pasteurizing fruit Help?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

WheaYaAt

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
205
Reaction score
0
Location
New Orleans, Louisiana
can someone please tell me the best way to pasteurized my figs. I am planning to add them to the secondary in the next couple days. I had read holding fruit at 160f to 170f a with a little water for 20 minutes, is a good way but, you take the risk of releasing pectin gel. Has anyone else had this affect them when steeping/ pasteurizing their fruit? thank you for any help on this subject.
 
I've put blueberries, oranges and pineapple into secondary on a wheat with no problems. I made sure all surfaces and containers I worked with were sanitized as well as my hands and utensils. What I did was bring fruit to room temp, boil some water for a few minutes, cool to 180-185, place the fruit into a strainer and slowly pour the water over it making sure all surfaces were in contact with the water. Most nasties die at 180* that may be on the fruit and pectin should not be much of an issue. The Pin-Ora wheat I made is actually too clear for a wheat brew. Good luck.
 
well yeah thanks bro, but one more question if you don't mind? should i work the figs in a food processor before or after i do the hot wash?? i am assuming after thanks again
 
Yeah..... I was thinking about how to get the most flavor out of the figs. I wouldn't use a food processor. I've heard not to, no direct experience tho. Maybe dice them up in, say 1/4 inch chunks then do the water thing. On the pectin ? in the other thread, when I did my wheats a couple of very experienced brewers on another forum or two indicated I did not need to use it, so I didn't. I'm entering the Pin-Ora wheat into a comp here in another month.
 
I know this is old, but I wanted to add my $0.02 since this comes up on Google when you search for pasteurizing fruit for beer. My wife is gluten intolerant so I've had to play with non-traditional ingredients quite a bit. I've probably now made two dozen beers with raspberries, blackberries, or both raspberries and blackberries.

1) If you want a really fruity flavor, you need to add the fruit in the secondary. I don't want a really fruity flavor. I'm looking for more of a note, not the whole song. The quantity of fruit is as important as when you add the fruit. So I add my fruit at the end of the boil since I'm going for a specific flavor.

2) I have only played with raspberries and blackberries, so I don't know how other fruits react, but what I like to do is:
a) Freeze the fruit,
b) When I start the beer I pull the fruit out of the freezer and set it with my other ingredients,
c) I don't boil more than than 2 gal for a 5gal batch (I just don't have the equipment), so when the boil is done, I turn the stove off, and add some water to bring the temp down to 200*,
d) I add the fruit. If I only add a pound it brings the wort down to about 180*, which is on the high side but has been fine. If I add more than 1lb it brings the temp down more. I watch the temp to make sure I stay above 160*.
e) I keep the temp between 160-180* for 15min.
f) I then cool and pitch as normal.

I play with sorghum since I brew GF (sorghum makes cloudy beers). But, when I use just rice or do a non-GF brew, my beers come out crystal clear (no pectin haze).

For this past winter I made a (non-GF) milk stout with chocolate (powder and nibs) and 1lb of raspberries and 1lb of blackberries. It was fantastic.
 
Back
Top