Fruity Brews: Mastering the Art of Fruit Beer Crafting

Fruit and beer go together incredibly well due to the balancing of fruit against the bitterness of beer and the synergistic boost that fruit gives to the malts, yeast esters and hop essential oils. Let's explore how to create tantalising fruity beers to make your taste buds dance!

The Fruitful Possibilities

When it comes to fruit beers, the sky's the limit! From Abiu to Yuzu, there's a whole alphabet of options waiting to be tapped. But before you go wild, let's chat about some crowd-pleasing fruit beer styles:

• Fruit Lambic
  • Kriek: A Belgian sour beer made with cherries.
  • Framboise: Also a Belgian sour beer but made with Raspberries.

• Specialty IPA
  • Fruited IPA / Hazy IPA: IPA with added fruit, typically tropical or citrus fruit to boost modern hops.

• Fruit Beer
  • Grape Ale: A relatively new style which sees wort and grape juice co-fermented together to give a beer-wine hybrid.

There are fruit characteristics in almost every beer style, so each fruit brings its own unique flavour profile to the party. So, don't be afraid to mix and match!

Fruit Forms: Fresh, Frozen, or Fancy?

Now, let's talk about how to get these fruity friends into your brew:

1. Fresh fruit: Nothing beats the real deal, but make sure it's ripe and clean. Overripe fruit may have an extra oxidisation character and can result in the beer having an oxidised flavour profile. Under-ripe fruit can add acids to the beer that are not very pleasant, but these can, in small amounts, add complexity to the beer.
2. Frozen fruit: A convenient choice that's often cheaper than fresh fruit and available year-round.
3. Fruit Purees: These are aseptically packed pureed fruit. It is now the common go-to for commercial brewers.
4. Dried fruit: Great for adding depth. Just watch out for additives. Often, preservatives are added to dried fruit, but these can usually be easily washed off.
5. Juices & Syrups: Perfect for precision flavouring without the mess. Also, watch out for preservatives; always choose juices & syrups that are preservative-free.
6. Canned fruit: A sanitary option, but be mindful of the syrup.
7. Fruit Flavours: There are many fruit flavours that are singular chemical compounds or classifiable groups. This is one of the easiest ways to add fruit character to a beer.  

When to Add the Fruity Goodness?

Many of the flavours in fruit are sugar-bound. Therefore, when the fruit is added, it may significantly impact the final fruity flavour. Here are  options:

• Mash: Not very common because it's a long way to the glass and, therefore, a long way for the flavours to remain in the beer. This technique is often used for Vegetables like pumpkin to add sugars and flavours to the beer.
• End of the boil: Great for subtle flavours and ensuring continued sanitation by the hot wort.
• In the fermenter: Quick and easy, but you might lose some delicate flavours due to fermentation of sugar-bound flavours or fruity esters blown off by carbon dioxide production.
• Secondary/ End of fermentation/ Back sweetening: Gentler on the fruit, less chance of losses due to fermentation and carbon dioxide blow-off. Sanitation of the fruit is key, and preservatives or pasteurisation is needed to ensure no continued fermentation that may result in bottle bombs.
• Keg/ in-line: Some add fruit to the keg or in-line during serving using a product called a Randall. Sanitation is again key here and gives probably the freshest fruit flavour. But this is also the most uncontrolled way to add fruit. You may get to the keg's end before the beer hits its best. 
• In the glass: Common for Berliner Weiss and Gose. Fruit syrups are added to the glass to give a personal fruity twist to the base beer. 

The How-To of Fruit Additions

Safety first, brewers! We don't want any uninvited microbes crashing our fruit beer party. Here's how to prep your fruit:

• Dried fruit: Wash first, then chop it up and give it a hot water or wort bath.
• Frozen fruit: Heat it to 80°C for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Fresh fruit: Freeze it first to break down cell walls, then treat it like frozen fruit.
• Canned fruit: Add straight from the can. Juice/ Syrup is optional.
• Puree: Add it straight from the pack.

For the above, adding some pectinase enzyme is also a good idea, as it helps with juice extraction and clarity. 

• Juices & Syrups: Take a sample and add small amounts to get the dose right, then add straight from the bottle.
• Flavours: Take a sample and add small amounts to get the dose right, then add straight from the bottle.

How Much Fruit to add?

When it comes to fruit additions, more is often merrier. However, some fruits have much stronger fruity flavours than others. This might be due to how delicate the flavour is or how sugar-bound the flavours are. Here are some ballpark figures to get you started:

Remember, these are just guidelines. Your perfect fruit beer might need more or less, so don't be afraid to experiment!

Ready to embark on your fruit beer adventure? With these tips in your brewing toolkit, you're all set to create some seriously delicious concoctions. So, grab your favourite fruits and let's get brewing!

MYO Drinks

Helping you to make your own Great Batch from Scratch