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ishkabibble · 10-02-2012, 03:01 PM

Greetings! This is my first forum post about anything anywhere.

I aim to brew my second beer this weekend--just the straight-up simple wheat recipe from palmer's book, however, I do want to flavor half of it with mango, and the other half with raspberry--and I'm looking for your sagacity...

1) After I collect my wort, can I just store it overnight in a plastic fermenter so I can brew with it the following day? (Since time is a premium, I was looking to break up the brew day.)

2) Re: fruit additions...I've read that fruit is to be added to a secondary, but is there any particular ratio that works best for 2.5 gallons (since I aim to split a 5 gallon wheat)? And can frozen mangos and raspberries just be put into a muslin bag and tossed in, or do they have to be boiled first?

3) Is the old 1-2-3 adage applicable for just about any ale, e.g. 1 wk primary, 2 in the secondary and three in bottle-conditioning?

4) Also, just out of curiosity, what's the strangest thing you've ever brewed with--addition, or main ingredient?

william_shakes_beer · 10-02-2012, 04:27 PM

Fruit ratios fvary depending on the strength o the fruit flasvor compared to the strength of the u nderlying wort. A very malty grain bill will require ,ore of a particular fruit to acheive the balanvce you'r elooking for. I would suggest you visit the recipi9es section inder fruit beer, find a recipie that ends up with a color similar to your recipie and start there

Fresh fruits have naturally occuring yeasts that may interfere with the fermentation process. It is considered good practive to mash ands boil fresh fruit to ensure nothing undesired is introduced. If you are using a packaged fruit product I would expect that the packaging process to eliminated most bacteria and yeast, although I'm quite sure someone willm come along shortly that insists these products should be boiled as well. Your results may vary.

I always do 4 weeks primary, no secondary, 4 weeks bottle conditioning. If I were adding fruit I'd probabvly let the primary go 2 weeks, take a gravity reading and if it had reached the expected FG, rack to secondary over the crushed fruit for 4 weeks, then bottle.

agentEhrman · 10-03-2012, 03:31 AM

1 pound of fruit per gallon is a great place to start, but shakes beer is absolutely right that it does vary. It also depends how much of the flavor you want. I think boiling it would reduce the aroma and possibly some flavor. If you can keg and force carbonate, juicing the fruit works great! Just add some potassium sorbate and campden before you add the juice to ward off any wild shenanigans.

ishkabibble · 10-03-2012, 01:28 PM

Thanks for the help! I've considered using fruit jam, too, but I figure the high sugar content would result in a ridiculously dry beer. Then again, I have little clue of what I'm talking about. Thanks again!

WoodlandBrew · 10-03-2012, 07:33 PM

Adding the fruit after the highly active fermentation has slowed should avoid the rotten fruit taste. If you pasteurize the fruit by bringing it to about 160 for about 20 minutes the flavor isn't going to be damaged as much as boiling would do and you will have killed the bacteria that could lead to infection. 1 pound per gallon seems to create a very dominant fruit flavor in my experience, but that's not necessarily bad.

ishkabibble · 10-04-2012, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WoodlandBrew

Adding the fruit after the highly active fermentation has slowed should avoid the rotten fruit taste. If you pasteurize the fruit by bringing it to about 160 for about 20 minutes the flavor isn't going to be damaged as much as boiling would do and you will have killed the bacteria that could lead to infection. 1 pound per gallon seems to create a very dominant fruit flavor in my experience, but that's not necessarily bad.

160F to kill the bugs w/o 86ing the flavor is brilliant. i'm tempted just to throw the fruit in frozen--coz i know it'll go nicely into a muslin bag and then the fermenter--but improvising a home-pasteurization really sounds intelligent. i'll never 60F fruit into a muslin bag, will i?

should i use a double-boiler to heat the fruit so as not to scorch it? and i'm sure i should let it cool before placing it gently into the fermenter, right?

WoodlandBrew · 10-04-2012, 01:34 PM

When I do secondary fruit additions I use frozen fruit with a few tablespoons of water in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir often so as not to scorch the fruit like you said. Once it gets to 160 I put the lid on and heat down to low for maybe 20 minutes. Then it cools for a bit, and then the sauce pan, lid and all, in the fridge. Normally I'll do the pasturing in the morning, and then in the evening, when it has cooled, add it to the fermenter.

ishkabibble · 10-05-2012, 01:16 AM

thanks kindly! that's exactly the approach i'm going to take. best o luck on your upcoming raspberry wheat, as well.

WoodlandBrew · 10-06-2012, 11:35 AM

Thanks! You too. Before bottling the fruit flavor really came through. This weekend well be trying it carbed up.