Best way to add puree and juice to beer

[powerpunk5000]

What is the best way to add fruit puree and frozen fruit to beer with least risk of contamination?

I found these juice purees at the dollar tree the other day and they taste amazing an are cheap ( they remind me of naked juice) and have no preservatives or anything in them and was wondering if they would be good to add flavor to a beer. Also how much do you think I should add an when should it be added?

 

[AzOr]

They should be pasteurized, and it should state that on the bottle somewhere.
You’ll get many opinions on when to add but I usually will add after 3 or 4 days of fermentation. Adding to the boil could release pectins.
Remember that fruit juice or purée will dry out the beer and taste a little tart.
When I add fruit products, I’ll usuall add 4 to 6 oz of honey malt to bring out a little sweetness.

 

[powerpunk5000]

They should be pasteurized, and it should state that on the bottle somewhere.
You’ll get many opinions on when to add but I usually will add after 3 or 4 days of fermentation. Adding to the boil could release pectins.
Remember that fruit juice or purée will dry out the beer and taste a little tart.
When I add fruit products, I’ll usuall add 4 to 6 oz of honey malt to bring out a little sweetness.

The strawberry one has pectin listed as an ingredient does that mean they cannot be used?
Also they are pasteurized

 

[AzOr]

It won’t prohibit fermentation. I’m not sure how it will affect clarity though. I add pectinaise to ciders but I’m not sure if it’s the same product. I’m sure someone will know.

 

[AkTom]

I wait 4-7 days. Depending on life... I make an apricot ale that I put a whole #10 can of apricots. I use an immersion blender and dump into a 6.5 gallon car boy. Give it another week or so. Bumps the abv up to 8 or so.

 

[MizzouFermentationScience]

Pectin is mostly a concern for filterability, though it may lead to haze (to which I say who cares?). They probably add it to increase viscosity but it shouldn’t effect the beer’s taste. When using fresh fruit, I blend it with campden tablets and add it in secondary. It takes a lot- when adding strawberries it usually takes more than I’m willing to waste... Four lbs in a 5 gal wheat beer before its a noticeable flavor- not sure how that translates to purée . It will go tart on you so good idea to compensate like Azor said.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I've used juice once and can honestly say I won't do it again. It dried out the beer significantly and didn't even really make it taste that good. The juice kicked off a second, crazy fermentation that I believe scrubbed away most of the mango flavor I was going for. I ended up having to use mango extract and add it to the beer at kegging in order to gain back the flavor I wanted.

I would stick with fresh fruit or an actual puree, not what you're holding in your hand. I think you'll get the best flavor there. As far as when to add those, I'd let primary fermentation finish and transfer to a secondary vessel on top of the fruits for about a week to 2 weeks. I do a cranberry sour that I let sit on the cranberries for 2 weeks. Really depends how strong you want the flavor.

 

[powerpunk5000]

They should be pasteurized, and it should state that on the bottle somewhere.
You’ll get many opinions on when to add but I usually will add after 3 or 4 days of fermentation. Adding to the boil could release pectins.
Remember that fruit juice or purée will dry out the beer and taste a little tart.
When I add fruit products, I’ll usuall add 4 to 6 oz of honey malt to bring out a little sweetness.

I'm a newbie , do you add honey malt to the boil? Is there any other way to combat the dryness ? Does adding frozen fruit or fresh fruit still result in dryness?

 

[Rob2010SS]

No, you would add it to the mash if you are doing all grain. If you're doing extract, you'd have to go a different route to counter the dryness. You could add lactose to the boil which will add sweetness or you could add malto dextrin to the boil which is mostly tasteless but will add body.

I don't believe that the fresh fruit or the purees dry it out as severely as juice does. I did a mango IPA using juice that came out way too thin. If I were to do it again, fresh fruit is the way I'd go or I'd use this stuff...

https://labelpeelers.com/wine-makin...6mecEojM6_FONFQfpwHdiJcLSM2fQNdkaApwPEALw_wcB

 

[powerpunk5000]

No, you would add it to the mash if you are doing all grain. If you're doing extract, you'd have to go a different route to counter the dryness. You could add lactose to the boil which will add sweetness or you could add malto dextrin to the boil which is mostly tasteless but will add body.

I don't believe that the fresh fruit or the purees dry it out as severely as juice does. I did a mango IPA using juice that came out way too thin. If I were to do it again, fresh fruit is the way I'd go or I'd use this stuff...

https://labelpeelers.com/wine-makin...6mecEojM6_FONFQfpwHdiJcLSM2fQNdkaApwPEALw_wcB

I'm doing extract so how much dextrox or lactose would you add and at what point in the boil? I'm doing a 5 gallon.

 

[cmac62]

I believe another option is to kill off the yeast with campden tabs/sorbate and add it at kegging/bottling. I haven't tried this so anyone with comments I would appreciate. Thanks

 

[cmac62]

I believe another option is to kill off the yeast with campden tabs/sorbate and add it at kegging/bottling. I haven't tried this so anyone with comments I would appreciate. Thanks

I just realized that with no yeast bottling is not an option.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I'm doing extract so how much dextrox or lactose would you add and at what point in the boil? I'm doing a 5 gallon.

Without knowing the actual recipe, hard to say. Anywhere from 1/4 lb to 1 lb is the general rule of thumb. I'd say probably do a half pound for starters and add it at maybe 15 minutes left in the boil. Again, this won't make it sweet, this will just add body to the beer.

If you wanted to make it sweeter, you could go with lactose. Some recipe's for milk stouts use a full pound of lactose in the recipe for 5 gallons so for a beer of this style, maybe start with 1/4 lb...? Not really sure how that will come out as I've never done it. Again, you'd add it during the boil.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Hopefully someone with more experience with these scenarios will chime in and offer more specific advice.

 

[powerpunk5000]

Without knowing the actual recipe, hard to say. Anywhere from 1/4 lb to 1 lb is the general rule of thumb. I'd say probably do a half pound for starters and add it at maybe 15 minutes left in the boil. Again, this won't make it sweet, this will just add body to the beer.

If you wanted to make it sweeter, you could go with lactose. Some recipe's for milk stouts use a full pound of lactose in the recipe for 5 gallons so for a beer of this style, maybe start with 1/4 lb...? Not really sure how that will come out as I've never done it. Again, you'd add it during the boil.

Well i added 6 ozs of MD with 5 mims left. Im making a basic ipa i didnt wanna add to Much

 

[AzOr]

I did a quick google and it seems like you can steep honey malt. I wouldn’t do much more than 6 oz or so depending on the recipe.

I did a blonde ale with 32 oz of apricot purée and it did make it dry and tart. By no means was it a bad beer, just a bit unbalanced. I still drank it. I let it sit in bottles and after 3 or 4 months, it was much better.

Again, depends on your recipe. Blondes are very simple and basic (no pun intended). Other beer styles May handle fruit better, such as wheats or pale ales.

I say you do smaller batch experiments.

I also brew an apple ale on occasion. I basically pick any pale recipe and brew 4 gallons. I then top off with a gallon of chemical free apple juice. The tartness works in that style. Actually a delicious beer. I’m getting thirsty.

 

[chickypad]

I've had good luck using either freshly squeezed juice (like watermelon) or the juice concentrates from the Perfect Puree - pricey but you don't need much and they have some hard to find flavors I was looking for. I usually bum a little from a friend who keeps them in stock for mixed drinks. I assume their purees would be good too, but the nice thing about juice is you can add it right to the keg. As far as amounts you have to experiment. For watermelon juice in a wheat beer I go about 4-5 cups per 5 gal. Passionfruit and blood orange on the other hand are quite tart and 2-2.5 cups per 5 gals is plenty to get the flavor (that's reconstituted amounts per instructions, not the straight concentrate). Coincidentally the sugar content in those amounts is about right to carb a keg so I seal it up and let it ferment out, then chill and they are pretty much ready to drink. I suppose you could do it with bottling if you're careful with measurements and check the brix of the juice.

https://www.perfectpuree.com/

 

[Lefou]

A free BYO Chris Colby article!
Golden find actually, since BYO has gone to a pay format for some of the content.
https://byo.com/article/brewing-with-fruit-techniques/

 

[chickypad]

The only thing I don't agree with in that Chris Colby article is the part about raising the alcohol. When you add fruit you are also adding volume/water. For example the last time I added watermelon juice it had a Brix of 9, or about 1.036, so would slightly dilute a 1.052 wheat beer. The reconstituted passion fruit juice I used had a Brix of 13, so no change to the beer's OG. I think the article below is the correct way to calculate.

https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/10/adding-fruit-to-beer-increases-alcohol.html

 

[helibrewer]

When we use fruit in our sours at work we ferment the fruit puree then rack the beer into it. So the puree is combined with yeast in a tank by itself, we allow that to ferment for about a week, then rack the beer into that tank.

 

[Lefou]

I liked that Mad Fermentationist piece. I'm gonna bookmark that.

It makes sense to match the fruit to the beer.
If the juice or puree is highly fermentable, in larger amounts it can thin a low gravity beer more than expected. I'll keep this in mind when cherry picking season comes around near mid-June. I'd really like to add some cherries to a Belgian or Nordic ale done with kveik. After fruiting a mead, making fruit beer should be good fun.

 

[TGFV]

I regularly use juices and frozen fruit in beer and find fir juice it's best to add after the first 2-3 days (otherwise fermentation goes from vigourous to explosive) and frozen fruit after primary is done for about 2 weeks (any little bacteria on the fruit can't live in most alcohol).

For drying out problem try and compensate for it with either honey malt, maktodextrin or if all grain mash to have more unfermentables.

I do blonds with juices added and it works great, brings it to an almost lager like crispness for summer/lawnmower beer

 

[AMessenger]

When we use fruit in our sours at work we ferment the fruit puree then rack the beer into it. So the puree is combined with yeast in a tank by itself, we allow that to ferment for about a week, then rack the beer into that tank.

Very interesting. Is that to ensure that no unwanted organisms can take hold from the fruit?

 

[powerpunk5000]

Very interesting. Is that to ensure that no unwanted organisms can take hold from the fruit?

Well I actually added 5oz of MD at 5 mins in boil. Then after i removed the wort from the stove i added in 20oz of frozen mango and 12oz mango puree which I blended up until liquid. I figure that way the heat will sterilize the fruit and it had the added benefit of helping cool down the wort. Fermentation looks pretty crazy right now due to all the extra sugar. Hopefully it'll turn out ok