I plan on making an apple ale. The questions I have are: What are the best apples to use, should they be cut in chunks or mashed up, should they be added when brewing or fermenting and if when brewing, how long. I thought about using extract but would rather try the actual apple instead. Any help would be appreciated.

Howdy,

I've never actually heard of anyone making Apple Ale using actual chunks of apple. It sounds like an interesting batch. I have heard of people using apple cider or apple juice (I'd probably go with the cider since it's not pasteurized and doesn't have preservatives). The cider is usually added when racked to secondary fermentation. My guess would be that if you were using actual apples, that that would be the time to add them, especially if you want it to be more of a beer rather than a hard cider.

I can't imagine that the type of apple makes too much of a difference except in the taste. There might be differences in the sugar content of different types of apples. My advice would be to simply choose the type of apples that you like to eat.

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to use actual apples? If you're choosing between chunks and mashed I'd definitely go with mashed. I feel like that would release more of the sugars. Let us know how that turns out.

Matt

I have read on several wine making sites that the more sour apples make better wine. I dont know if the same philosophy applies to beer though.

I fermented a strawberry on the pulp a couple of years ago. It came out pretty good. I prepared a simple strawberry wine with an sg of 1.050 and let it set overnight on pectin enzyme and campden tabs. Then after cooling the wort down combined the two. Used a 2 stage ferment. The beer had a great smell to it. If you cant press the apples I dont see why you cant do the same.