7 Tips & Tricks for Fruit Brewing with Purees

Craft brewing has taken on a life of its own over the past 10 years and now accounts for a quarter of the U.S. beer market. Beautiful, robust blends and unique flavors are a major draw for consumers who want more than a bland, mass-produced, commercial beer.

Rich, flavorful fruit purees have made it easier to create fruited beers. Experiment with new brewing ideas and recipes to produce a winning combination for your craft brewery, whether you’re tasting with friends or on a commercial scale. 

Here at Fierce Fruit, we have one of the highest-quality fruit puree products on the market. We have sourced all of our fruit purees for brewing to ensure our fruit is harvested at peak ripeness. Our aseptic fruit purees offer top-class, rich flavors that will elevate your craft brewing to the next level. 

We’ve put together a few of our favorite tips and tricks for brewing ideas to get fruited beer recipes just right!

1. Narrow Down Your Fruit Puree Flavor Choices

Make it easier to create the perfect blend by choosing tried-and-true favorite flavors. The most used fruits to pair with a fruit puree beer are: 

• Cherry
• Raspberry
• Lime
• Strawberry
• Watermelon
• Pineapple
• Plum
• Pumpkin
• Orange

Now comes the art and the science. You can choose to refer to recipes or tastes that are familiar and involve the fruit puree flavors in the above list, or venture out completely with brewing ideas that are entirely your own. 

A general rule of thumb is that hop and yeast quantities should be selected to bring out a desired fruit flavor. 

2. Stuck On Sours

When it comes to sour beers, strong and tart fruits make the best pairings. Think of raspberry and blood orange as excellent sour beer fruit foundations.

The key ingredient in sour beers is wild bacteria and yeasts. They combine during the brewing process, producing the tart, crisp flavors associated with sour beers.

The key takeaway in pairing a fruit puree with a sour beer is strength. Sour beers are known to exhibit sharp tastes that a strong fruit has to hold up to. Choose your favorite tart and strong fruit purees, like raspberry, blood orange, and tangerine purees, to enhance your brewing ideas for a special sour!

3. What About Wheat?

Wheat beer is one of the most popular craft brewing picks. Its light and crisp flavor is easy on the palate and delicious all year round.

Wheat beers are light enough to blend with nearly any fruit puree for brewing. Here’s your chance to get creative! Popular pairings include strawberry, pineapple, mango, and orange purees. 

Fruity wheat beers can range widely. Neutral yeasts and special yeasts are used to create German Hefeweizens, Belgian Witbiers, or American Wheat Beers. 

Try out a new recipe that you have been thinking about with a wheat beer + fruit puree combination.

4. I Heart IPAs

The India Pale Ale (IPA) is another tried-and-true craft beer classic. English malt, hops, and yeast are the main ingredients in IPAs, and they pair beautifully with a wide range of flavors, including sweet, exotic, and tart fruit purees. 

Some of our favorite IPAs add tropical fruit purees, like papaya and passion fruit. 

These bold brews are the number one choice of craft brewers in the United States. Set your brewing ideas and recipes apart by creating subtle or bold, well-balanced blends. 

5. Serious About Stouts

The richest of our selections so far, the stout, is another popular beer for craft brewing. Fruited stouts often use fruits that pair well with rich, chocolatey notes.  

Our favorite fruit purees to blend with stouts include berries and rich, earthy fruits. 

Blend a stout and a delicious raspberry, blackberry, or strawberry puree. This is another great opportunity to try new flavors and fruits!

6. Primary Fermentation

There are two main techniques for producing fruited beers. One is adding the fruit puree during the primary fermentation step, and the other during the secondary fermentation step. 

When adding fruit purees to the primary fermenter, wait until primary fermentation is almost complete, then add the puree to the wort. 

Because most purees contain fermentable sugars, adding the fruits during primary fermentation helps prevent the wort from bubbling over.

However, homebrewers should avoid adding fruit during primary fermentation. Primary fermentation is when the mixture is the most fragile and when the beer is most vulnerable to infection. 

Also, it’s important to note that a vigorous primary fermentation will blow off many of the fruit's aromatic compounds. Please adjust your brewing ideas and plans accordingly!

7. Secondary Fermentation 

The second technique for making fruited beer is to add the fruit puree to the secondary fermenter during brewing. 

This method requires less precision than adding the fruits in the primary fermenter; however, it is difficult if you are using a small secondary fermenter (less than 5 gallons). 

Fruit purees should be allowed to ferment long enough for the sugars to ferment. This allows the full extraction of the fruit color, aroma, and flavor. 

Keeping fruits for about a week during secondary fermentation is a good rule of thumb for fermenting the sugars in fruit purees and generating full-bodied flavors. 

If your secondary fermenter meets the size requirements, choose this method to create amazing flavors!

Follow these steps to make your brewing ideas come to life with Fierce Fruit purees that are simple, natural, and delicious!