• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Fruit Beer Advice

D

Dr Hop

Hi every one, i'm new to this forum and i was gonna leave an introduction but i cant seem to do it under the correct heading. So i am sort of doing it here!

I have a question. i have been all grain brewing for a while but i am keen try a kreik type fruit beer. I am concerned about when to add the fruit and also what form the fruit should be in.

I presume it should be added during 1st fermentation?

Can the fruit be fresh (Blended) or will this introduce bacteria to the beer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and if i do one and its any good i'll put the recipe out for Beersmith.

Many thanks

Dr Hop.
 
I think that adding fruit for primary fermentation takes away a lot of the fresh, natural fruit flavors I personally enjoy in fruit beers.  The best examples I've tasted add the fruit in secondary.  Also, I think fresh fruit will work fine.  What little I've read on the subject suggests the hops, alcohol and low pH will minimize the effect of bacteria.  Plus, some of the tastiest commercial kriek beers I've tried have a slight sourness to them.  If bacteria changes the flavor a bit, maybe you'll just end up replicating some of those brews...  :)
 
Just to clarify, I mean sourness apart from what sour cherries are going to add in the first place...
 
I have had good success with Oregon Puree's and their 49 oz cans of puree. I made a really nice Raspberry by putting the puree in a 5 gal but I put it in the secondary for about 2 weeks. It turned out really nice and we are enjoying it now.
 
G'day

I did a strawberry wheat beer that wasn't to bad.
I added the fruit on the first ferment and got no bad tastes.

To get the most out of the fruit, freeze it first and then Thor it out before using it.
This breaks down all the cell membrane's releasing more of the juice out of the fruit.
This should work for all fruit.

Cheers  ;D
Greg
 
I made a raspberry wheat adding the crushed berries to my primary fermentation. It was, frankly, awful. The fructose in the berries fermented along with the wort and I got a mixture of (bad) wheat beer and (bad) raspberry wine.

I've not tried it again but my professional brewmaster friend makes a great summer wheat with whatever good ripe fruit he can get at the time (berries, peaches, even plumbs). He says he always adds the crushed fruit just prior to filtering into his serving tank. Translating that to home brewing, I'd say add crushed fruit to the secondary and within a day either keg or bottle. I've had good luck with nylon filter bags in leaving solids of all sorts behind any racking I do. Kreiks aren't perfectly clear anyway so you should get a nice product.

If you bottle, make sure you account for the fructose in the crushed fruit or you'll over carbonate. ;)

I wouldn't count on getting sourness from fruit-borne bacteria. Ferment your wort with the appropriate yeast strain.

Just my 2 speculative cents,

- Hare
 
Thanks for the replies.

I have some cherries that i picked recently. I have frozen them as suggested.

I have a new question, do i need to somehow sterilise these cherries, by boiling them. Although surely this will damage any flavour or aroma. Or can i just add them thawed to the second stage fermentation. they arewashed in cold water before freezing.

Any advice please.
 
Yeah, see what B-I-C said above. Add it not too long before you bottle or keg and hope the alcohol in the finished beer will kill anything nasty.

I was talking to my brewmaster friend at the local brewfest about his raspberry number this season. He just crushed x number of flats of goodly fress berries into the secondary, filtered and pumped to the serving vessels. It was quite tart and refreshing.

- Hare
 
Back
Top