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Valkyrie-M1 · 07-25-2012, 01:04 AM

So I'm trying my first "fruit flavored" summer beer. I made a nice pale ale and am planning on adding about 2# of fresh raspberries. I'm wondering if there is a common practice for adding fresh fruit to beer. I'm considering blanching them for a couple of minutes first. I'm also tempted to just throw them in raw... any suggestions?

Happy brewing, for when we brew, we can DRINK!!

**Beer_me_plz** · 07-25-2012, 01:11 AM

Freeze them over night and then thaw them. Add pectin enzyme and campden tablet. Let set for 10 or so hours then add to secondary. Rack brew on top...That's what I'd do.

lumpher · 07-25-2012, 01:13 AM

steep them in water 170-180 for 15 minutes. that's what i do, and never had problems. you throw them in as is, you'll get an infection. sustained temps higher than 160 for 10 minutes kill infections. 10 minutes works, so go 15. throw the water in too, if you feel like it. i do

**Beer_me_plz** · 07-25-2012, 01:32 AM

Pectic enzyme helps extract more juice and prevents pectin haze, campden tablets kill the wild yeast and prevent oxidation. Freezing simply helps break down the cell walls of the fruit. This will give you much better juice extraction. Heating the fruit can actually harden the pectin walls in the fruit's cells and cause your beer to be cloudy. If its a cloudy wheat beer or you don't really care then it ain't no problem then! But I certainly wouldn't just throw them in there. oh and make sure they are ripe!

I get my methods from making fruit wines. I've never pasteurized my fruit and I've never had any problems. If you want to go an easy route you could just try fruit extracts.

**Beer_me_plz** · 07-25-2012, 01:37 AM

Haha basically, there are a thousand ways to do anything and everything. Just pick what sounds best by researching and doing what you think makes sense. Just don't break any basic rules Like introducing contaminates to your brew and you'll be fine. I know some people that just throw fruit in a blender with vodka and dump the whole thing in. Good luck!

**Boo-urns** · 07-25-2012, 02:30 PM

When I made my cherry wheat with fresh cherries, i just pitted/washed froze/thaw dumped them into secondary. RDWHAHB. No infections and the beer turned out great!

**Beer_me_plz** · 07-25-2012, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boo-urns

When I made my cherry wheat with fresh cherries, i just pitted/washed froze/thaw dumped them into secondary. RDWHAHB. No infections and the beer turned out great!

Since the beer is already fermented you don't have to worry too much about the wild yeast. Plus I would imagine healthy ripe fruit is mostly free of contaminants if washed thoroughly. The fruit produces its own natural antioxidants and preservatives such as vitamin c which protects it from infection.

Given that, I still use campden. One benefit of using campden tablets in wine making is to kill bacteria along with the wild yeast. This gives the wine yeast a huge leg up. It may not be 100% necessary in beer but I'm super cautious about adding anything to secondary. It's lower alcohol content and residual sugars makes it more susceptible to infections. At least a good soak in vodka to be safe. Then freeze and thaw.

Like Boo-urns said relax and don't worry. Whatever method you choose makes your beer unique to you. To me that's the fun part.

**timmah84** · 07-25-2012, 03:42 PM

I second the use of campden tablets. I am currently sanitizing 48 oz of raspberries for my beer ...I crushed half a tablet and mixed it with warm water then poured it over the raspberries, put some foil on top and threw it in the fridge. I'll be racking tonight...24 hour duration is enough. The foil will allow the sulfites to evaporate off.

**Boo-urns** · 07-26-2012, 05:18 AM

Does campden tablets turn the fruit white? I thought i heard an odd story about that, which is why I was chucked them in the secondary. I wasn't sure the correct method to use them.

**timmah84** · 07-26-2012, 02:18 PM

Yeah, it does slightly turn them white. I just use a half tablet with 48 oz, and it should be fine. The flavors are still there. The last time I made my raspberry beer, the fruit was mostly white, but the smell and taste of the beer is delicious!