I’m doing a few 1 gallon fruit wheat beers right now & on my first batch I wanted to keep half just a wheat & make the other half the fruit wheat. I’m experimenting with hop flavors & purée fruit flavors hence the 1 gallon versions.....what do you all think about adding fruit during bottling versus a secondary? I’m trying to keep the fruit flavor but I’m also worried about the whole priming issue if I add fruit after fermentation is complete.....Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
Adding fruit purée during bottling?
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AkTom
Well-Known Member
I've never added fruit at bottling. My main concern would be refermentation, then bottle bombs. Someone who knows more will be along soon.
I don't know about bottle bombs but the puree will add sugars so calculating priming would be a WAG (wild ass guess). Plus it will add sediment into your bottles. It would be best to add the puree to the beer, let it ferment out then bottle it.
Thank you!
Thank you! I haven’t been able to find any info on adding purée to bottles and this is probably why! Looks like secondary is happening tomorrow!
When I was bottling I shied away from bottling additions other than the primer, just on infection-vector-avoidance GPs.
That said, if one was to run through that stop sign, the puree container will have the sugar content in some workable unit, which can be subtracted from a calculated priming charge, thus avoiding bottle grenades...
Cheers!
That said, if one was to run through that stop sign, the puree container will have the sugar content in some workable unit, which can be subtracted from a calculated priming charge, thus avoiding bottle grenades...
Cheers!
I once added Cherry concentrate to a mini keg of wheat instead of priming sugar (the nutritional info made the proper calculation possible, and no pulp like a purée) it did carb and the cherry flavor was decent, but the color of the head was grayish pink- very unappealing. Using the typical sugars for priming offer a "cleaner" fermentation.
Many will add fruit in a secondary or in the mash. Also, welcome to the forum.
Many will add fruit in a secondary or in the mash. Also, welcome to the forum.
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
I've carbed with juice additions and juice concentrate before using the brix of the juice to calculate the amount of sugar, but only when kegging so no harm if the numbers were a little off. I'd also think there would be some solids in the puree that you might not want in the bottle.
I was trying to use a priming sugar calculator via northern brewer but the purée says glucose & cane sugar & the nutrition facts say 1g of sugar....the chart didn’t mention glucose so I couldn’t really get a solid idea
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
Glucose is dextrose - or you can use the amount it lists for corn sugar. Cane sugar is sucrose.
The purée is by Amoretti, they’re often advertised in the brewing mags, so they advertise to brewers...The bottle says 1 pump per 12oz....Not sure if that’d be a little much, it also shows 1-3fl.oz. by gallon on the web for brewing....
I might have a little more than a gallon but I’d rather it be a tad under sweetened than over sweetened
Thank you! Good to know! I’m working with pineapple & apricot this time around ... I also have a second 1 gallon fermtunt right now so I’m thinking I might split both to half gallons, that way I can keep half in primary & taste the hop choice I used (both different) & then secondary one half with purée & prime normal & bottle with the fruit purée as priming for the other .... I can test many variables this way , thanks for the tip!
Thanks for that reminder! There are very few solids but I should strain regardless! I have some concentrate also but I’ve heard it tastes too fake & is best for aroma....maybe next batch I could try that
Better to go with the lesser amount, so you can run the priming calculator for 12 oz (if you want to go a few bottles) it will give you the various sugars in grams, find out how many grams per serving in your purée and adjust from there. BTW, you are not likely to get residual sweetness from this addition. That will would come from non-fermentable sugars like lactose etc. or by adding stevia or xylitol. A Hefe is easy drinking but I don't think of it as actually sweet. Let us know how things turn out with your experiment. The fruits you've chosen sound good.
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chickypad
lupulin shift victim
I agree when working with fruit/juice I try to use fresh as much as possible. I have had good luck though with perfect puree brand - they make purees obviously but they also do juice concentrates. The passionfruit one worked great. I think they put extra sugar in the purees but the juice had no extra ingredients.
Sucrose and dextrose are close, you typically use just a little less sucrose. If you're going to bottle with it I would just err on the side of using less so you don't get bombs. Equivalent of 4 oz sucrose per 5 gal should be safe.
Sucrose and dextrose are close, you typically use just a little less sucrose. If you're going to bottle with it I would just err on the side of using less so you don't get bombs. Equivalent of 4 oz sucrose per 5 gal should be safe.
TwistedGray
El Jefe Brewing Company
I've done this by accident (fruit in secondary), and it never ended well. While you may not have an issue with non-carb'd beers you very well may have a whole batch of overly carb'd beers.
My 2c - Rack the beer off the yeast, dry hop, rack the beer of the hops, and then add your fruit "stuff" (I try to use fresh fruit I cut myself). (You will need to be careful about introducing oxygen though.) I find that the length of time and the quantity of fruit will dictate how fruit-forward your beer becomes. You can adjust accordingly through time, and I assure you that you can get VERY fruit-forward beer without adding anything to the bottle to carb (except sugar).
Caution note: Make sure all of the sugars have been broken down before going to bottles, or you are right back to square one with overcarb'd beers. I've done this, too (see my first sentence).
ps: Your infusion choices sound good, fyi.
My 2c - Rack the beer off the yeast, dry hop, rack the beer of the hops, and then add your fruit "stuff" (I try to use fresh fruit I cut myself). (You will need to be careful about introducing oxygen though.) I find that the length of time and the quantity of fruit will dictate how fruit-forward your beer becomes. You can adjust accordingly through time, and I assure you that you can get VERY fruit-forward beer without adding anything to the bottle to carb (except sugar).
Caution note: Make sure all of the sugars have been broken down before going to bottles, or you are right back to square one with overcarb'd beers. I've done this, too (see my first sentence).
ps: Your infusion choices sound good, fyi.
Thank you so much ! I’ll definitely post my results! I’m excited to get er’ done today!
browning348
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I added some homemade blueberry syrup, left over from a batch of pancakes, to the primary of a golden pale a few months back. About 1/2 cup to a quart of beer. It turned out really good. Next time I’ll add more blueberry to the beer.
patchedboard
Well-Known Member
I’ve always added purée to secondary. You will get some refermentation but that will help suspend the purée evenly throughout the column. I wait for primary fermentation to appear to be complete...rack to secondary on top of your purée and let it do it’s thing. Bottling fruit puréed beer, without adding some sort of preservatives to inhibit fermentation will never be as sweet as being able to keg and keep the beer cold.
Hmm sounds good since it was syrup! How did the flavor come out as far as being in primary? How much blueberry flavor did it keep?
browning348
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Well the process was 1:1:1 frozen blueberries, cane sugar, water. Brought to a boil and simmer down 15 min or so, the smashed up the blueberries some just to expose the inside. After the pancakes were eaten I added about 1/2 cup of the concoction to the primary that had been sitting for a week. I let it sit another 10 days then bottled. If I do it again I’ll rack off the primary onto the blueberries. The flavor held pretty well, I think the hops took away from the blueberry some. I’ll do less hops next time. Maybe shoot for the 25-30 ibu range
Sounds really good!!! I also want breakfast now lol
browning348
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Best syrup ever!
