Apples in Mash

[NTOLERANCE]

I know apples are a pretty delicate flavor, and if put in a boil or mash will likely loose their flavor. MY questions is, will apples in a mash increase the OG reading?

I've got a bunch of "special" apples I'd like to brew into an Apple Wheat beer. I plan to put some in the secondary as well.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would think apples would convert in a mash as....wait a minute...apples are already sugar, starch is what converts in a mash, so therefore apples converting in a mash is invalid???

Apples in a secondary could lead to infection w/ wild yeast?? IMO make a pie, but all the same, good luck w/ the project.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Yeah you will get some sugar contribution to the wort from the apples. You could add them to the secondary but you do have to be cautious or at least aware that apples carry wild yeast and bacteria.

For my fruit beers I like to cut up and prepare the fruit the night before and then soak it in some water with 1/4 tab of potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) which sanitize the fruit. I let the fruit soak in the water overnight (in the fridge) and then I add the entire thing in case any fruit flavor has diffused into the water itself. This allows me to sanitize the addition but also retains all the delicate fruit flavors.

 

[NTOLERANCE]

Yeah you will get some sugar contribution to the wort from the apples. You could add them to the secondary but you do have to be cautious or at least aware that apples carry wild yeast and bacteria.

For my fruit beers I like to cut up and prepare the fruit the night before and then soak it in some water with 1/4 tab of potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) which sanitize the fruit. I let the fruit soak in the water overnight (in the fridge) and then I add the entire thing in case any fruit flavor has diffused into the water itself. This allows me to sanitize the addition but also retains all the delicate fruit flavors.

For a 5 galon batch, typically how much apples and how much water do you use?

 

[NTOLERANCE]

I would think apples would convert in a mash as....wait a minute...apples are already sugar, starch is what converts in a mash, so therefore apples converting in a mash is invalid???

Apples in a secondary could lead to infection w/ wild yeast?? IMO make a pie, but all the same, good luck w/ the project.

Actually, the Apple ale I am making is going to go with a pie, someone else is making. All apples from the same tree.

I am going to put them in the secondary. This is going to be an apple/wheat brew. Plan is to have pumpkin ale and apple ale ready for Thanksgiving.

Apple ale...apple pie

Pumpkin ale......pumpkin pie...

Here's the pumpkin mash.....

 

[xico]

I am considering using apples in an upcoming brew and I'm looking to maximize the apple flavor. My inclination was to introduce the fruit in secondary. I understand the risk of wild yeasts and was wondering if I should pressure cook a bunch of apples from the front yard to put into secondary.

The recipe is a sketch at present because i don't know how to get the apples in there. French saison yeast is one of my favorites because it's attenuative capabilities but I'd like some of the aromas of apple to be retained.

45% base malt 2 row
3.5% smoked malt
3.5% flaked barley
5% flaked oats
27% white wheat malt

hops: palisade boil, ultra at end
herb: .75 oz rosemary at end of boil

Split batch:

1- yeast: french saison starter

2- french saison and brett. lambicus

 

[HoosteezMorgan]

Okay apples malt barley and unmalted barley maybe even skip the malted barley because apples have amylase enzymes and apples when freshly ripened are primarily start and sugars so you'd get starches and sugars and more of an apple pie like flavor due to the mashing in and then boiling I am actually planning after my first batch of edworts apfelwein is done in my primary then I have plans of doing an experiment spreading 1 lb wild rice 5 lb white rice 1 lb granny Smith apples and 4.5lb red delicious peeled core and seeds removed 10 lb pearled barley mashed starting at 144 for an hour 150 for 20 minutes and 155 for another hour in my 48 quart cooler mash tun with increasing the mash water to increase mash temp each time figure on a 7.5 gallon boil then it's also going to be a gruit of sort with chamomile and eye of kali hibiscus something around 2 oz at 90 minutes 2 grams of warrior hops 2 cloves 2 table spoons of natural crystallized cinnamon essence and 1 vanilla been sliced up into 3 pieces at 45 minutes and at 30 minutes 2 oz of lavender 2 grams of lemon basil and at 10 minutes another .5 oz eye of Kali hibiscus and 2 oz clover honey fermenter volume being at about 4.5 gallons leaving room for the big starter and pitching with a 2quart lme starter of wlp810 fermenting it at 68 degrees Fahrenheit and seeing what I end up with after treating her as a steam beer style lager from the point of pitching onward. What do you guys think ?

 

[madscientist451]

What do I think?
Your writing style tends to have too many run on sentences?
Do you really think you'll get much apple flavor from "mashing" some apples in warm water for an hour and then fermenting that out? I'm skeptical it will taste of apples at all. But I'm up for an experiment, give it a go and see what happens.

 

[HoosteezMorgan]

Well I will admit I do know how to use punctuation but am lazy in that department, any how the mash length as noted in my description of my proposed experiment is actually 2 hrs and twenty minutes , the apples and the wild rice both are to import unique flavoring and additional starches and sugars to the wort 1 thing to note is a major reason the apples are important is as noted before they contain readily available amylase(half the experiment is just making the wort without malt for the sake of saying I did so) then it is lightly hopped and moderately gruit infused as to not over power the flavors but to make a very complex flavor also the apples will break down after so long I know I've broken down a few apples with very little movement over 2 inches of boiling water before(homemade apple juice with a strainer you boil water underneath and lightly push around the apples over an hour or so I'm not sure if how I'm doing it will work the same but hey worth a try right I know the goal is to keep the temp of the apples to where their starches break down into sugars due to their natural amylase and their sugars dissolve and leak out into the mix so same concept different method).

 

[HoosteezMorgan]

I would think apples would convert in a mash as....wait a minute...apples are already sugar, starch is what converts in a mash, so therefore apples converting in a mash is invalid???

Apples in a secondary could lead to infection w/ wild yeast?? IMO make a pie, but all the same, good luck w/ the project.

Actually apples are sugars and starches and contain amylase in them as well that is why as Apple's get riper they get sweeter until they start rotting from sugars being fermented by wild yeast

 

[jabba11]

Call me crazy but if I want apple flavor in a beer Ill just add concentrate after cold crash and before it goes into the kegerator. If you are bottling not gonna work but there it is. You'll sweeten it too which you may not want but you'll definitely taste apples. Just an idea