Kiwifruit in beer?

[gazpachos0up]

What do you reckon, I've made a MS Two Row Lager with nelson sauvin hops then when fermentation was nearly done I added a bit more hops with a can of passion fruit pulp (bolied first then strained into fermenter) and after 2 weeks of being bottled its brilliant, will obviously wait longer till i try it again. But anyway, i was thinking of making something similar but mashing up about 3 golden kiwi fruit and adding them to the fermenter next time but staight in at the start, Does this sound like it would be crap? I'm just really getting into the flavours of fruit and beer and at the moment love golden kiwi's

[sonictruth]

some good advice that i have heard concerning fruit in beer is to only add it to the secondary fermenter, once the heavy fermentation has ceased. if you add it to the primary then all the fruit flavours get carried off with all the CO2 activity. im no scientist but it makes sense.

[KEG]

3 wouldn't add a whole lot of flavour to a full batch.. especially if they're added before fermentation is nearly complete - the CO2 will scrub out a lot of the more volatile flavour elements.

i'd add them right near the end, or rack onto them in a secondary when fermentation is nearly (or totally) complete. the sugar in the fruit will be enough to kick it off again to build up some CO2 to protect it.

[Kevnlis]

I agree with KEG here, kiwifruit is a hard fruit to work with. I do believe in starting small with things like this but 3 will impart little if any flavour at all to a full batch. Also I can see no reason to spend the extra money on Golden Kiwis, I doubt it would be different from the standard kiwis.

You may also want to add some strawberries to enhance the fruity character of the kiwi. Not sure about down there but up here strawberries are $5 per kilo and might be a cheap way to compliment the kiwi flavour in your brew.

[Chris]

3 won't be enough. And I agree with going for the green ones- cheaper, and a stronger flavour.

[warra48]

Golden Kiwis are generally somewhat sweeter and less acid than the standard green ones. I'd suggest they are therefore quite suitable.

[KEG]

with the acidity of the kiwifruit being arguably the main flavour, don't you think it'd be better to buy the cheaper green ones and use a bit less than you'd need to with golden kiwi fruit? don't get me wrong, i reckon a golden kiwi beer would be nice, but it'd be fairly pricey.

[timmy]

There is a 'kiwit' recipe in the 'Extreme Brewing' book. It uses 6 kiwi fruits in a standard-sized batch of Belgian Wit. From memory the fruit is added at the end of the boil, and it there as a background flavour.

[Chris]

The gold ones are nice and sweet, which is the main reason it would be more difficult to taste. The sweetness would all be fermented away, and as KEG said, would leave only the acidic flavour. Hence, the particular quality that you would want from the gold kiwi vs the green kiwi would be neutralised all but completely.

[gazpachos0up]

The gold ones are nice and sweet, which is the main reason it would be more difficult to taste. The sweetness would all be fermented away, and as KEG said, would leave only the acidic flavour. Hence, the particular quality that you would want from the gold kiwi vs the green kiwi would be neutralised all but completely.

True, I just don't really like green kiwis but love golden ones, might brew it out then add them to secondary, thats what i did with the Lager of Passion (passion fruit lager) and its very evident, not too much but just there to give a nice passion fruity note. I'd actually reccomend making it, supprisingly a very nice drop

[Chris]

Might give it a go. I do enjoy fruit beers. I try to do at least 3 a year.

[gazpachos0up]

Might give it a go. I do enjoy fruit beers. I try to do at least 3 a year.

Heres my recipe if your interested:
Brew 29: The Passion of Lager 23L
Malt shovel Two Row Lager (could probably use any lager)
40g Nelson sauvin hops
Can of Morgan's lager malt (1kg)
Carapils grain - steeped
Saflager Yeast
Method: steeped carapils at 70C for about half an hour, then strained, brought liquid from grain and can of malt to the boil, when boiling added 10g Nelson, for 20mins then another 10g for 30 more minutes, at flameout added can of MS Two Row and remaining hops, added ice to cool then pitched yeast at 25C. When Fermentation was nearly complete (bubbling had slowed right down) boiled a can of Coles passion fruit pulp added about 5g of nelson at flameout and added to fermenter (strained through a sieve) Bulk primed with 160g Dextrose

[Chris]

Thanks for that. It's "on the list."

[rwh]

What section is the tinned passionfruit in? Tinned fruit or baking? Er, and how many grams carapils? About 100g?

[gazpachos0up]

What section is the tinned passionfruit in? Tinned fruit or baking? Er, and how many grams carapils? About 100g?

I think it was a 150-200g bag from Brewers Choice, I used the whole lot. The can of passion fruit pulp was in the canned fruit section, it was either coles or farmland brand. Just downed one of the beers a moment ago, after a few days its gotten more passionfruity, it seems to match really well with the two row lager.

[Boonie]

Thanks for that. It's "on the list."

Me too.

Done another Strawberry this year, Cherry next, then Passionfruit and that Kiwi Fruit one looks like a challenge. I add the fruit after 1st Ferment.

Cheers

Boonie