Adjunct
Fruit purée
Whole fruit or purée added during or after fermentation, contributing flavour, colour, acidity and its own fermentable sugar.
Fruit brings its own fermentable sugar, and this is the one adjunct where getting it wrong is a safety question rather than a flavour one. Added after primary fermentation, the yeast starts again on the fructose and glucose the fruit carries, raising the final ABV above what the recipe predicted and, in a sealed can or bottle, building pressure until the package fails.
Purée is preferred over whole fruit at commercial scale because it is pasteurised, consistent and far easier to dose. What it does not do is taste like the fruit at full strength: much of the aroma is lost with the carbon dioxide as fermentation proceeds, which is why fruit beers are often dosed at rates that sound implausible.
What it is for
Fruit. Brings flavour and its own fermentable sugar, so it changes the strength and the finish as well as the aroma.
- Adds fruit flavour, aroma, colour and acidity
Whether it ferments
| Fermentable | Yes — it carries sugar the yeast will take, so it raises the final strength and dries the finish rather than sweetening it. Added after primary fermentation it will restart one, which is a packaging hazard as well as a recipe problem. |
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Fruit sugar ferments, so the finished beer is drier and stronger than the base beer alone. Added after packaging or to an unstabilised beer it will continue fermenting and can produce gushing or bursting bottles.
What it contributes
The contribution of the ingredient, not the profile of a finished beer. How much of it reaches the glass depends on quantity, timing and what else is in the recipe.
Styles it defines
- Milkshake IPA
A hazy IPA with lactose and fruit added for sweetness and a fuller, creamier body.
- Fruit lambic
Lambic refermented on whole fruit — traditionally sour cherry or raspberry — producing a dry, tart, intensely fruity beer.
- Kettle sour
Beer soured with Lactobacillus in the kettle over hours rather than months, then boiled and fermented normally — usually fruited.
Styles where this is characteristic rather than optional. Plenty of other beers use it — these are the ones that would not be themselves without it.