How to get the most flavor out of your fruit additions?

[RickyRaw]

I'm making a raspberry wheat ale with about 50/50 Pilsen and wheat. To not overpower the fruit, I'm using only 1 oz of Hallertau hops at 60.

My question is about how to get as much fruit flavor into the beer without producing any weird off flavors. When planning this recipe, I looked at a few examples which added fruit at various stages, in the secondary, in the primary after boil, and even in the boil itself. What has been you guys' experiences with getting the most out of your fruit? I'm even getting crazy and thinking about doing all three; adding some raspberry juice or puree with 15 minutes left in the boil, putting 40 oz in the primary, and another 40 oz in the secondary!

This sounds absurd after typing it, but is there any reason not to do it that way? Would that produce any off-flavors? Seriously though, I'm planning to add about one 40 oz package of lightly crushed frozen raspberry (in a grain bag) to the secondary and rack the beer on top of that. I want the beer to be very fruity and tart so I might even add two 40 oz packs for a total of 80 oz of raspberry, unless someone advises against it for a sound reason.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[Flakk]

I haven't played around with raspberries yet, but the last 2 strawberry blondes I made using 1.5 lb/gal frozen strawberries added at the end of primary fermentation. I ended up with some tartness and a ton of strawberry aroma with a low key strawberry flavor.

 

[RickyRaw]

Hmm. I might go for 10 lbs of raspberry then, and maybe some raspberry flavoring or some raspberry syrup at bottling, or both.

 

[Holter]

10lbs of raspberries in how many gallons? I only have experience with raspberries being added to sour beers, but I used a ratio of 2.5lbs of raspberries per 1 gallon of beer and it produced incredible raspberry flavors. At the same time though, sour beers are dramatically different and if I had a normal raspberry wheat ale that had that amount of raspberry flavor I dont think i would like it. Again though, my only experience is with sour beers.

 

[Codfishhead]

I add most fruits after fermentation is done. This way I do not need to worry about any off flavors or it disturbing the yeast while it's working. Not to mention the fruits getting eaten by the yeast and leaving hardly any flavors or aromas.

If you're worried about contamination from using fresh fruits (everything from a can is already pasteurized/clean) do a quick blanch (dunk in boiling water). I've never had any issues following those processes.

Amount of fruit? Depends what you want to taste and where. To much fruit and it will dominate. You can always add more but you can't remove it.

Split then batch and try at least 2 diff amounts so you have to diff beers to judge by.

Good luck

 

[Joe9216]

you can also add a bit of pectic enzyme or liquid pectinase to the fruit after you crush it to aid in extracting the most flavor and aroma prior to adding it to the fermentor.

 

[nsrooen]

Between 1 to 2 lbs of fruit per gallon depending on amount of flavor you want. I almost exclusively use frozen fruit added to secondary. Freezing the fruit bursts the cell walls and allows better flavor extraction. Never had an infection nor do I worry about one. Enough alcohol is present at this point to keep away baddies.

Probably have have made over 3 dozen different fruit beers using this method.

 

[RickyRaw]

10lbs of raspberries in how many gallons? I only have experience with raspberries being added to sour beers, but I used a ratio of 2.5lbs of raspberries per 1 gallon of beer and it produced incredible raspberry flavors. At the same time though, sour beers are dramatically different and if I had a normal raspberry wheat ale that had that amount of raspberry flavor I dont think i would like it. Again though, my only experience is with sour beers.

I'm aiming for 6 gallons final volume so I might start with 5.5 gallons of unflavored beer and add 10 lbs of frozen raspberry, I want very strong raspberry flavor, and finally, some raspberry candi syrup at kegging; I'm guessing that 10lbs of raspberry will get me to 6 gallons. I'm planning to add the fruit to the primary after about 2 weeks of fermentation for simplicity and because I won't have to process the fruit as much. I was also thinking for racking beer into carboy, cleaning the primary, and racking back into clean bucket with fruits in mesh bag. I'd like this to come out rather tart so adding acid blend at kegging might be in the mix as well. Any thoughts?