Adding fruit, avoiding infection

[jajabee]

I'm going to brew up a wheat beer tomorrow that I want to combine with frozen rhubarb, frozen blueberries, and blueberry juice. I know I don't want to add any of them to the boil, cause I'm not happy about what the boil does to fruity flavors like that. All I have on hand for fermenters at the moment are glass carboys and a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket.

I'm wondering when the best time is for adding fruit if you want to avoid the fruit infecting the beer (if ). Part of me wants to add it when the fermentation is most vigorous, a couple days in, cause then there's no way bacteria could take over, right? But I've also heard that alcohol kills bacteria, so would it be better for me to do the primary in a carboy, then rack it to the bucket for secondary on the fruit? Would the alcohol from the primary fermentation prevent any infection from taking hold?

 

[scinerd3000]

usually fruit is added in secondary when there is enough alcohol to stave off infection and to get the most flavor. When added early in fermentation, the flavors are almost absent

 

[jajabee]

Okay, cool. That'll work well with the 5gal bucket, too, since there'll be less krausen and less trub by then. Do you think it'll be okay to just chuck the frozen fruit in there? Should I thaw it first?

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Thaw it and crush or puree, if you are going to secondary it in your bucket fermentor (as I did) you will stain your bucket, if it matters to you, it doesn't to me but a heads up!

 

[wscott823]

I just made Charlie Papazian's Barshack ginger mead last weekend with frozen raspberries and cherries. I put them in after the boil to pasteurize them (around 170*) and let steep in the "wort" for 15 minutes.
After 7 days in the primary there didn't seem to be any sign of bacteria. I racked into the secondary leaving behind the fruit. Checked it this morning and still looks to be doing fine.

Just my $0.02

 

[brian_g]

Here's my two cents as a wine and beer maker. I've never added fresh fruit to beer. Us wine makers have the exact problem you are describing. We don't want to cook our fruit, but we don't want an infection either. So how do we deal with this? We add sulfides 24 hours before pitching. The sulfides help kill the bacteria and wild yeast. I don't see any reason you couldn't do the same with beer. Except I say add the sulfides to the fruit 24 hours before adding the fruit to the beer. And you probably want to add the fruit in the secondary.

 

[scinerd3000]

I just made Charlie Papazian's Barshack ginger mead last weekend with frozen raspberries and cherries. I put them in after the boil to pasteurize them (around 170*) and let steep in the "wort" for 15 minutes.
After 7 days in the primary there didn't seem to be any sign of bacteria. I racked into the secondary leaving behind the fruit. Checked it this morning and still looks to be doing fine.

Just my $0.02

try to avoid boiling the fruit if possible. The boil releases pectins which can cause protein haze. You can pick up pectic enzyme at your LHBS if need be to get rid of them. Dont worry it will still taste killer but probably wont clear up.
boiling fruit??

Thaw it and crush or puree, if you are going to secondary it in your bucket fermentor (as I did) you will stain your bucket, if it matters to you, it doesn't to me but a heads up!

+1 For beer its much easier to crush them. I usually toss them into a santitized carboy and crush the **** out of them with a dowel which i soaked in sanitizer for about 10-20 minutes. The better you crush the more flavor and color contribution you will get out of them. Also if you decide to puree them make sure there completly thawed or your going to have difficulty with the resulting slushy getting completly blended. Good luck

 

[Runyanka]

So are you just adding the fruit directly into your secondary, and racking the beer ontop of it? I am planning on doing a peach porter here shortly, but I am wanting to use fresh fruit, not frozen. So just crush, add to secondary, and rack over it?

 

[scinerd3000]

So are you just adding the fruit directly into your secondary, and racking the beer ontop of it? I am planning on doing a peach porter here shortly, but I am wanting to use fresh fruit, not frozen. So just crush, add to secondary, and rack over it?

If i was you i would still freeze them and then thaw a few times to break up the cell walls and allow for maximum usage and flavor. Freezing doesnt kill bacteria however so you will need to scrub the **** out of them before cutting them up and using them in there. In this case you could heat to pasturize since pectic haze doesnt matter on a dark beer...fruit wine makers use metabisulfite to sanitize (let sit for 24 hours then add) but i would soak them in water just below boiling(~200) for about 15 minutes or so, chop them up with a clean knife and then add them. This temp wont kill everything but will get rid of a vast amjority of the nasties. The high alcohol in your porter will do the rest to inhibit growth