Amoretti fruit 'extract'

[mrskittle]

I've been on the hunt for an apricot product to make an Apricot Wheat beer. I've tried the liquid concentrate and am not the biggest fan and I'm not interested in the expensive cans of puree or whole fruit. A member of my local brew club recommended this brand so I thought I'd get some. I haven't tried it yet but I am brewing a wheat beer as I type.

Has anyone ever used this stuff before? It looks like I only need about half (or less) than the bottle for a 2.5-gallon batch. Someone left a review on the website saying they used it for beer and it worked great but there weren't any details.

 

[Bubba Wade]

Have you considered an extract? The product you're showing is mostly sugar. There are some extracts out there that are sold for beer, such as this one.

https://yakimavalleyhops.com/produc...ZRNAcnFHFOsfJFqOKknLsd9Opvd2GDH8aApO3EALw_wcB

I have not used this extract, but I have used others. The trick seems to be how much to use.

 

[Nosybear]

I've used it. Not apricot but cranberry. It's a good product as far as I can tell.

 

[Donoroto]

The trick seems to be how much to use.

I have never used this in brewing, but for mixed drinks.
Try a teaspoon in a pint of water to gauge the level of flavor before adding a half bottle. You may find you prefer somewhat less.

 

[mrskittle]

I have used the small bottle of Brewer's Best before, and even though it is natural flavoring, it tastes artificial to me. My wife likes it but it's just not what I'm looking for. However, I do intend to use a small amount to help round out the apricot flavor. I've heard that's what the pros do .

Nosybear, How did you manage the dosage? It seems like super-concentrate so I don't want to overdo it. I get the idea of trying a bit in a measured amount of water but I'm not sure if that would inform my decision or not. I'm thinking of calling the company and see if they have any guidance.

 

[Nosybear]

I have used the small bottle of Brewer's Best before, and even though it is natural flavoring, it tastes artificial to me. My wife likes it but it's just not what I'm looking for. However, I do intend to use a small amount to help round out the apricot flavor. I've heard that's what the pros do .

Nosybear, How did you manage the dosage? It seems like super-concentrate so I don't want to overdo it. I get the idea of trying a bit in a measured amount of water but I'm not sure if that would inform my decision or not. I'm thinking of calling the company and see if they have any guidance.

The "standard" dosage is on the container, if I remember correctly. I think the approach of calling the company to be the best.
Or you could dose in the fermentor a little at a time to taste... Diluting in the glass would be difficult without diluting the concentrate. The stuff is pretty potent! I believe I used 1 ounce of cranberry flavoring in a 5-gallon batch of beer and it was fairly strong.

 

[mrskittle]

Their claim is that the stuff is super concentrated. It was pretty expensive by the time it shipped so I don't what to waste any of it or ruin a batch of beer for that matter. Once I get the batch done I'll be sure to report back with the results.

 

[mrskittle]

My plan was to rack about 2.5 gallons of a 5 gallon batch into a 3 gallon fermenter with the apricot but now I'm not sure. I found a video of a guy putting into the keg after a full fermentation. His was a saison instead of a wheat ale but I don't know if that makes a difference. With all the sugar in the product, I feel like a secondary fermentation would be good.

 

[mrskittle]

I went ahead and racked about 2.5 gallons into a secondary with 2oz (by weight) of the Apricot flavor. It smelled fantastic. After about 16 hrs I was a little surprised there was no new krausen at all. I figured that the sugars in the apricot would jump-start the yeast a bit. My intention is to leave it in the secondary for about 3 days then keg it. Once it's carbonated, we'll taste and decide whether or not to add in any of the Brewer's Best extract to achieve the desired taste.

 

[Donoroto]

Even if all 2 oz were sugar, that's not much at all. And I bet it was far less. So no krausen sounds about right.

 

[mrskittle]

I checked again this afternoon and still no krausen but the airlock was bubbling every couple of seconds. The yeast have awoken and are back to work.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Have you thought about running some of the beer off into a cup and dose until taste is about where you want it. Then scale this up to your batch volume.