Adding fruit juice, where?

[billf2112]

I am getting ready to add 1 gallon of blueberry juice to a red wit I have in my primary. My initial plan was to put the juice in my secondary and rack the wit on top of it and let it do t's work.

I have a 5 gallon batch and 1 gallon of juice, my secondary is a 6 gallon better bottle. I think the math does not work, no room for gases and whatever fermenting that will occur in the secondary.

Should I do it all in the primary? I am thinking the yeast cake that has formed will use the sugars in the juice better and make a slightly higher abv.

Do you think the secondary is large enough or should I get a 6.5 gallon carboy?

Any other ideas?

thanks

 

[mixedbrewer]

Just use a little less juice so you have some room... or less beer.

 

[poley]

You might also end up with a little less beer than you think due to the size of the yeast cake. I'd put your juice in, and then rack beer onto it until your carboy is full. Leaving that little bit of bottom beer behind will help you get a cleaner final product, and get your beer off the dying/dead yeast to prevent any off flavors, that way you can give your active yeast plenty of time to eat the fruit juice sugars.

 

[hudsonj6]

I've added oranges and their rind/juice to the primary before even pitching the yeast and have had good results. You're probably gunna end up with a higher ABV regardless of which method you use. You could probably throw the juice into your primary or if you wanna go the secondary route, I'd put in 1/2 the juice wait a bit for any secondary fermentation to settle down and then put the rest of the juice in.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

The sugar in the juice will definitely get fermented out either way. In a 6 gallon carboy that means you'll likely lose some beer to blow off. If your primary has room it would be better to add it there.

In the alternative you could split the juice and add the majority in primary or secondary and then hold out some for priming. You would just need to look at the sugar content of the juice, convert grams to ounces, and figure out how much juice has 5 ounces of sugar and that amount of juice is your priming sugar. For six gallons of beer that might be a quarter or a third of a gallon, which might be enough headspace to add the juice in secondary if you really wanted to do it that way.

 

[djonas]

If it's store bought fruit juice, I'm thinking Ocean Spray, it will probably have a lot of sugar in it and you should expect it to ferment! You also want to be careful because adding too much sugar to your beer can turn it cidery or hot and overly boozy.

You might also end up with a little less beer than you think due to the size of the yeast cake.

If you want a cleaner product with less yeasty flavors, try to leave that little bit of beer covering the yeast cake behind. Because of this, you will end up with more free room in the secondary than anticipated so you will have a lot of room to work with. But I would expect some fermentation, even in secondary, so I'd keep a close eye on things!

if you wanna go the secondary route, I'd put in 1/2 the juice wait a bit for any secondary fermentation to settle down and then put the rest of the juice in.

This is my favorite idea so far because it should eliminate the need for a blowoff tube in the secondary and it will give you a chance to taste the beer and check the gravity before adding more juice!

 

[RM-MN]

Before you add the blueberry juice, read the list of ingredients to be sure it has no preservatives. Preservatives may not kill the yeast but it will stop the fermentation and you will have some pretty colored flat beer that will be sweet from the unfermented sugar and will be unable to be bottle carbonated.

 

[Eischman]

I'd put in 1/2 the juice wait a bit for any secondary fermentation to settle down and then put the rest of the juice in.

I just did this also and was wondering if I should transfer it to a new carboy or leave as is for a couple of days? (Tart cherry juice has no added suger,pasteurized, and no preservatives)