How to use fresh, whole fruit

Hi All,

I've got access to inexpensive frozen raspberries and was thinking of making a raspberry wheat or stout.

But, seeing as I want to add it to the secondary and not primary fermenter (to get as much raspberry goodness as possbile), I'm wondering how to go about "sanitizing" the fruit before adding to the secondary.. Or, since it's already been frozen, is that enough?

Thanks,
Awfers


PS: I've used to brew beer professionally, but has to take a break for 10 years and am now getting back into it slowly (starting over with Extract and growing my equipment base as I can afford). I must admit, I never brewed with fruit.. Pumpkin and other stuff yes, but never fruit...


PPS: I just realized this should go under "Recipes/Ingredients"... Is there any way to move it?

If the berries are commercial, they were probably blanched or sanitized in some other fashion prior to packing. So, you can just thaw and put them in the secondary.

I wash & freeze my blackberries, then pasteurize them before use. This also maximizes cell disruption.

You can PM a moderator to get it moved.

I pasteurize my frozen berries at approx 165 deg F for 10 minutes. Cool and dump in my secondary using a funnel, then rack from primary. I actually did this two days ago for my raspberry ale!

Thanks guys.. will defrost, pasteurize and add them to the secondary

Cheers!
Awfers

PS: also thanks to the Movers

what exactly do you mean by pastuerizing them?

what exactly do you mean by pastuerizing them?

Click to expand...

heat to 161degrees F or 71.7C for 15-20 seconds

Much easier than I thought. Thanks....How many peaches should I use to add to a 5 gallon batch of a Pale Ale?

Nobody caught this? Is it fresh or is it frozen?

The peaches would be fresh and am planning to add them in my secondary

Slappy White said:

The peaches would be fresh and am planning to add them in my secondary

Click to expand...

Sorry, that was to the OP, title says fresh fruit and then in the message body the berries are frozen. Just joking around.

Just out of curiosity; do you add a little water to the fruit when you pasteurize it?

Also, how do you ensure good mixing of the fruit with the beer? Is the racking process sufficient for this or do you give the secondary a good swirl?

Just rack directly ontop of the fruit. The sugars in the fruit will ferment out and that action will mix it all up.

Does anyone know how much fruit is a good amount for a five gallon batch?

I have never done a peach beer. But I would suggest starting with 2 pounds for five gallons, then you can tweak from there on subsequent batches.

Would cutting up fresh peaches and pastuerizing them do the trick...Also should i put them in first and then rack on top...i've heard of ppl dropping the fruit in after you rack also, so just wondering what would give the best results.
Thanks

Slappy White said:

Does anyone know how much fruit is a good amount for a five gallon batch?

Click to expand...

I believe that, for a fair taste of fruit, you can go with 1lb fruit per gallon of beer. That's based on racking the beer onto the fruit in secondary. I'm not sure how flavor carries through a primary fermentation, and I suspect it'll kill a lot of it.

jpsloan said:

I believe that, for a fair taste of fruit, you can go with 1lb fruit per gallon of beer. That's based on racking the beer onto the fruit in secondary. I'm not sure how flavor carries through a primary fermentation, and I suspect it'll kill a lot of it.

Click to expand...

1lb. per gallon will give you a STRONG fruit flavor. It will be more fruit than beer at that point, unless you use a non-potent fruit like blueberries, etc. With peach I would say you could experiment up to higher fruit ratios if you are going for a fruit beer. However, if you are looking for a beer with some fruit flavor, I would start low and work your way up on the ratios. Or you could say to hell with it, and dump a random amount of fruit in and see what happens.

I rack onto a bed of fruit because it is easier and you don't have to mess around with volume calculations to make sure you aren't overflowing your carboy.

Good luck!!!! and happy fruiting

I think 4-5 pound of fresh/frozen peaches would give a nice, yet not over-powering flavor. Ive done a peach recently and used a combo puree/fresh peaches and found it to be a mild fruit in brewing terms.

Now, if you were adding raspberries (or another strong flavored fruit), Id cut back to the neighborhood of 2lbs.

Just to update:

I added 420 grams (+/- 1 pound) of frozen raspberries to my primary (after pasteurizing at 170°F for 10+ minutes).

Here's the recipe:

1.5kg LME (Munton's Irish Stout)
1kg DME black Malt
1kg DME Dark Malt

1/2 oz Cascade (boil)
1/2 oz Fuggles (10 mins)

420g frozen raspberries, pasteurized at 170°F for 10+ minutes (added straight to fermenter filled with 15 liters chilled brewing water, then chilled high-gravity wort added)

Safeale S-04 yeast (dry)

Fermentation kicked off after 4 hours (!!!)

Yield : 23.5 litres


Status : Still fermenting.. Can't wait

Welp.... it done got bottled on Sunday... and I couldn't resist tasting it this evening..


mmmm.. wonderful..... deep and dark with a hint of raspberry.. lingering finish of dark chocolate and raspberry...

Can't wait until it's "ready"..

Darker malt than I was expecting... interesting.

Slappy White said:

Does anyone know how much fruit is a good amount for a five gallon batch?

Click to expand...

I would do about 3 pounds just because you can buy a can of puree at 3lbs and add that to the secondary.

Thats what I used anyway. I suggest between 2-3 lbs.

- WW