added after primary there is already alcohol in your beer so the risk of infection decreases but some still freeze it or soak it in vodka for a few days.

Johnnyhamer said:

Some people puree and some don't. Just sanitize the outside of the fruit and any surface it might touch. If added after primary there is already alcohol in your beer so the risk of infection decreases but some still freeze it or soak it in vodka for a few days.

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If I freeze do I thaw before adding?m

Yeah, thaw in the fridge. What fruits do you plan on using? I just bottled a very basic orange wheat.

Johnnyhamer said:

Yeah, thaw in the fridge. What fruits do you plan on using? I just bottled a very basic orange wheat.

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Looking to do blueberry and apricot...orange sounds awesome though!

I'm gonna have to try this. I love wheat beers, and there are apple and raspberry farms around here.

I can see a Belgian Wit with raspberry beer

A sparkling raspberry cider is the main goal though.

I just used some orange zest the last 5 minutes of boiling and added more directly to the primary after 10 days. I'll post back when I taste it. Also, keep in mind that some hops can lend a fruity taste. Crushed coriander is used with orange a lot.(I think shock top and fat tire) wishing I would've added some to mine.

Johnnyhamer said:

I just used some orange zest the last 5 minutes of boiling and added more directly to the primary after 10 days. I'll post back when I taste it. Also, keep in mind that some hops can lend a fruity taste. Crushed coriander is used with orange a lot.(I think shock top and fat tire) wishing I would've added some to mine.

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The Belgian Wit beer uses coriander and orange peel, and the American copies: Blue Moon and Shock Top, also use coriander and orange peel. I've also had a French copy in Paris, 1664 Blanc, that used a lot of coriander and orange.

I think this very light wheat beer would make a great base for a fruit beer.

Blood Orange Hefeweizen is really simple, and really good:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/beer-recipes-how-to-home-brew-hefeweizen#slide-2
(...couldn't find the thread on here)

Very easy to brew, and a real in your face orange flavor. This was my first brew, and ended up using valencia oranges instead of the blood orange, and still tasted amazing.

I've posted some of my experiences with fruit here and here.

To summarize, my best results are adding packaged frozen fruit to secondary, or once fermentation is complete and then adding artificial flavoring at the time of bottling.

jongrill said:

Do you have to do anything to the purée or fresh fruit before adding to the beer?

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The purees for brewing (Oregon fruit and Vintner's Harvest are two brands) are already sterile.

I steeped the fresh mango at 170 degrees for 30 minutes and then mashed it with a sterile utensil. From what I read, it's a no-no to boil it.

+1 to using Oregon fruit purée. The purée is sterile straight from the can but I would sanitize the can before opening so no bugs that are on the can contaminate the purée. As far as purée compared to a extract there is a huge difference IMHO. Extract tastes artificial and I feel is noticeably chemical like. My vote is go with the purée in secondary.

jongrill said:

With the unseasonably warm few days here in the northeast I really got the itch to make some fruit beers for the summer. I do have some questions about them that I could use some help with:

I am thinking of using a wheat beer as a base for all of these beers. I'm thinking like a Hefe. I'm looking for a extract or partial mash recipe. Anyone have a good one? If not I'm going to use the Northern Brewer Bavarian Hefeweizen one gallon kit as a base.


I've noticed that there is a debate in whether to rack to a secondary and use fresh fruit or add extract at bottling. I want to do a blueberry and an apricot version of these and both extracts are readily available. What do you think?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Click to expand...

The key for brewing a great fruit beer is to start with a great base beer. Make sure the recipe is solid because if not, adding fruit to a poor recipe isn't going to make it better.

I brewed a blueberry kolsch a few months ago that has done well in competition. The base recipe was the kolsch recipe straight out of Brewing Classic Styles. I brewed the beer as normal and instead of racking to a keg after fermentation was over, I racked to a secondary on top of 9 lbs of frozen blueberries. Target sells three lb bags of whole berries - an alternative to the Oregon puree (I've never used but I've heard good things about them). In hindsight, I would probably reduce the amount of frozen berries to 6 lbs because my beer quickly reached the level of aroma/flavor that I wanted within only a few days.

I could definitely tell the difference between the fruit extract at bottling examples I've tried and my whole fruit beer. The whole fruit beer had much better aroma and flavor than the extract versions.