Adding fruit to Secondary.

I am thinking of adding some fruit to a cream ale I have in the primary right now. Should I add the fruit to the secondary and let sit at 68 degrees for a few days, then cold crash it for 2 weeks? Or should I add the fruit to the secondary and cold crash right away? Do I need to bring the secondary back up to room temperature before I bottle?

let the beer sit on the fruit for at least a week before you cold crash and rack

adding the fruit will add additonal sugars and restart fermentation, if you cold crash and dont let those sugars ferment you could be asking for bottle bombs

I've got a 1 gallon experimental blueberry ale in the secondary right now. I kept the beer in the primary for 8 days then racked onto 1lb of thawed (frozen) blueberries. I didn't watch closely but for at least the first 24 hours I had re-activated fermentation and had very slow activity in the airlock. I've kept the batch in the basement off the floor the entire time covered with a wool sweater. I don't know the exact temperature, just a bit warmer than average basement temperature. Perhaps after you add the fruit, you should have the hydrometer help you in deciding when to cold crash?

Keep us posted with what you decide to do.

Curt

I think I will add the fruit to the secondary for a week. Then I will cold crash. I was thinking of blueberries, or orange, or strawberries, or bananas. Maybe a combination.

Sounds good, a mix of blueberries and strawberries sounds like it could make an interesting flavor. I may have to try something like that myself.

Should I boil the fruit before I put in the secondary?

I did not boil the fruit because I've heard that it causes the fruit to release something that will cause the beer to be hazy. I just heated mine up until the blueberries were good and thawed out.

Well I ended up boiling it. I put about 3 lbs of strawberries and 1 lb of blueberries. It smelled really good while boiling. I then put the berries along with the water into the glass carboy. Then I put foil over it. Then I put in the fridge to cool down the berries. Next I added the brew. I have never done this before. So I wasn't sure if I should add yeast to the secondary. So I just racked the brew to the secondary, and every once in awhile racked a little yeast. I put a blowoff tube on it, just in case. No idea if it will turn out good or not.

Julohan said:

Well I ended up boiling it. I put about 3 lbs of strawberries and 1 lb of blueberries. It smelled really good while boiling. I then put the berries along with the water into the glass carboy. Then I put foil over it. Then I put in the fridge to cool down the berries. Next I added the brew. I have never done this before. So I wasn't sure if I should add yeast to the secondary. So I just racked the brew to the secondary, and every once in awhile racked a little yeast. I put a blowoff tube on it, just in case. No idea if it will turn out good or not.

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Nice! Sounds good! I bet it'll turn out great. I don't believe that the added yeast is going to cause too much of a problem. From what I understand, some people add their fruit to the primary. I think the only issue is whether or not the yeast will dissolve all of the fruit flavors.

Keep us posted.

Curt

Well, I kegged that cream ale. I let it sit for about 4 weeks at 70 degrees. I hooked it up today. Does not taste very good. Not really any fruit taste to it. Plus I got some fruit shreds into the keg. So it is not clear at all.

so this didn't turn out so well?