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Thinking about picking up one of those little bottles of fruit flavorings to add to a batch of wiezenbier... looking for suggestions on 1. If they are any good and if they are easy to use

2/ Suggestions on type of flavor..... I was leaning towards Apricot or Rasberry!

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If you can find fresh fruit I would suggest using that. If not, I would go with a puree over the flavoring liquids. I have heard that the flavoring liquids can come out tasting like cough syrup. I did a cherry stout not to long ago and couldn't find fresh cherries so I used 2 cans of cherry puree. It came out great.

As for flavor, I love a raspberry wheat, but thats just me.

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  • Ok good advice, I bet the puree is cheaper too... Do they sell cans of puree or do you get teh fruit and puree it yourself in the blender? I am plannig on doing a secondary fermentation for a week or so in my bottling bucket... do I just mix the puree in with the beer? and let it sit for a while? They drop in the bottling sugar when I am ready to bottle! – JugheadNE May 16 '11 at 18:42
  • Depending on the type of fruit the puree can actually be more expensive. I added the puree to my secondary vessel and racked the stout on top of it and let it sit for 2 weeks. Then I racked to the bottling bucket leaving most of the puree behind. After racking to the bottling bucket you would add your priming sugar. – nuttzman May 16 '11 at 18:48
  • +1 on using fresh or pureed fruit instead of flavoring extract. I've used raspberry, chocolate, and apricot extracts and they all tasted fake - the chocolate especially. If you use puree, make sure it contains no preservatives, because preservatives kill yeast. Oregon is a brand often used by homebrewers. – JackSmith May 16 '11 at 19:24
  • I have been looking this puree up online... it is avail at food stores or do I look for it at a Fermenters Supply? Thanks for all the help everyone, I am a newbie and hate to ask so many questions... but I figure go to those who know what the heck they are doing rather than finding out the hard way by messing up the whole batch! – JugheadNE May 16 '11 at 19:39
  • I've seen Oregon canned fruit at my local mega-mart. Check with yours. If they don't have it, it is available online. – JackSmith May 16 '11 at 20:55
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If you can't find puree, use frozen. I just brewed a hefe and racked it to secondary on 5 pounds of frozen whole strawberries. Secondary for 1 week, then kegged. Turned out very tasty. If I had to do it all again, I'd go more American wheat than hefe, but we live and learn.

I've heard strawberries are more mellow, and thus take more to impart taste - so be careful with that quantity of other fruit.

As always, YMMV.

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