Jamil's fruit beer show was about 2 weeks too late for me, as I was bottling an apricot wit the day of the show! The beer is good, but a little too tart--as when you bite into some fruit that is almost, but not quite ripe. Here are the details:
5 lb 2 row pale malt
4 lb wheat malt
0.5 lb rice hulls
1 lb crystal malt
1 oz. East Kent Goldings each at 60, 20, and 0 minutes
Wyeast 1214 Belgian ale
Mashed at 148 for 1 hour, batch sparged.
Fermented at 68
OG 1.045
FG 1.009
5 lbs frozen apricots, cubed and heated to 160 degrees for 15 minutes.
Primary fermentation 14 days, then racked on the apricots and left in secondary for 6 days--somewhat active secondary fermentation as the yeast went after the sugar in the apricots.
The beer is very clear, has a nice apricot smell and color. The taste is good, except for the tartness.
Any suggestions on how to improve this beer?
