Brewing Master

Question:

I’m still fairly new to brewing.  In a previous batch I split a fruit beer recipe into two different fermenters – one with the fruit and one without. Neither beer came out quite like I’d have liked.  The "un-fruited" batch seemed to be lacking in something and the cherry batch was too sour – because of my specific cherries, I think. Anyway I’d like to give this a shot again, starting with a recipe for a regular beer, but one that would that would accept the addition of a fruit to half of it.  So the regular will be tasty on it’s own and the fruit version will be just as acceptable.  Is there such a beer? It must be extract-based, with specialty grains that do not require mashing. I’d brew in my pot and divide the wort into two 3gallon carboys, topping off with water.  (I can do the math to allow for a 5gal recipe to come out correct at 6 gals volume.) And please explain this "fruit in the primary or secondary thing."  Last time I did both because I originally did primary and then someone indicated that others do secondary so that the aromas aren’t driven off. Thank you very much. Erik O’Daniel IDAHO

Response:

Anyway I’d like to give this a shot again, starting with a recipe for a regular beer, but one that would that would accept the addition of a fruit to half of it.  So the regular will be tasty on it’s own and the fruit version will be just as acceptable.  Is there such a beer?

  Why do you want to splitthe batch and add fruit to only half of it?  Is this just a taste comparison thing to see exactly how the addition of fruit affects the taste of beer?   Eric Nastav

Response:

Why do you want to splitthe batch and add fruit to only half of it?

To have two different "types" of beer.  That’s why I’m specifically looking for some recipe that would be good either with or without the fruit.  I’m starting to share my brews with more people, but 5 gallons of one beer is too much for now.  3 gals of two different types is okay.  (My last three batches were the 3gal/3gal cherry/regular, a 6-gallon honey ale, and a 3 gallon stout.  The 6-gallon was specifically requested by someone, so I’ll be getting rid of a bit of that.) You know, sometimes you want a stout, sometimes a Hefe, sometimes you want wine… Erik O’Daniel IDAHO

Response:

An american wheat ale can could easily be split between fruited and unfruited. You could also try a stout (regular and cherry). Good luck, Dan Cole

Response:

An american wheat ale can could easily be split between fruited and unfruited. You could also try a stout (regular and cherry). Good luck, Dan Cole

I just made a cherry sweet stout and it is wonderful. — Dean Fikar (Remove the 3 letters that don’t look like they belong:

Response:

You could also try a stout (regular and cherry). AND I just made a cherry sweet stout and it is wonderful.

While a fruit stout sounds VERY appealing, and might be the project after this one, the batch that I’ve got in secondary right now is a 3gal stout and a total of 9 gallons of stout hanging around is a bit too much for me right now…  (My wife doesn’t drink much and my law school chums are more along the lines of Bud Light drinkers…  Gotta find some new friends…) Unless I hear differently, I’m going with a wheat ale. Thanks for the replies. Erik O’Daniel

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