Apricot Ale

Classification: fruit beer, apricot ale, extract

Source: Michael Bass (lg562@koshland.pnl.gov) Issue #743, 10/18/91

How did it turn out? It was a fine light ale. Nice golden amber color with a good hop bite. About half way through a mug, I start noticing the taste of cloves. But I didn't notice any apricot taste. I think it would be worth trying it again only letting the apricots sit in the primary fermentor. At least that's what I'd try next.

Ingredients:

4--1/2 pounds light dry malt extract
1 pound, German pilsner malt (steeped at 150 F for 1 hour)
1/4 teaspoon, Irish moss
1/2 teaspoon, salt
1 ounce, Chinook hops (12.2% alpha)
1/2 ounce, Mt. Hood hops (5.3% alpha)
2 1/2 pounds, frozen, pitted, halved apricots
1 packet, ale yeast
3/4 cup, corn sugar for bottling

Procedure:

Steep pilsner malt at 150 degrees for 1 hour. Strain and sparge grain. Add malt extract. Bring to boil and boile for 60 minutes. Add 1 ounce Chinook hops at 30 minutes. Add Mt. Hood in the last 2 minutes. The apricots were added at the end of the boil. The wort was then sparged into the primary fermentor, say about 10 minutes after the apricots were added. The wort was cooled over night and the yeast was pitched in the morning. After a week, the beer was racked to the secondary. Here it rested for one month (either I'm busy or patient; I wish I could say the latter) before bottling.

Specifics:

O.G.: 1.050
F.G.: 1.015
Primary Ferment: 1 week
Secondary Ferment: 1 month