Tweaking extracts

Hello,

So I new the home brewing once again, I haven't done it since I was a younger lad. I have some questions about changing the extract kits you buy from your local brew shop.

I'm brewing my beer in a pail with no air lock. I know there's concerns about air exposure but the guy I bought it from said there's enough CO2 that's generated that it creates a layer to limit air exposure and so far it hasn't ruined a batch. Really I'm also at a point where minimal effort (and expense) will make me reach that next step...

So I've done two batches and I'm going to start my third soon. All the extract cans I've bought have been Coopers. The first was a dark ale where I used maple syrup as my primer and the second I brewed the 2 litres of water with a fruit tea before adding it to the mix. Both turned out great, in fact the second better than the first. My third batch I'd like to experiment with fresh fruit, whatever it may be, whatever I can get from the local farmer's market that's fresh. I've read some books that all say add it in the primary stage (which I think is the only one I'm doing since I go from the pail to bottle) but it doesn't mention anything about quantities or compensation for the sugar. The kits I buy are the standard 23 L kits which call for a 1 kg of sugar. So if I want to add fruit, let's say raspberries or apricots, how much would I add, do I chop them up, do I need to reduce the amount of sugar that I add at the beginning? This is where I'm at a loss.

(I know and will eventually invest in a glass carboy. I like these kits, it's simple and frankly produce a beer that I like. My goal is to become proficient in doing this first before investing more money, I am married afterall.)

The amount of sugar in most fruits doesn't make a noticeable difference in a batch, they are mostly water. 1/2 to 2 kg is about right. 1kg of raspberries would be around 50 gm of sugar.

Berries are best frozen, then blanched to pasteurize. Other fruit should be chopped fine or pureed.

For the "next step", look into getting a kit that contains steeping grains, extract, hops, and yeast. The beer form these kits require no additional sugars or fruit and can produce beer far superior to the Cooper's beer in a can.

beerkrump said:

For the "next step", look into getting a kit that contains steeping grains, extract, hops, and yeast. The beer form these kits require no additional sugars or fruit and can produce beer far superior to the Cooper's beer in a can.

Click to expand...

and with little additional effort

Also look into adding some form of airlock or blowoff tube to your fermenter, it only costs $2 to do either one, your beer willl thank you.

as for raspberries, I hade an awesome batch. I bought fresh berries, froze them, then added after 1 week of fermentation for 7 days. I did not pasturize, they were added to a 7%abv beer.

I modified a cooper's wheat beer kit, basically waiting for the initial fermentation to calm down (about 5-7 days), and then racked it onto 1.5 kilos of raspberries. I used fresh, froze them for a couple of days, then on the day I thawed them and flash pasteurized them (don't remember-something like 10min at 160F). there's threads on here about the specifics. then i let it sit on the berries for 2 weeks before bottling, and the beer is/was awesome. nice, bright yet subtle raspberry aroma and flavor. if i did it again i'd prolly leave it for 3 weeks on the fruit for just a little more flavor. I wanna do mangos next. guess my point is raspberries with a cooper's kit totally works, was really easy, and was awesome. hope this helps-good luck
c

Thanks all for responding. I need to find a different store for those other kits. Another thread recommended not adding the fruit in the primary (although I did read somewhere you could) but to rack into a secondary with the fruit so I think I'll try that. And thank you for the mango suggestion, what an excellent idea!