Peaches

[BilltownBrewingCo]

Hey all. We have a pretty good supply of Missouri peaches during certain times of the year that we would like to utilize in a beer. No offense to any Georgians out there, but they just seem to taste better than the other peaches that are available year round.

I am, however, not wanting to do the standard wheat+fruit=yummy, because after a while it just feels like a crutch and gets boring. Anyone have any suggestions on a style of beer that would be well supplemented by a secondary addition of quality peaches?

I am currently thinking saison, or maybe even an NEIPA

 

[kingmatt]

Hey all. We have a pretty good supply of Missouri peaches during certain times of the year that we would like to utilize in a beer. No offense to any Georgians out there, but they just seem to taste better than the other peaches that are available year round.

I am, however, not wanting to do the standard wheat+fruit=yummy, because after a while it just feels like a crutch and gets boring. Anyone have any suggestions on a style of beer that would be well supplemented by a secondary addition of quality peaches?

I am currently thinking saison, or maybe even an NEIPA

My parents always get a ton of peaches from a tree in their back yard and I have been also been meaning to use them for brewing. I think this year's crop will be going into some sort of golden sour ale...

 

[CodeSection]

Hey all. We have a pretty good supply of Missouri peaches during certain times of the year that we would like to utilize in a beer. No offense to any Georgians out there, but they just seem to taste better than the other peaches that are available year round.

I am, however, not wanting to do the standard wheat+fruit=yummy, because after a while it just feels like a crutch and gets boring. Anyone have any suggestions on a style of beer that would be well supplemented by a secondary addition of quality peaches?

I am currently thinking saison, or maybe even an NEIPA

My last 10G batch I brewed a Cream Ale and made five gallons of Cream Ale and five gallons of Peach Cream Ale. People loved both but especially the Peach Cream Ale.

 

[14thstreet]

Of your choices, go with the saison or even venture into sour territory, but do not bludgeon your precious Missouri peaches with all the hops of a NEIPA.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

How about a peach and quinoa sour? Scott Janish ended up going down all sorts of rabbit holes, from fungicide regimes to Brett enzymes : http://scottjanish.com/peaches-and-quinoa-sour/

 

[madscientist451]

I have several sources of good peaches in my area and have been playing around with them in beer and wine for about 10+ years.
Some observations:
-Freezing the peaches after cutting them in half seems to be the best way to handle them. After cutting the peaches and removing the pit, I place them in bags like you would use for BIAB brewing, then in a bucket and into the chest freezer for a few weeks. Or longer if I'm too busy for brewing.
-Peaches contain more acidity than most people think. Once the sugar ferments out, the remaining flavor is really tart. There are many varieties of peaches. each with a different sugar/acidity ratio, so you have to play around with what you can get. Find out what varieties your local growers have and look them up on google so you can find out which ones have less acidity.
-Most peaches are picked green. If allowed to ripen on the tree, they would be mush by the time they get to the store. Try to get tree ripened fruit from small growers or someone with a backyard tree. A note about backyard peach trees, they require lots of spraying and care to get a crop. An old farm near me has some overgrown peach trees that have peaches with absolutely no spray, but that is rare.
-Blemished peaches are generally worthless to growers, always ask of they have any blemished fruit. You can usually get them really cheap.
So to the OP's original question, any beer that would benefit from a little tartness would be a good candidate for peaches.
Peach flavor is very delicate, so add the beer to the peaches in secondary. Note that peaches are 85-90% water, so take that into account with your beer gravity and volume.
Some hops supposedly have a tree fruit/peach flavor note, maybe try something like that.
My most recent experiment with peaches was to add a high gravity wheat wine to about 4 lbs/gallon peaches in secondary. The water in the peaches diluted the alcohol more than I was expecting and the peach sweetness fermented away, leaving a tart 8-9% peach/wheat beer which is OK, but not what I was trying to achieve.

 

[AkTom]

Who you callin’ Peaches, Bubbles?
I wish I had access to good peaches.

 

[DromJohn]

I'm offended.
That said, I'd go with what madscientist451 said above, but for we cut into eighths before freezing.
I'd recommend using with pale ales and should go well with many of the gluten free malts.

 

[toddo97]

I made a smoked peach and apricot sour last year that turned out great

 

[redllama]

Last year I brewed a beer with Omega's Bit o Funk and after a month in primary smelled amazingly of peaches. Just happened to be peach season and racked on top of some local ripe peaches for about 6 weeks. Beer is fantastic and still has a nice peach aroma/flavor almost a year later.

 

[Jag75]

Fixing to brew a peach Blonde ale . Gonna rack over peaches .

 

[bleme]

One of my friends shared a 4 year old bottle of Peach Sour with me last week! He had started it as a kettle sour and wasn't impressed. Then he added some Brett and oak, but still wasn't impressed. Then he added the peaches, and STILL wasn't impressed. But add 4 years and it became pretty impressive!