first time adding fruit to a recipe, couple questions.

[basilchef]

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

I am planning a simple recipe using apricot puree and have a few questions.
Here is the plan so far:

GRAIN
10.5 lbs marris otter (lhbs out of american and uk 2 row)
.5 lbs crystal 20
.5 lbs carapils

HOPS
just got a lb of citra in the mail and have 4 oz of amarillo in stock. planning on going all citra though.

YEAST/ADDITIVES
whirlfloc
yeast nutrient
wl002 with starter
1 can (750ml) apricot puree from lhbs

I am aiming for an intensely hop forward ale (med ibu's), with an apparent but not overwhelming apricot flavor. Enough to stand up against the citra though. I usually yield about 4-4.5 gals of finished beer if that helps any.

SO MANY QUESTIONS (sorry)
So, how much puree do most people use in five gallon batches? will the secondary fermentation wash out hop flavor? how long should i wait after secondary fermentation until i dry hop? should i rack off of the puree before dry hopping? what effect does the fruit have on bitterness? any info that i may need will be greatly appreciated. Sorry for all the questions and thank you so much for your time.

 

[Eliterunner1]

I've never used fruit puree but I have used fresh fruit before. I'm not experienced enough with it to answer all of your questions, but fruit sugars will typically ferment fully and leave you with a very dry beer. I would imagine that the bitterness wouldn't be greatly affected. The beer I made was a blonde so I have no experience in terms of a fruit beer that was highly hopped.

 

[basilchef]

I've never used fruit puree but I have used fresh fruit before. I'm not experienced enough with it to answer all of your questions, but fruit sugars will typically ferment fully and leave you with a very dry beer. I would imagine that the bitterness wouldn't be greatly affected. The beer I made was a blonde so I have no experience in terms of a fruit beer that was highly hopped.

Should i take any steps to prevent drying out the beer?

 

[basilchef]

Bump. Any insight to fruit puree?

 

[basilchef]

..