Fruit and Secondary?

rpeters · 01-14-2011, 01:17 AM

So I have started a blueberry cider and plan on raking into secondary on 7.5 lb frozen blueberries. I want to get a sweeter more flavorful cider and want to know if i should kill off the yeast prior to raking to secondary? if not how long should i wait before killing off and how long should i let it sit on fruit before raking off?

CampFireWine · 01-14-2011, 02:42 AM

It worked out great for this guy a while back. I had to rack my brain to find the post again. I would think it would be the same technique for blueberries or cherries.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/how-did-happen-212636/

rpeters · 01-14-2011, 11:13 AM

Thanks, i see no real mention of him killing off the yeast first. I would imagine the slight cold crash mentioned would have only been short term till it warmed again. wouldnt there still be enough yeast to consume the sugars in the secondary?

CampFireWine · 01-14-2011, 11:29 AM

I don't see why you couldn't add campden and sorbate if you want after racking to stabilize it.

rpeters · 01-14-2011, 11:38 AM

Maybe i will give that a shot, just wasnt sure if i need some yeast or not when adding on fruit in secondary. just want to get some drinkable stuff before the live and learn the hard way comes into effect

**dinnerstick** · 01-14-2011, 11:41 AM

i have been pondering this for a while.... does anyone know why it is that fruit flavors in the primary often disappear but added to the secondary (even with yeast still active) they are more likely to stay put? this has been noted by many people using cherries, cranberries, raspberries, even various spices. is it something about the high rate of primary fermentation that somehow alters the flavor molecules? or is that the molecules that we sense as odors/flavors are highly volatile and are driven off and lost as CO2 evolves during fermentation?? enlighten me please

rpeters · 01-14-2011, 02:58 PM

good question, that is basically what im trying to understand and why i dont know if i should kill yeast first or not. im really after a sweeter strong blueberry flavor and not sure if whats left of the yeast is enough to ferment what i add and if it will remove the flavors like the primary does

CampFireWine · 01-14-2011, 05:39 PM

Most of the fruit flavors are on the sweet side and when a wine dries out it becomes more of a tart taste instead of the sweet taste. I don't think the fruit leaves, it just changes taste with changing ph, sugar level, etc. I think it has more to do with the amount of taste buds that can detect sweet versus tart or the way it's detected. I never really had a problem but I think you could get the flavor back by back sweeten and adjusting ph.

rpeters · 01-20-2011, 04:24 PM

So I have moved my cider to the secondary and added 1/2 gallon cider, 1 can apple juice concentrate and 6.5 lb of blueberries, 5 campden tablets and 1 1/4 t potassium sorbate (as directed) however, fermentation seems to have picked back up again (1 bubble every 3 sec) Is this normal and how long would it take for any remaining yeast to stop eatting the sugars? Not sure if i should add more or if i did something wrong or if it just takes a while.

rpeters · 01-20-2011, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpeters

So I have moved my cider to the secondary and added 1/2 gallon cider, 1 can apple juice concentrate and 6.5 lb of blueberries, 5 campden tablets and 1 1/4 t potassium sorbate (as directed) however, fermentation seems to have picked back up again (1 bubble every 3 sec) Is this normal and how long would it take for any remaining yeast to stop eatting the sugars? Not sure if i should add more or if i did something wrong or if it just takes a while.

Make the bubbling stop!!!

Any ideas/feedback