Brewing With Fruit Flavourings

[beerdrinker]

I have found that a lot of my friends are quite hesitant with darker beers, and I don't really want to get into having a dedicated tap to watered down swill (plain basic lager), so I was looking to dedicate a tap to light fruit beers (fruit+wheat or fruit+pale ale). I have used fresh/frozen fruit in the past, but I need to replace a part from my keg system from MoreBeer already and was looking to get a few of the 4oz Fruit Flavourings to play around with different flavours.

I was just looking for some feedback from some of you who have used these flavourings before, do you add the full 4 oz? I know over time I can dial in a more exact amount to add, but for the first batch what would you start with?

Thanks!

beerdrinker.

[captain carrot]

I would add 1/2 of the bottle to the keg to start. You can always add more. I added a whole bottle of cherry flavoring 5 gallons of hard cider and it's almost too syrupy. Style may dictate how much you use also. Less for light beers like wheats and blondes and more for porters and stouts.
Good luck.

[beerdrinker]

Thanks for the feedback!

I've just ordered a bottle of the raspberry and peach flavourings...

Hopefully at a half bottle per batch that should get me 4 batches of fruit beer! Would you suggest racking onto the fruit flavouring in the keg, adding the fruit flavouring while racking, or adding the flavouring after racking? Also, should I do any kind of stirring to mix in the flavouring?

Cheers!

[captain carrot]

I would add it while the keg is filling so it gets blended in. Stirring may introduce oxygen so I would aviod that. I force carbonate my kegs by shaking so mixing is not an issue.
Good Luck!

[brewinhard]

I usually add the flavoring to the keg, then rack the beer on top of it so it mixes in well. You should check out the Olive Nation brand of extracts. Although they are expensive, they are quite "real" for fruit extracts and only require small additions.

[snap1042]

I agree with Captain Carrot -- I added a full bottle of blackberry extract before bottling and it is definitely a blackberry beer . . . . I am not sure there are any other flavors.

I have a wheat beer in the primary and I plan to do half the raspberry bottle for a raspberry wheat beer.

[beerdrinker]

I ended up going with half a bottle with the BCS Apricot Wheat Recipe (Using Raspberry) and it is awesome!

Enough raspberry to know its there, but not too much, and the malt/wheat flavour comes through as well.