adding fruit to festabrew red ale

[EricaM]

I have been enjoying making the festabrew kits. I want to add a fruit puree next time. I'd prefer raspberry, but if I can't get it, then probably cherry. I'm looking at 3lb cans of vintner's harvest puree, but could also try juice or frozen fruit, depending on what I can get.
I also have blueberries in my freezer, but I don't think it would work well in the red beer. Maybe better with wheat...

My question: Will adding the fruit make the beer sour? Everything I look up talks about sour raspberry beer. I chose the red kit because it's got some malty sweetness. I usually prefer my beer less sweet with lots of dry hops, but for fruit, I thought a little sweeter would work better. Does anyone have experience with adding fruit? What do the different kinds do with regard to flavor and sourness?

 

[myndflyte]

If you're using canned fruit puree, that is going to be pasteurized so you should just be able to dump that in with no issue about it going sour. If you're using whole fruit, here is an excerpt from AHA about adding fruit:

First, mash or pulse-blend the fruit to release the juices and create more surface area for the beer to be in contact with the fruit. Now you have three options for pasteurization. First, is a low-heat pasteurization method that you can do in a double boiler or carefully directly on heat. Hold the mashed fruit at around 150-170°F for about 15 minutes, and that should rid the fruit of most of the unwanted bacteria. Second, simply freezing the mashed fruit before adding it to the fermenter. It is said that freezing and thawing fruit a few times helps release more flavors by breaking down cell walls, which means a fruitier brew! Third, simply do nothing at all and hoping for the best (good luck!).

 

[VikeMan]

My question: Will adding the fruit make the beer sour?

Fruit wont really make beer sour. But depending on the type and amount of fruit, it can certainly make it a bit tart, due to a shift in pH.

Everything I look up talks about sour raspberry beer.

It's pretty common to add fruit to sour beers, but in those beers it's bacteria (most often Lactobacillus) that do the actual souring.

 

[EricaM]

Fruit wont really make beer sour. But depending on the type and amount of fruit, it can certainly make it a bit tart, due to a shift in pH.



It's pretty common to add fruit to sour beers, but in those beers it's bacteria (most often Lactobacillus) that do the actual souring.

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense and was the information I was looking for.