Adding Fruit to beers.

[Punkjah007]

What do people do for a process when adding fruit to beers? I was thinking of using Pectic Enzyme on some fruit for 24 hours to let it break down the pectins and let the juices out, and possibly adding some Campden Tablets to prevent any wild yeasts from activating. Then adding that to the beer during secondary. Do some people prefer to make fruit puree instead? Let's hear some peoples methods, if you are willing to share. Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I brew a raspberry hibiscus wheat beer using a pound of frozen berries per gallon. I macerate the berries in a Cuisinart while the hibiscus flowers are steeping for about a half quart of "tea", then combine them with two cups of corn sugar in a big lidded pot which I bring to 140°F on the stove top and hold there for 30 minutes to pasteurize. Then I let it cool down to around 80°F when I add pectinase and let it sit for a couple of hours on the counter to cool the rest of the way to room temperature. At that point I dump the whole thing in a pair of fresh carboys and rack the base beer on top and let it sit for a few days before crashing and kegging...

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

I puree and pasteurize.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I've been buying frozen cherries or raspberries from a local orchard. They are cleaned and pitted, frozen in buckets. After a beer is done fermenting, I thaw the fruit and put in a sanitized mesh bag and put inside a sanitized keg. Then I transfer the beer from the fermenter to the keg.

I haven't used Campden tablets but someone could. I haven't had any issues. The beer gets carbonated and served from the same keg, if it's overly murky I will transfer to any keg.

 

[Skeeter686]

For my raspberry wheat, I pasteurize the berries and then mash them through a sieve. I may have to think about pectinase. I wasn't aware of the stuff when I first started making this.

 

[Punkjah007]

I kinda getting the sense this might be the way to go
1. pasteurize
2. puree
3. pectic enzyme

When you pasteurize that should kill any wild yeast/bacteria as well, correct?
A lot of times i freeze my fruit in vacuum sealed bags until a beer is ready for them. That should also kill anything, yes?

 

[day_trippr]

I don't think you can reliably pasteurize whole berries. I would flip 1 & 2 for certain...

Cheers!

 

[Punkjah007]

1. puree
2. pasteurize
3. pectic enzyme

Lets say I wanted to freeze it for later use. Where in that process would you put "freeze"?

 

[day_trippr]

Between 2 & 3.
Alternatively, puree, pectic enzyme, pasteurize, then freeze.
ie: I think having the pasteurization just before freezing would be prudent...

Cheers!

 

[RCope]

Not to be contrarian, but to add another option...I've brewed dozens of fruit beers, mostly sours or wheat beers, but a few IPA's as well. I've brewed @day_trippr raspberry hibiscus a couple times, it is excellent, and beautiful in the glass. I mostly use fresh fruit, but a few commercial canned purees, and a few concentrated fruit juices (Coloma). For fresh fruit it's 6-8 lbs per batch (5 gallons into the keg), frozen, then thawed and pureed with a cup of vodka. This is added at the tail end of fermentation directly to primary. The vodka should help kill any bacteria and offsets the abv loss from adding fresh fruit puree (which always has a lower OG than wort, as far as I know). It works out to be about a gallon of puree and I adjust my volumes accordingly.

For concentrates or commercial purees, simply adding it to late primary fermentation works well. I don't add pectic enzymes, the beers will be hazy due to the wheat anyways. Never pasteurized, I imagine the vodka helps with that and any commercial products are already pasteurized. Never had an infection, but don't want to jinx myself ;-). I have mango, papaya, and lychee in my back yard (S. Florida). I have to brew these beers .

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, the primary reason I use pectinase with berries is it increases the effective yield by breaking down the berry skin. The fermentor ends up with an inch or so layer of clear empty berry husks right before racking

Cheers!

 

[Bobby_M]

There are so many ways to approach this stuff. I'm a freeze/thaw/puree/pectinase/sulfite guy if I'm not already dumping in aseptic packaged purees or concentrates.

 

[Gajol]

I haven't done it yet but got all the ingredients for it



I am planing ro follow David

 

[Punkjah007]

So that guy uses metabisulfate (campden tablets) and adds the fruit near the end of 1st fermentation. I have seen a few videos where brewers have mentioned adding fruit near the end of fermentation. How long do you want the fruit in there? A week? A couple days?