Fruit Sanitation and Pectin Question

Hello,

After brewing my first beer, a delicious Euro Brown Ale, I decided to do a lot of researching on Home Brew Forums and decided to do a Blackberry Wheat. Its a pretty standard wheat recipe with Ale yeast. Its currently in primary and will bubble along for a few days. I plan on picking up five lbs of fresh blackberries. I have read a bunch of different articles about sanitizing them. Here's what I'm thinking:

First day I get the berries, I will soak them in vinegar for a few minutes. I have read this is an excellent way to kill most (if not all) wild yeasts. I will then rinse and freeze them for a couple days, then mash them. I also have an emerrsion blender. I could blend it really well, but I am afraid of extra O2 being added. I will then rack on top of the berries.

I've been told to add pectin. Is it okay to add this directly with the berries? Also, what do you all think about the vinegar idea? Cheers!

Ive always added stuff (coffee beans, vanilla beans, hops, any non sanitized agricultural product) straight into the secondary without any issue. The should be enough alcohol to at least prevent other things from growing at that point. Id stay away from the vinegar completely either way.

Skip the vinegar... Freeze and mash them up, add them in a sanitized bowl or blender with some vodka and make a slushy. Then add that to the carboy. The alcohol in the beer should be enough but the vodka bath can't hurt.

Thanks. I've heard of the vodka idea. Has anyone used bourbon instead? Not a lot, but enough to get a hint of it with the blackberry sounds delicious.

Bricoop said:

Thanks. I've heard of the vodka idea. Has anyone used bourbon instead? Not a lot, but enough to get a hint of it with the blackberry sounds delicious.

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Yea. I have a friend that soaks his oak chips in bourbon before adding them to his brew. It's not fruit but still the same concept. Sanitation and flavor.

You don't want to add pectin, but maybe pectinase (aka pectic enzyme) - this breaks down the naturally occurring pectin in the fruit. Pectin can cause haze, especially if you heat the fruit (pectin is what causes fruits to gel when making jelly/jam)

JLem said:

You don't want to add pectin, but maybe pectinase (aka pectic enzyme) - this breaks down the naturally occurring pectin in the fruit. Pectin can cause haze, especially if you heat the fruit (pectin is what causes fruits to gel when making jelly/jam)

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Thanks. I'm going to not heat the fruit. I may decide to exclude the pectic enzyme. Yesterday it blew the airlock off the Carboy when I was at work, what a mess. Luckily fermentation was still going strong when I got home, hoping that kept out all the wild yeasts. I'll be using a blowo ff tube going fwd. Thanks for all the info guys. I'm going to do the second in a bucket. Just, rack the beer on top of the mashed berry bourbon mixture. and leave for 3-4 weeks. I imagine this will start another fermentation cycle.

Yeah, ive learnes my lesson and always use a blowoff on my primaries.

RainyDay said:

Yeah, ive learnes my lesson and always use a blowoff on my primaries.

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If you're using a bucket, you could also just leave the lid "unlatched" for the first couple of days when fermentation is really going. Once it dies down, just snap the lid down for the duration of the fermentation.

JLem said:

If you're using a bucket, you could also just leave the lid "unlatched" for the first couple of days when fermentation is really going. Once it dies down, just snap the lid down for the duration of the fermentation.

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That's a good idea. I have done these batches in Carboys, but definitely looking at other methods with these active fermenters. Next in line is an IPA which I'll use an overflow for.

So little change of plans. The beer has been in primary for 2 weeks. Longer than I wanted, but whatcha gonna do when work makes you travel? The farmers market didnt have any blackberries so I ended up buying a flat of Strawberries. My plan for the strawberries is to wash 6-7lbs with warm water, cut the tops off, chop(medium), add to a ziplock, add some bourbon to the ziplock, freeze for 2 days then place in a secondary bucket and rack on top, let sit for about 3 weeks.

Anybody see any issues with the plan? Thanks guys!

My process with fruit is different but there many ways to do one task. Just for thoroughness, I will post my process when it comes to adding fruit.
Stem and clean your fruit. Freeze the fruit for a few days and then remove. I let it thaw and then mash with potato masher or blend with my immersion blender depending on the fruit I am using. Blackberries/Strawberries, I would blend and then strain to remove the seeds. I then add Pectic enzyme to reduce the "fruit haze" and any coagulation caused by pectin; this also helps break down the fruit more. After 24 hours, I add a campden tablet that has been crushed (to kill wild yeasts) and stir and leave uncovered for 24 hours. This allows the campden to evaporate. I add the fruit to the secondary and then rack the beer to that.

I am curious to see how that bourbon tastes in a wheat beer. so please let me know.

My understanding is if the berries aren't heated the pectic haze won't occur. It's about 5-6lbs of berries with about 6 shots of booze, maybe a little more. I might rack tonight as I feel a full evening of freezing and booze soaking should sufficiently break the cell membrane and disinfect.

For anyone else that has done a strawberry brew and racked on top of berries in secondary, how vigorous was the fermentation?

Finally bottled today. It spent 10 days in primary and the rest of the time in secondary. Lots of strawberry flavor with not too much sweetness. I'll give another update after its carbed. I haven't been able to find a thread like this on here, hope this gives you all some more on fresh fruit and bourbon brewing. Cheers