Adding Apple Pie filling to a Dunkelweizen

Nightwulf1974

Hey all,
Mostly a lurker in the past, but I want to ask you all for opinions. I am getting ready to brew my fall Dunkelweizen recipe that I've made a few years now and tastes wonderful. For a 3.5 gallon batch, the recipe is:
4 lbs. Wheat malt
3 lbs. Dark Munich malt
5.4 oz. Melanoidin Malt
5.4 oz. Special B
1.2 oz. Carafa II
11 oz. Rice hulls
.6 oz. Hallertauer hops 60 min.
Wyeast 3068
My question is that this year I wanted to try and add the essence of apple pie. I was wondering if adding apple pie filling to the mash would work in this recipe. Most of the fillings available have Apples, Water, Modified Food Starch, Lemon Juice, Cinnamon, Citric Acid, and Salt as the ingredients. Not entirely sure if any of these ingredients are questionable - I'm looking at you Citric Acid and lemon juice. Am I crazy that adding this during the mash would yield any of that essence at all? I'm sure this could be potentially added to the primary after the initial fermentation? (I don't secondary). Essentially, just want to see if this is even a good idea worth trying or to simply use spices to get a hint of that apple pie essence and just add those during the last 10-15 min of the boil.
FYI - a lot of these fillings come in 16oz or 32oz jars.
Thanks!
Nightwulf1974

AlexKay

This is what I would do!

aceluby

I don't think you'll get much flavor from the mash. I've added 3 cups of fruit the last 10 minutes of a boil to a 1 gallon batch and got basically nothing. With pie filling you also really don't know how much spice is in there either. So I would look at maybe an apple pie beer recipe (something like this? Apple Pie Ale | Fruit Beer All Grain Beer Recipe | Brewer's Friend), then decrease the amount of apple/spice to where you think you'll get a hint vs a full beer. Maybe start w/ 1/4 of the other recipe, see if it's what you want, and adjust the next batch from there. That's what I'd do if I wanted to make that kind of beer.

Nightwulf1974

Noted. Might just take this route and use a light hand. I don't want it to overtake the beer, just have a hint.

Nightwulf1974

Good point, I don't know and I certainly don't want to just toss it in there if it doesn't yield any flavor at all. It would up the ABV, but then I would fear it would dry out the beer too much also. Thanks for the advice. I might just use a light hand and put some spices in at the end of the boil. I could also use something like this:
Amazon.com: OliveNation Premium Apple Extract - 4 ounces - Derived from fresh apple peels - baking-extracts-and-flavorings : Grocery & Gourmet Food
Maybe use that at bottling to taste and see how that goes. It's only alcohol, water and natural flavors. Either way, I appreciate your comment.
~ Nightwulf1974

Dr_Jeff

Consider just adding the apple pie spice(from the spice section in the grocery store) to the fermenter a couple of days before bottling.

Nightwulf1974

Yep, also an option. I am starting to like the extract option, as I only bottle at the moment. More controllable. Not necessarily the option I linked, but something along those lines.

Dr_Jeff

I made a 2.5 gallon keg of apple pie moonshine a number of years ago(apple juice, everclear and apple pie spice), I've just been topping the keg up with apple juice and everclear from time to time. The pie spice is still noticeable.

Bobby_M

I would start by grabbing a commercial dunkelweisse and dosing a glass with cinnamon before I went any further. If that tastes good, add a splash of apple juice to see if the apple thing works with the banana. If it does, try apple and cinnamon together. I have a feeling like it's going to get busy quick.

Nightwulf1974

And that is EXACTLY what I am going to to. Great idea and didn't even cross my mind. I'm not trying to alter the profile of the beer too much, I just wanted a little hint of apple lurking in the background. Thanks for the reply and suggestion!
~Nightwulf1974