AG70 - Apricot Saison (+ pics)

[jmc]

What happened next?

I made a wheat beer 2 weeks ago (6/1) and so I took the opportunity to made extra wort and used this to top up DJs to minimise head space / reduce potential for oxidation. (I don't want to give the acetobacter too much of an advantage.)
I added about 0.7L per DJ.

I'll take a pic soon and update.

Not sure how long to leave it fermenting on the fruit. It's had about 6 weeks so far.

Pics below from 21st Jan.
2 months from start of brew,
6 weeks of secondary brewing on fruit
15 days after addition of 'top-up' wheat wort which looks to be brewed out now.
Any suggestions for how long I should leave it fermenting on the fruit?

[Jocky]

Love this thread. Can't wait to see the next post.

[jmc]

Love this thread. Can't wait to see the next post.

Cheers Jocky. Not much change recently apart from apricots in D6 dropped about 2 weeks ago.

D6 - 1 x pack dried Apricots (250g) + dregs Cantillon - Gueuze 100% Lambic

With others Apricots are still floating

[jmc]

Lugsy - For your Apricot Pepper Saison.
How did your gallon with the Orval addition end up?
Did Orval brett form a pellicle on the DJ?

My Apricot saison is still in 6 DJs and all have stuff living on surface.
Apricots still floating too in 5 of them. Only exception is D6 (the version with dried Apricots + dregs Cantillon - Gueuze 100% Lambic).

I'm wondering how long to leave DJs before bottling?

[Lugsy]

I have to admit it's still in the DJ! It's not developed a pellicle but it's in a dark brown DJ so visibility isn't great, there were a couple of spots I could see around the edges that looked like colonies but certainly not a covering. It's dropped about 3 points and is tasting pretty good, it has more fruitiness than it did originally so the brett must be doing something. I really should try and get it bottled this week as I've just put a new Saison on so I can crop some yeast from that to get it to carbonate properly.

I would think you can probably bottle yours any time now or you could leave it longer to let the bugs totally break down the fruit but I would imagine that might take a good while yet. You could always bottle a couple of them and leave the rest for longer to see what happens.

[jmc]

I have to admit it's still in the DJ! It's not developed a pellicle but it's in a dark brown DJ so visibility isn't great, there were a couple of spots I could see around the edges that looked like colonies but certainly not a covering. It's dropped about 3 points and is tasting pretty good, it has more fruitiness than it did originally so the brett must be doing something. I really should try and get it bottled this week as I've just put a new Saison on so I can crop some yeast from that to get it to carbonate properly.

I would think you can probably bottle yours any time now or you could leave it longer to let the bugs totally break down the fruit but I would imagine that might take a good while yet. You could always bottle a couple of them and leave the rest for longer to see what happens.

Thanks for the update.
I had to remove belt heater for recent brew and when DJs dropped to 5c fruit dropped too on D1-D5. D6 dropped already.

As I have a saison nearly finished primary I'll use some Saison Dupont yeast from that when bottling.

[A12sam]

I just discovered this thread and was reading with keen interest to discover the outcome! What happened?!

[jmc]

Sorry for delay in getting back to you.

I had mixed results with this.
I'd need to look up notes to be more specific but as I recall two were bottled much earlier than the others and were really nice.

The nice ones spurred me on to make more Apricot Saison. The current one is lovely.

Even though they had fermentation traps over them I think some air got in as a few were too acidic.
With hindsight, and after reading further, I think I left too much space at the top.
I was keen to get a pellicle working, but it got going too well is some of them.

If I was to do it again..
* Don't wait for fruit to sink before racking. - In some cases they fruit never sank, even after 18 months.
* Use bubbler fermentation locks rather than cylindrical ones. They take much longer to dry out. Check them regularly.
* After main fermentation over ensure no more than an inch of head space, with small surface area for pellicle to work