Liberty Cream Ale

I just purchased the Liberty Cream Ale from Midwest Supplies. My wife and I have decided we want to add some sort of fruit to it, but we're not sure what yet.

Question: When is the best time to add fruit during the fermenting process, and how do you add it? Do you just throw a bunch of raspberries in with the ale, or do they need to be crushed, thrown into a muslin bag, ... ??

I'm still new to this - this will be my second official batch. Thanks in advance!

bt

Here's a thread from just a few days ago. It will help with some options.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/cherries-my-imperial-stout-397812/

If you do a search, you will come up with plenty of threads on this.

It's best done after primary fermentation is finished. I made a strawberry blonde last fall, and I added 8 pounds of fresh strawberries to a 5 gallon batch. Even then, the flavor was subtle, and it certainly conveyed the tartness of not-quite-ripe strawberries. The quality of the fruit you add is certainly a big factor in how it will turn out. That being said, adding extracts or juices, in my opinion, often comes across as overpowering and sometimes artificial; be careful if you take this path.

In my experience it's best to pasteurize them at 120 degrees for 20 minutes (or something like that) with just enough water to cover, then throw them into your secondary fermenter and rack on top. Leave that for 10-14 days and rack to your bottling bucket/keg. You can wrap a nylon or muslin bag around your racking cane to strain it at this point.

I split my batch between strawberry & blueberry. The strawberry came out great with about 1.5 lbs per gallon. Blueberry wasn't very impressive, smells good but no blueberry taste. I used about 1.5 lbs per gallon with it too.

bananas... try it.

Thanks for the advice everyone! This kit should be here before next weekend - I'm planning on brewing Friday. I will keep you posted with what I decide to do!

I brewed a BB kit and added a small amount of caramel extract to the keg after trying it in a glass after it was carbed. I took the keg to a party/bonfire and it was empty within a matter of 2 hours. Everyone who tasted it (including those who say "I don't drink beer") had several glasses of it.