Added 5lbs of fruit 60hrs ago and fermentation has not restarted. What do?

[theCaptainD]

Hi all!

As the title suggests, I added 5lbs of apricots to what appears to be a healthy ale. The beer had been sitting in secondary in a carboy for perhaps a month while I waited for apricots to come into season, and there's a substantial layer of yeast sitting on the bottom. I put the apricots in three nights ago, and while a few have bobbed up to the top, there's essentially no krausen, and my airlock is dead quiet.
This is a bit alarming, especially since it leads me to believe I won't get any carbonation when I bottle. Should I pitch more yeast? Try stirring up the existing yeast sediment?
I would appreciate any suggestions- thanks!

additional info:

- I'm pretty new at this, and sadly do not (yet) own a hydrometer. No gravity info!
- The beer itself is a very generic ale- the wort was likely fairly low/mid gravity. Primary fermentation looked normal and healthy.
- I did not make a starter, I went directly from smack-pack to fermenter.

additional questions:

- Does fruit flavor not absorb properly without fermentation?
- Can I expect poor carbonation when bottling if I don't do something about this?

Thanks again! So much to learn :cross:

 

[catdaddy66]

To my knowledge, fruit additions impart flavor only. The sugars are not fermentable but not sure of that.

Carbonation will come once you prime the beer with corn sugar or DME, after dissolving in boiling water.


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[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Fruit sugars are indeed fermentable (think apples for apple cider or grapes for wine...), however I have no idea what the sugar content of apricots is. My guess is that the yeast are just a bit slower after being inactive for so long, and there probably isn't enough sugar in the fruit to kick off another "vigorous" fermentation. That doesn't mean fermentation isn't happening though.

Unless you were lagering that secondary for the month at very low temps I would assume there is still plenty of yeast in suspension for you to bottle and carb with, shouldn't be a problem.

Ps I strongly suggest you make the (very reasonable) investment in a hydrometer. It will help you control your process much more and at the very least gives you some piece of mind.


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[Jason_W]

how did you add them? finely diced/puree or whole? need to break down the cell walls a bit to get the sugars out (i think). I've herd of freezing to help this as the frozen water in the cell will puncture the cell wall.

 

[theCaptainD]

Jason W, I cut them into pieces and froze the pieces, I did not puree, however. I made sure to return them to room temperature, then busted up the pieces with a whisk a little bit before funneling them directly into the carboy. (Before you ask I was very vigilant about sanitation!)

Near-Beer-Engineer, thanks for the input. I have a friend who also made an apricot beer, and his fermented pretty vigorously, BUT he added them more or less immediately after primary fermentation stopped, and as he was racking to secondary- not a month later
Funny you mention lagering. It was strongly recommend I cold crash the beer for a week or two to knock unpleasant fruit byproducts out of suspension.... I'm not sure how that will affect the viability of my yeast come bottling time though.
Also, I will definitely be getting a hydrometer soon! Still fairly new to the game and acquiring equipment.