A couple fruit beer questions

Some yahoo at the LHBS told me that I dont want to bottle fruit beer. Is there any truth to this?

Also, if I was making a 5 gallon batch of a fruit beer where I added fruit to the secondary fermenter, how big of a carboy would I want for the secondary fermentation?

Also, what to you prefer to do, pasteurize 0r just add the fresh fruit to the secondary fermenter? Should I be freezing it? Or will blending it in my vitamixer do the job of breaking down the cell walls?

Any favorite recipes? I'm thinking maybe a blackberry wheat, blackberry ipa, or grapefruit pale ale.

Thanks!

mcjake said:

Some yahoo at the LHBS told me that I dont want to bottle fruit beer. Is there any truth to this?

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Just be sure that it's COMPLETELY done fermenting. Some fruits have complex sugars take a while to ferment. Bottle too soon and you could get a bottle bomb.

mcjake said:

Also, if I was making a 5 gallon batch of a fruit beer where I added fruit to the secondary fermenter, how big of a carboy would I want for the secondary fermentation?

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As big as you need. I mean, how much fruit are you adding here? If you're putting in a 3lb can of Oregon Fruit puree, you don't need a bigger carboy at all. If you're putting in 15lb of fresh strawberries, that's a different story.

mcjake said:

Also, what to you prefer to do, pasteurize 0r just add the fresh fruit to the secondary fermenter? Should I be freezing it? Or will blending it in my vitamixer do the job of breaking down the cell walls?

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I prefer Oregon fruit puree because you don't have to worry much about sanitation, and it's already in a juicy usable format. I wouldn't put it in your mixer, or you're sure to infect it, unless you clean and sanitize that mixer withing an inch of its life. If you're using whole fruit, freezing will help, but you still have to sanitize the fresh fruit somehow.

mcjake said:

Any favorite recipes? I'm thinking maybe a blackberry wheat, blackberry ipa, or grapefruit pale ale.
Thanks!

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I've only made a Magic Hat #9 clone, but for godsake don't make a grapefruit pale ale. Remember that fructose is 100% fermentable, so all of the sweetness of the grapefruit will be consumed, and you'll be left with something that tastes delightfully like stomach acid.