I have a wheat liquid extract recipe I'm very fond of, one of my first "non-kit" ideas that turned out great, and I'm considering adding some peach to it to make a peach wheat beer. I've never done any fruit additives before, so I could use some advice. I'm going to get a 49 ounce can of peach puree and add it to the second fermentation. Questions....

Should I add it before or after the beer?

Should I strain or filter the puree, or just dump it in?

How long should I let it ferment on secondary? I'm thinking 4 weeks.

When I go to bottling, is this going to be a pain in the ass to make sure I don't get any peach puree in the bottling bucket?

Is there any specific yeast considerations I need to make for the peach puree? I use Danstar Munich yeast in this current recipe.

Thanks in advance!

I have normally seen fruit concentrates/puree added at high krausen, maybe 3 days into fermentation.  Typically, fermentation kicks back up for a day or so as the added sugar is eaten.  An advantage of this is that it allows you to rack your beer twice (into secondary and bottling bucket) to eliminate any particulate transfer.

If you want to add it to secondary, I'd probably add beer first then the puree.  I don't see a need for straining...any fiber/particles will settle out along with flocculating yeast, proteins, etc.


I made a citrus wheat earlier this summer and have been drinking it for a month or so.  I feel that the citrus aroma/flavor has faded a bit.  I'd be concerned with losing flavor and aroma from leaving it in secondary for that long.  


I don't think racking to your bottling bucket will be hard.  Wheats are supposed to be hazy anyway.  Since your are carbing in bottle (I presume), there is the expectation that you will have some yeast/material in the bottom anyway.  


I have never used that yest, but its website says it is non-flocculating.  Have you had trouble in the past with the yeast not falling out/down after fermentation was over?  Do you use any fining agent?  I think your yeast would be fine, but I'd add a whirlfloc to the boil.  If your beer is too hazy/thick/has peach pulp in the secondary, you could cold crash before bottling.  If you went that route, you'd jsut have to plan for more time to bottle carb.

Thanks for your response.

I haven't had trouble with that yeast, and I do not use a fining agent in this recipe. I may add a Whirlfloc tab for the peach, though.

I have never made anything with peaches,but from what I understand peach flavor will fades away in beer.
Apricot is a good substitute to use and will have similar flavors. Just something to think about.

Interesting. Any thought as to why the peach doesn't last as long?

From what I understand is that the aroma and flavor of the fruit is somewhat fermented away.
Only guessing here, peaches are light flavored fruit(to me anyways) so it would ferment away easier.
I would still give it a try.

Use this type of stuff....

I added 3 lbs of frozen peaches to a 5 gallon batch after a few days of primary and let it sit a week. Peach flavor was hardly there.

If you want to do peach I would suggest flavor extract.

Or try throwing fresh peaches in a food processor and letting that sit in vodka for a few says and then adding that to primary. I read that on HBF and the poster said it worked great.

I did a small batch about (2.5 - 3 gallons) with peaches from my backyard tree a few years ago.  I put about 4 pounds of fruit that I chopped up in the food processor and blanched on the stove.  I added them to the secondary and let it sit for about a week.  

It turned out ok with enough flavor and aroma that you knew that it was there, but didn't take over. There was a lot of particulate matter though even after bottling.  It would have worked out better to dice it small and then blanch as the processor tears up the fruit too much.