So I have a bunch of berries I dried out last year and some that are fresh this year on the vine. I have a bunch of stray grains with the mains being wheat and two row so I can make a decent beer coulped with this German Wheat yeast. I have never done fruit before however and am wondering if I throw these dry berries and/or fresh berries in the boil will the beer incorporate the fruit flavor? WHat is the best way of going about introducing the dry/fresh berries into the brew? thanks
Berries in the boil
- Thread starter Tkelly32
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
What kind of berries? I would not add them to the boil. Fermentation will scrub out flavors and araoma of your berries. I have always added fruit to a secondary fermenting vessel and racked the fermented beer on the fruit. How many lbs do you have? I have had good success with 1-2 lbs per gallon of beer.
kevin009
Well-Known Member
What kind of berries is that?
PunkinDrublic
Member
I've only brewed with fruit once for a summer party we were having so take my advice with caution. It was a summer ale with two row, pilsner malt and I added strawberries at the last five minutes of boil in two hop bags. The flavor was extracted minimally but was subtle enough to not be overpowering and by adding at the boil , all naturally occurring bad yeastbeasts were eliminated. I added the bags to primary but not to secondary. Final product was cloudier than I expected maybe due to pectin....not really sure. I like the idea of adding to secondary but I'm not sure how to avoid infections and the like. Hopefully HopJuicer can give us more details.
I honestly don't/didn't do anything to the berries other than wash them off and mash em up, rack the beer on the berries. I have used blue, black and raspberries and never had an issue with an infection. I have seen some talk about doing a quick boil to try and sanatize and others just put the fruit in the fermentor without issues.
If you do a boil or blanch of the fruit I think you will end up with some pectic haze in the final product, but that's not a big deal to some people. Not sure if blanching would have an effect on the flavor of the fruit. If still unsure I guess you could always add a little star san to a spray bottle and spray the fruit but i don't think that would be necessary.
If you do a boil or blanch of the fruit I think you will end up with some pectic haze in the final product, but that's not a big deal to some people. Not sure if blanching would have an effect on the flavor of the fruit. If still unsure I guess you could always add a little star san to a spray bottle and spray the fruit but i don't think that would be necessary.
I honestly don't/didn't do anything to the berries other than wash them off and mash em up, rack the beer on the berries. I have used blue, black and raspberries and never had an issue with an infection. I have seen some talk about doing a quick boil to try and sanatize and others just put the fruit in the fermentor without issues.
If you do a boil or blanch of the fruit I think you will end up with some pectic haze in the final product, but that's not a big deal to some people. Not sure if blanching would have an effect on the flavor of the fruit. If still unsure I guess you could always add a little star san to a spray bottle and spray the fruit but i don't think that would be necessary.
If you do a boil or blanch of the fruit I think you will end up with some pectic haze in the final product, but that's not a big deal to some people. Not sure if blanching would have an effect on the flavor of the fruit. If still unsure I guess you could always add a little star san to a spray bottle and spray the fruit but i don't think that would be necessary.
I honestly don't/didn't do anything to the berries other than wash them off and mash em up, rack the beer on the berries. I have used blue, black and raspberries and never had an issue with an infection. I have seen some talk about doing a quick boil to try and sanatize and others just put the fruit in the fermentor without issues.
If you do a boil or blanch of the fruit I think you will end up with some pectic haze in the final product, but that's not a big deal to some people. Not sure if blanching would have an effect on the flavor of the fruit. If still unsure I guess you could always add a little star san to a spray bottle and spray the fruit but i don't think that would be necessary.
If you do a boil or blanch of the fruit I think you will end up with some pectic haze in the final product, but that's not a big deal to some people. Not sure if blanching would have an effect on the flavor of the fruit. If still unsure I guess you could always add a little star san to a spray bottle and spray the fruit but i don't think that would be necessary.
I have previously boiled fruit in a blonde ale (cherries, blueberries, and raspberries, all a little overripe) and it gave a slight pink/red color to the beer, and a fruitier aroma. Obviously, most sweetness fermented out, and it was very hazy, but it was a wonderful light refreshing brew. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, though I might add some pectic enzyme to cut the haze.
Of course, if you're doing a wheat... haze is probably not a concern for you.
Since you're using some dried fruit, I might try to rehydrate using some alcohol (vodka or the like- a fruit flavored one might be a good choice), just enough to cover. This will also kill any yeast or bacteria clinging to the fruit. This could be added directly to the fermenter, and any additional alcohol would just raise the ABV of your brew, or boiled, which would likely drive off alcohol and leave *most* of the fruit flavor behind.
Of course, if you're doing a wheat... haze is probably not a concern for you.
Since you're using some dried fruit, I might try to rehydrate using some alcohol (vodka or the like- a fruit flavored one might be a good choice), just enough to cover. This will also kill any yeast or bacteria clinging to the fruit. This could be added directly to the fermenter, and any additional alcohol would just raise the ABV of your brew, or boiled, which would likely drive off alcohol and leave *most* of the fruit flavor behind.
kevin009
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the details... Hopjuicer.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
Thanks to all for your responses very informative and insightful, esp HopJuicer and Raedon. As far as how many lbs. I got, I have about 4 dry and will pick about 4-5 I think. I would want to kill the yeast before I racked beer on them, but in reading the responses I think I will throw the berries, cleaned and washed, perhaps rehydrated not sure yet onto the primary after the alcohol has been created, lets say after ten days and then let it sit for two weeks and see what I get. Any thoughts? Thanks again everybody.
Oh and the berry is blackberry aka wild raspberry.
Oh and the berry is blackberry aka wild raspberry.Hey tkely, once you have reached fg I would rack your brew onto your berries in a secondary vessel. I did 2 weeks with 7lbs and it had a nice taste but I have upped it to 10lbs on other batches. It can be a real mess when it comes to transferring to your bottling bucket. I have used a bit muslin type cheese cloth on the end of my racking cane to help from getting seeds and other solids into the bucket. My blonde ales have all been pink lol.
I hope this helps.
I hope this helps.
Whenever I use fruit or chiles in a beer I always put them in a ziploc/tupperware/etc. type of container and fill with vodka. I then put it in the freezer for a good 24 hours. The fruit/chiles then get added to secondary and I've never had an issue with infection nor do I get pectin haze.
A great byproduct of doing this is I get plenty of fruit flavored vodka that the wife loves. She won't touch the habanero and jalapeno vodka though...
A great byproduct of doing this is I get plenty of fruit flavored vodka that the wife loves. She won't touch the habanero and jalapeno vodka though...
When I have used canned raspberries I just dumped them into the Primary after it had fermented (7-10 days) and let it sit another 3 weeks.
With fresh fruit, there is a risk of infection (wild mold, fungus, yeast, bacteria), so I have always used canned (and pasturized) fruit.
Interesting idea about letting them sit in Vodka, I wonder how much alcohol that adds (assuming you dont pour it in), maybe its minimal.
With fresh fruit, there is a risk of infection (wild mold, fungus, yeast, bacteria), so I have always used canned (and pasturized) fruit.
Interesting idea about letting them sit in Vodka, I wonder how much alcohol that adds (assuming you dont pour it in), maybe its minimal.
I've made a raspberry brown and used a campden tablet crushed into about 4 lbs of raspberries. Initially I swirled some boiling water and the crushed campden tablets and poured it over the raspberries. I then put a sanitized piece of foil over the container and let it sit for 24 hrs before pitching it into the secondary.
FYI, some of the raspberries did bleach. I did have the raspberries completely submerged (probably should have not done that), and possibly used a bit more campden than needed.
If you aren't aware, the campden tablets will sanitize the fruit (kill the bad yeast) -- I am still allowing this beer to condition, but the initial tastes were pretty "OMG RASPBERRY" -- hoping that it settles out.
FYI, some of the raspberries did bleach. I did have the raspberries completely submerged (probably should have not done that), and possibly used a bit more campden than needed.
If you aren't aware, the campden tablets will sanitize the fruit (kill the bad yeast) -- I am still allowing this beer to condition, but the initial tastes were pretty "OMG RASPBERRY" -- hoping that it settles out.
I don't know why but I never thought to soak in vodka before, i like the idea of the flavored vodka too. I have done this with vanilla and cocoa nibs. I once soaked 1lb of nibs in 750ml of vodka in 3 mason jars, dumped the nibs and the vodka into a 10 gallon batch of chocolate milk stout 
I don't know why but I never thought to soak in vodka before, i like the idea of the flavored vodka too. I have done this with vanilla and cocoa nibs. I once soaked 1lb of nibs in 750ml of vodka in 3 mason jars, dumped the nibs and the vodka into a 10 gallon batch of chocolate milk stout
I just did that myself. I also decided to be crazy and add a vanilla extract to my milk stout as well on top of the cocoa nib extract -- it's gonna be a crazy brew!
