Help with picking a fruit to add to Berliner Ryeiss

[saltymirv]

It's been 3 months since brewing my berliner rye and I did my first tasting. Its only slightly tart, pretty watery with some lemon flavor, and very dry (from the rye I assume). It also has an oz of french oak cubes in there, probably adding to that dry factor.

The SG was only at 1.012 after 3 months, although there is a pellicle present so the brett is still doing its thing. I was planning on this being done after 6 months total. Yeast used was 3191 berliner blend w/ brett

I want to increase the acidity and balance the dry flavor, so I thought adding fruit would be a good choice. I don't have a lot (any) experience adding fruit so I could use some help picking the right one. I was thinking berries myself, but I'm very open to hearing your ideas

 

[tri_clamp_ninja]

Wow... 3 months on a berliner? That is one of my go-to's except I have my own weird little take on brewing one. I have had off the boat Germans compliment this beer.

50% 2 row
40% white wheat
10% carafoam
Mash half of your 2 row in 25% +/- of your projected strike water and let it sit covered over night. Give a good 24 hrs for this. Your mlt should hold temp well enough. The next day mash in the rest of your grains with the rest of your strike water (may need to add a little extra from the kettle sour process absorbing over night) then follow the rest of your brew sop as you would in terms of preferred hops and so forth. At this point pitch a clean neutral ale yeast. Yup, you heard it. I get a great natural lactic bite that is present but not overbearing or fake simply by doing the kettle sour but still have a clean finishing beer from the neutral ale yeast. Also I do this grain to glass in 10 days.

May not be traditional but it works, well

 

[saltymirv]

Wow... 3 months on a berliner? That is one of my go-to's except I have my own weird little take on brewing one. I have had off the boat Germans compliment this beer.

50% 2 row
40% white wheat
10% carafoam
Mash half of your 2 row in 25% +/- of your projected strike water and let it sit covered over night. Give a good 24 hrs for this. Your mlt should hold temp well enough. The next day mash in the rest of your grains with the rest of your strike water (may need to add a little extra from the kettle sour process absorbing over night) then follow the rest of your brew sop as you would in terms of preferred hops and so forth. At this point pitch a clean neutral ale yeast. Yup, you heard it. I get a great natural lactic bite that is present but not overbearing or fake simply by doing the kettle sour but still have a clean finishing beer from the neutral ale yeast. Also I do this grain to glass in 10 days.

May not be traditional but it works, well

Yea I've made kettle soured Berliners before. I wanted this one to have a brett character, which unfortunately takes a while. Kettle souring is way easier and faster at the expense of less complexity

Do you have any comments about what fruit to add...?

 

[timdillon36]

To answer your question. Any one of these should work well. http://shop.greatfermentations.com/category/homebrew-fruit-purees

They are pasturized and I have made some great fruit beers with them. All you do is sanitize the outside of the can and dump it in.

You are the only one that has tasted your beer so choose a fruit that you think will work best with what you have.

There is nothing wrong with a quick sour but thats not what you are working with here. I think this is a perfect summer time beer and i would add some fruit and let it ride till spring.

 

[tri_clamp_ninja]

Yea sorry, I kinda derailed and didn't answer your question haha. I am very familiar with Brett also, I was in charge of two different brewery's Brett souring programs. If you want a strong Brett profile you are looking at 10-12 months but since you blended, and want more "berliner" then "Brett" you will be fine cutting it early at around 6 months.


Fruit is a tough one here but, in my experience, you can never go wrong with red raspberries for tart or sour styles as they accentuate the flavors. Another option that usually works is blueberrys as they add sweetness to balance the tart/sour flavors.

Whatever fruit you end up going with I HIGHLY suggest freezing the whole fruit for 24-48 hrs first then adding to your fermentor for only 24-48 hrs AFTER you initiate your cold crash. Freezing breaks the cell walls which allows for better liquid permeation which in turn gives you more fruit flavor quicker by exposing more surface area of fruit to your beer. This also automatically puts them in a form of a "sterile" state that will drastically reduce infection possibility (if that is even a concern since you are making a Brett soured berliner). I have exercised this practice many times in commercial production breweries without fail everytime.

 

[saltymirv]

Yea sorry, I kinda derailed and didn't answer your question haha. I am very familiar with Brett also, I was in charge of two different brewery's Brett souring programs. If you want a strong Brett profile you are looking at 10-12 months but since you blended, and want more "berliner" then "Brett" you will be fine cutting it early at around 6 months.


Fruit is a tough one here but, in my experience, you can never go wrong with red raspberries for tart or sour styles as they accentuate the flavors. Another option that usually works is blueberrys as they add sweetness to balance the tart/sour flavors.

Whatever fruit you end up going with I HIGHLY suggest freezing the whole fruit for 24-48 hrs first then adding to your fermentor for only 24-48 hrs AFTER you initiate your cold crash. Freezing breaks the cell walls which allows for better liquid permeation which in turn gives you more fruit flavor quicker by exposing more surface area of fruit to your beer. This also automatically puts them in a form of a "sterile" state that will drastically reduce infection possibility (if that is even a concern since you are making a Brett soured berliner). I have exercised this practice many times in commercial production breweries without fail everytime.

Thank you for the reply. Raspberries and blueberries were definitely on my radar. If I'm reading this right, you are suggesting to add frozen fruit to an already cold crashed fermenter? Is that for kegging only? For this beer I plan on bottling it as I want to keep my two taps "clean". I imagine the berry sugars would cause excess carbonation if bottled.

Do you recommend buying already frozen fruit from the store? I was thinking of maybe buying a few bags from costco (less work) but I'm not opposed to do fresh fruit and freezing either