Adding Fruit after Primary Fermentation

[thejuanald]

So a few weeks ago I made a wheat beer for the first time, and I'm going to bottle it this weekend, and I figured I would harvest the yeast and then make another batch of it on Sunday. This time, though, my fiancee suggested I add fruit to it. I'm thinking of adding peach and mango into the primary after 2 weeks of fermentation.

My question is, there are several ways I could do this, buy whole fruits and boil them for a minute to sanitize and then puree and cool them, do the same with frozen fruit, or buy pre-made puree (this seems to be the most expensive route). Is either route more recommended? Which would give the best flavor? I tend to think the fresh fruit would be best, but peeling and pitting mangos seems annoying.

What about the amount of fruit necessary, I was thinking 2 pounds of peach and 2 pounds of mango. Would that be enough to impart the flavor? Thanks.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

For fruit, I only have experience with strawberries. For strawberries, I buy the bags of frozen strawberries from the grocery store, put them in a sanitized nylon straining bag in the secondary fermenter, and then siphon the beer on top of it. I leave it on about a week (I have heard other people have had success with longer, but for me a week gets all the flavor I need without me worrying about the fruit going bad), and then take out the straining bag. For the frozen berries, I don't worry about washing them at all (they are washed when they are processed and packaged).

I have been told that it is still possible to get an infection doing this, but of all of the people that I have seen that have used this method, I have never seen a report of an infection.

EDIT: I missed the part about quantities. For strawberries I use 6 pounds for 5 gallons of beer in my Strawberry Blonde Ale. I'm not sure how much the peach or mango will add, but 2 pounds of each sounds like a good starting point, you can always play with the quantity in the future batches. Maybe somebody else with experience with those specific fruits can give you more help there.

 

[alby44]

I've done a few fruit batches (raspberries, strawberries, peaches, and the bumbleberry combo that you get at Costco....all frozen) and have had no issues with infection. Toss 'em in and you'll be fine. The amounts seem ok, but I'd be worried what flavor the mango/peach combo would impart.

Given that this is your first usage of fruit, maybe stick to one fruit and you can always save the combo fruit as a future recipe.

IMO, 5-6#s of peaches sound great as a Peach Wheat

 

[thejuanald]

Awesome, thanks. Since I'll be doing this in a carboy, pureeing fresh (or frozen) fruit might be easier than just tossing in chopped fruit I think, right? I might try sticking with one fruit, you're right, one thing at a time.

I was planning on just doing this in primary instead of racking to secondary, as I only have 6.5 gallon carboys. Would that work, or should I go ahead and rack to secondary as there will be more fermentation that occurs anyway?

 

[alby44]

Awesome, thanks. Since I'll be doing this in a carboy, pureeing fresh (or frozen) fruit might be easier than just tossing in chopped fruit I think, right? I might try sticking with one fruit, you're right, one thing at a time.

I was planning on just doing this in primary instead of racking to secondary, as I only have 6.5 gallon carboys. Would that work, or should I go ahead and rack to secondary as there will be more fermentation that occurs anyway?

You have the right idea whichever you choose...frozen or fresh. If you go fresh, skin the peaches (and no pith!), then chop up and toss em in. Pureeing will also allow the fruit to drop out of suspension. I always secondary when adding fruit. If you do, make sure you rig up a blow off tube as there'll be some added fermentation the first few days. You can also reharvest the yeast from your primary too. Be prepared for some loss w/the fruit though..if you were planning for 5 gallons, it might be 4.75 with 5-6#s of peaches, so play with your water/grain volumes if you're looking for 5 gallons.

When you transfer from the carboy to bottling bucket use a mesh/paint strainer to avoid fruit bit clogs

 

[Ike]

The thread that taught me (genus: noobius, species: maximus) the most about this topic is this one...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f75/requiem-raspberry-56285/

It's long as hell, but scan through it and you'll find TONS of conversation about the different ways of handling fruit additions. You'll get pros and cons for "just throw it in there," or heat pasteurizing, or sanitizing with campden tablets. Check out the thread, make a decision about what works best for you, and go for it.

ETA: oh, and once you've read the thread, make a batch of the beer they're discussing. It tasted AWESOME going into secondary, and smelled like a dream. I'm tearing my hair out waiting for the secondary fermentation to finish so I can see how it turned out.

 

[Mexibilly]

I made a wheat that primaried until steady, transferred to secondary on top of 5 pounds of frozen blackberries that I thawed. I just let them thaw, sanitized my scissors and the packages and dumped them in.
The wife tried one last nite (I brewed it for her).
She was amazed. I tried a sip and except needing another week or so to carbonate fully, it's really good.
I read a rule of thumb more than once that said 1lb fruit per gallon.
It definitely worked on this one

 

[thejuanald]

Thanks for the info guys. So I guess even though I only have 6.5 gallon carboys, it won't be a big deal racking to secondary into another large carboy because there will be fermentation from the fruit. So I won't have to worry about oxidation from all the head space?

 

[ColdbreakBrewing]

We just published an interview with Rockford Brewing Company that addresses adding fruit to wheats and weissbiers. Thought you would find it helpful. We mostly get into talking about strawberries, but you could apply it to any fruit.

http://www.coldbreakbrewing.com/blogs/pints-with-the-pros

Chris

 

[alby44]

Thanks for the info guys. So I guess even though I only have 6.5 gallon carboys, it won't be a big deal racking to secondary into another large carboy because there will be fermentation from the fruit. So I won't have to worry about oxidation from all the head space?

You'll get close enough to the top that it shouldn't be an issue....consider rigging a blow off tube for the first few days though. Learned that the hard way with my first fruit batch...

 

[thejuanald]

We just published an interview with Rockford Brewing Company that addresses adding fruit to wheats and weissbiers. Thought you would find it helpful. We mostly get into talking about strawberries, but you could apply it to any fruit.

http://www.coldbreakbrewing.com/blogs/pints-with-the-pros

Chris

Great, I will check it out!

You'll get close enough to the top that it shouldn't be an issue....consider rigging a blow off tube for the first few days though. Learned that the hard way with my first fruit batch...

Yeah, a blowoff tube seems like a must have

 

[frettfreak]

Gonna check out that link on cold break brewing as well. But i have also done a good amount of fruit beers and never got an infection. I have always used frozen fruit and throw it in a sanitized bag. I have actually used mango a lot and i think it would be VERY difficult to over do. I did 5 pound in secondary on a 5 gallon batch and it was nice! I haven't used peach but i would use it a little more sparingly as peach can be a very dominant flavor.

Another fun suggestion is to take a look at the frozen fruit section at costco (or any grocery store but costco usually has a GREAT selection and its always good fruit at good prices). They have all kinda of bags of mix fruit with different things.

 

[thejuanald]

Gonna check out that link on cold break brewing as well. But i have also done a good amount of fruit beers and never got an infection. I have always used frozen fruit and throw it in a sanitized bag. I have actually used mango a lot and i think it would be VERY difficult to over do. I did 5 pound in secondary on a 5 gallon batch and it was nice! I haven't used peach but i would use it a little more sparingly as peach can be a very dominant flavor.

Another fun suggestion is to take a look at the frozen fruit section at costco (or any grocery store but costco usually has a GREAT selection and its always good fruit at good prices). They have all kinda of bags of mix fruit with different things.

Good idea, I might head to costco tonight!

 

[jethro55]

Mango addition ROCKS !!! I brought fresh cut mango to a boil, cooled and added to secondary vessel before transfer. Brew extra volume, this was so good that it only lasted a week.

 

[Ike]

PIGGYBACK QUESTION:

I have five gallons of Raspberry Requiem sitting in secondary right now, ten days in secondary, a five gallon glass carboy. Initially there was quite a bit of airlock activity, which naturally has now settled down, maybe one bubble/minute or less. Thing is, although the airlock activity has me thinking it's time to consider a check for stable gravity, when I look in the carboy I can STILL see little bubbles rising up. SO the question is:

Does using whole fruit (raspberries) make it harder for the yeast to get to the sugars? I know I should wait until fermentation is complete, but if it's going to take forever for the yeast to get through the actual tissue of the fruit, am I going to grow old and die waiting for that last trickle of fermentation to complete? Should I just go ahead and rack off the fruit after the two weeks the recipe recommends, figuring that removing the fruit will remove the source of that "locked down" sugar, and bottle as normal?

THANKS!

P.S. can you tell I'm a bit excited to try this stuff and see how it tastes?

P.P.S I'm a big fan of mango. Next on the list!

 

[thejuanald]

Mango addition ROCKS !!! I brought fresh cut mango to a boil, cooled and added to secondary vessel before transfer. Brew extra volume, this was so good that it only lasted a week.

Great! How much mango did you use?

 

[frettfreak]

Great! How much mango did you use?

i have used 5 pounds in a 5 gallon double ipa and it was fantastic! Could definitely go more if your want a serious mango kick but 5 pounds was the perfect amount for what I was looking for.

PIGGYBACK QUESTION:

I have five gallons of Raspberry Requiem sitting in secondary right now, ten days in secondary, a five gallon glass carboy. Initially there was quite a bit of airlock activity, which naturally has now settled down, maybe one bubble/minute or less. Thing is, although the airlock activity has me thinking it's time to consider a check for stable gravity, when I look in the carboy I can STILL see little bubbles rising up. SO the question is:

Does using whole fruit (raspberries) make it harder for the yeast to get to the sugars? I know I should wait until fermentation is complete, but if it's going to take forever for the yeast to get through the actual tissue of the fruit, am I going to grow old and die waiting for that last trickle of fermentation to complete? Should I just go ahead and rack off the fruit after the two weeks the recipe recommends, figuring that removing the fruit will remove the source of that "locked down" sugar, and bottle as normal?

THANKS!

P.S. can you tell I'm a bit excited to try this stuff and see how it tastes?

P.P.S I'm a big fan of mango. Next on the list!

When adding fruit to secondary most the fermentation is complete already. The remaining yeast will eat what sugars are easily available to them but if you let it ferment all the sugars in the fruit you will have a couple of issues. First the flavor wouldn't be as strong cause. 2nd would take forever because you left most the yeast in the primary fermenter. I usually let it sit for a week to 2 weeks on the fruit then cold crash. Also if you don't or didn't add pectic enzyme the fruit will give you a haze. Doesn't harm the flavor at all just looks muddy in the glass.

 

[jethro55]

Great! How much mango did you use?

I used 5 ripe fresh mangos in a 3 gallon carboy. Peeled and cut, then taken to 180 degrees in water for a few minutes. I am convinced that it is THE fruit for IPA.

 

[frettfreak]

I used 5 ripe fresh mangos in a 3 gallon carboy. Peeled and cut, then taken to 180 degrees in water for a few minutes. I am convinced that it is THE fruit for IPA.

Couldn't agree more. That was the fastest keg and I can't brew it fast enough. I did a tangerine strawberry that came out amazing as well. Not as good as the mango though.