CS8 - Peaches'n'Cream

[Martin Bridges]

I'd been thinking about brewing a beer with fruit for some time and to be honest this one started with the name. As the name suggests, it's a Cream Ale with peaches added to the secondary. It's a bit (OK, very) hazy due to the pectin in the peaches, but I'm pretty happy with how it tastes. I hope you lot like it too.

Peaches'n'Cream - Cream ale with peaches

20 litre batch

2.81 kg Gladfields Pale Ale malt

0.7kg Flaked maize

0.14kg CaraPils

0.07kg Torrified Wheat

0.28kg Dextrose (added to the boil)

Mashed at 67 degrees, no water adjustments

60 minute boil

8g Pacific Gem @ 60 mins

2g Pacific Gem @ 15

Fermented with Wyeast 1338 European Ale yeast at 18 degrees

OG was 1.046

After primary fermentation was complete I added 3kg of NZ peach pulp. I bought peaches, removed the stones, quartered them and simmered in a small amount of water for 15 mins. I then cooled the pulp and added to the secondary fermenter before racking the beer onto it. If I did this again I'd consider using a muslin bag, and maybe adding some pectinase enzyme to help clear the beer. I then left the beer for a week before crash cooling and kegging.

[Tilt]

Good to catch up briefly yesterday Martin.  I'm looking forward to learning a wee bit more about fruit beers from this one - particularly as I took 5kg of guavas off my tree in the backyard today and shoved them in the freezer for dealing with sometime over winter.

[John H]

I guess saying that this is my favorite fruit beer I have ever tasted sounds better than this is the second fruit beer I have ever had.

Looks like a murky weiss with a razor thin head

Lovely fresh peach aroma

Refreshing and dry peachy malt flavor

Delicious burps

Enjoyed this one - Thanks for sharing

[Matt Smith]

Thanks for sharing this Martin!

My immediate reaction to this was of surprise at how subtle the peach character was. For some reason I was expecting the peach to be alot stronger. To be honest I probably would not have figured out there was peaches in here had I not known, I could have confused it with a combination of esters and hop character. I found it reminiscent of a hefeweizen actually (all of this most probably speaks more to my unsophisticated palate rather than the success of your peach extraction)

Interested to hear how other people perceive the peach character.

Aside from all that, a really nice refreshing beer thanks !

[SR]

Pale apricot colour

Cloudy & thick looking as it pours

No head

Peach on the nose with a little bit of warm/sharpness

Light, dry, tart, sour 

Hardly any residual sweetness (if at all) nice dry finish

Tangy/sour like a wheat beer

Fruity, spritzy burps

There is a flavour detectable on the nose and tongue, but we can't agree on what it is or how to describe it, however, this flavour is balanced by the sourness of the beer 

Not much hop character, and you wouldn't want much anyway

A refreshing beverage!  A keg wouldn't last long in summer...

[Adrian Tayler]

First beer of the case swap for me.

 

Pours hazy,almost looks like a ginger beer... no head at all. ever so slight fizz upon cracking the lid..

 

Aroma, if you sniff hard ehough you can catch the peach, otherwise very mild.

 

Flavour.. well, it is the first peach ale I have ever tried and it is delicious.. nice peach flavours amoungst the flavour profile which is perfectly balanced to say the least..

 

Overall, a sensational drop and I would easily spend a session or nine on this.. well done.

 

my only gripe would be the level of carbonation, I would have liked more..

 

[Haish]

Pours a murky pale gold with no head. Peach aroma on the nose but not as strong as I was expecting. Taste is peach with not much else, hint of malt sweetness, touch of dry grainyness/corn on the finish.

Perfect lawnmower beer. I reckon the peach would go really well with something with more yeast character, a wit, hefe or saison for example. Some pectinase would definitely help clear it up. Cheers for the beer Martin!

[Tilt]

Had this tonight accompanying a home cooked butter chicken.  A solid accompaniment to a mild flavoured sweet curry.  My comments mirror others above - and I was also surprised at the timidity of the peach aroma and flavour.  This is a good lesson for me as I'd want a stronger fruit presence in something I brew.  The other observation I'd make is that the carbing was lowish and I'd wonder if the fruit would pop a bit more with more fizz?  Thanks Martin, appreciate the chance to try this beer and appreciate the thought and attention you've put into it.  Cheers

[Stu H]

Now I've gotten over my cold, I can get back on the tasting horse!

Righto - poured straw colour, with virtually no head. Quite yeasty on the nose, with the slightest hint of peach. However as soon as it's in my mouth it totally tastes of cooked canned peaches. Yum! Medium to light mouthfeel for me, and surprisingly zesty and carbonated given the lack of head. Quite light on the bitterness, how many IBUs was it?

I think this would be a real hit in the summer with people who didn't know much about homebrew/craft beer - especially if you managed to make it clear! Yum thanks Martin.

[Richard Jack]

Enjoyed this one night before last. It has stood in the fridge since arrival to try and clear it some... no dice :)

Pours pale hazy straw with almost no head.

Smells crazy similar to canned peaches, and the syrup they come floating in, but light, dry and tart in the mouth. The tartness actually reminds me a bit of nectarines. peach becomes more and more prominent as it warms.

Overall, pretty delicious. Like others have said, a real lawnmower drop. I wonder about cooking the peach though, what was the rationale for this? Sterilisation? I wonder how much it changed the flavour of the peaches. Also curious to know if you fined before kegging?

Cheers.

[Martin Bridges]

Thanks Richard. Yes, I gave the peaches a quick blast of heat to sanitise. I didn't want to create a wild yeast beer. I fined with gelatin, but it has obviously had no effect. I drew some off the keg last night and it's still hazy as hell. If I do it again I'll use some pectinase.

Actually drank a pint of this last night for the first time in ages as I was bottling off a couple of litres to bring to the office. I need the space in the keg fridge so I was hoping it would kick the keg but it didn't. The peach was definitely present for me, though not as present as I would like. I'd love to have a keg of this around for a hot summer's day, but the peaches are a bit pricey at that time of year.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

[Dan]

This one went down on the weekend. Like Richard, I wanted to see if a month in the cellar would help clear things up a bit...no such luck.

I poured it from a bit of height and got some head that lasted about 10 seconds, but it had a nice spritzy carb to it regardless.

Nice golden straw colour - if a bit cloudy.

Peaches in the aroma.

Quite light in taste, with a dry finish. Peaches came through in the taste as well.

Personally, I would have liked a little more body - but like everyone has said, it would great in summer and I agree.

Enjoyed it none-the-less.

Cheers for sharing!