Best ale for fruit additions

[Lgav]

Hello everyone just a question i am going to throw out there. I am interested in what everyone uses for a citrusy fruit beer base. I have been brewing for years and always wanted to try this but have been to scared to try it hate to see all your hard work go to waste because of a infection or not a very tasty brew. Cheers and thanks in advance

 

[Drewfus1]

I use a blonde ale as a base for many of my fruit beers. I brewed both a raspberry and blackberry blonde last summer and they were very tasty. I currently have a strawberry rhubarb witbier bottle conditioning that tasted spectacular at bottling time. Crushed coriander and fresh tangerine peel was added to the last 5 mins of the boil. Then 3lbs of strawberries and 1lb of rhubarb were pasteurized and added after primary fermentation was about 90% finished. Witbiers really lend themselves to tart or citrusy additions IMO.

 

[Nosybear]

Answer to type of ale: Depends on what you're putting in. Strawberries, peaches, blueberries are very subtle flavors and need to be in very pale, lightly hopped beers. Raspberries on the other hand, throw them in a stout and you'll still taste them. I know there will be those who say throw the fruit in. That may work, you may end up with exploding bottles. I recommend pasteurizing the fruit - heat it to 160 degrees and hold for 20 minutes. You can drop the temperature but then the hold time is longer - there are pasteurization resources on the web that can tell you how long to hold the fruit at what temperature to pasteurize it.

 

[Head First]

Answer to type of ale: Depends on what you're putting in. Strawberries, peaches, blueberries are very subtle flavors and need to be in very pale, lightly hopped beers. Raspberries on the other hand, throw them in a stout and you'll still taste them. I know there will be those who say throw the fruit in. That may work, you may end up with exploding bottles. I recommend pasteurizing the fruit - heat it to 160 degrees and hold for 20 minutes. You can drop the temperature but then the hold time is longer - there are pasteurization resources on the web that can tell you how long to hold the fruit at what temperature to pasteurize it.

Agree with all of the above.
Also home canned fruit is ready to go in fermenter from jar if you can your own fruit. Yesterday I sanitized a 5gal paint stainer bag and poured 4qts of peaches into a Saison that was 5 days into fermenting, tied it off and resealed the Fermentor. Will keg when airlock activity is near a stop. Wouldn't bottle at this time because of using sliced fruit.
Would like to add the many flavors of a good Saison, blend well with many fruits or berries. Huckleberry Saison is one of my favorites. Yet still, use a simple base malt recipe and with tart berries a touch of honey malt (3-4 oz tops in 5gal)adds just enough sweetness to help the fruit shine through with any yeast or base beer. To much sweet can ruin it IMO.

 

[Head First]

Sorry but kind of got off of original question of citrusy base. If you are looking for orange peel added to boil that is simple enough but for strong grapefruit or tangerine I would stay mostly with hops for citrus. I have tasted pineapple wheat beer that was very good but not many with just citrus fruits that are not too tart. Once the sugar is gone citrus fruit flavor changes. Lemon drop, Exp. Tangerine, Citra, Centennial, just to name a few all add different citrus flavors that blend well in most any simple base malt wort.