Adding fruit to primary?

[pwnshop]

I just did this recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f75/razzy-wheat-140777/ and it has been fermenting for a day now. (actually i used this recipe as a base and changed a couple things and scaled it to 5 gallons).

The recipe says to rack to secondary onto the fruit.

Well I have this fermenting in a bucket and I was wondering what the downside is to waiting until primary fermentation is complete and then just putting the fruit directly into the primary? I currently don't own a second bucket or carboy to do a secondary in. I am not opposed to buying a second fermentation vessel and racking to secondary if its 100% necessary, but I have never done it before and worry about oxygenation etc.

I would prefer not using a secondary vessel for ease of use since I am still a noob! So please tell me what, if any, issues I may come across if i just dump the fruit right in.

thanks!

 

[billl]

You can just dump it right in the primary. You do want to make sure the beer is fermented first. The alcohol provides a bit of insurance against infection.

 

[m00ps]

the idea behind the secondary is that a large mass of fruit being introduced into the beer will likely dissolve a lot fo oxygen with the splashing. If you can "slide" the fruit in as cleanly as possible, it should be OK

 

[mcbar]

Make sure the fruit is submerged. If it floats on top of the beer you risk introducing infection. I would probably be inclined to rack onto of the fruit rather than dropping it in.

 

[billl]

The bouyancy of fruit isn't determined by the order of what is added to what. If it floats, it floats. You can put it in a sterilized bag with some marbles if you need to sink it.

And sorry "dump it in" was bad phrasing. You don't want to splash your beer. I only meant to convey that you don't need to be worried about primary vs secondary 99.9% of the time. The beer doesn't seem to notice how we label our equipment.

 

[mcbar]

The bouyancy of fruit isn't determined by the order of what is added to what. If it floats, it floats. You can put it in a sterilized bag with some marbles if you need to sink it.

And sorry "dump it in" was bad phrasing. You don't want to splash your beer. I only meant to convey that you don't need to be worried about primary vs secondary 99.9% of the time. The beer doesn't seem to notice how we label our equipment.

Sorry, I meant it as two separate pieces of advice. Whether OP decides to add fruit to his primary or put it in another vessel and rack on top of it, he should make sure it's covered.

Personally, I would find it easier to throw the fruit into a secondary and rack on top. I'm more confident in my ability to sanitize my autosiphon and rack gently than I am in my ability to gently lower fruit into an already full primary. But as you say the beer is indifferent. Either way will work.

 

[pwnshop]

If splashing and floating are the two big issues would it make sense to:

Use frozen raspberries (i'm contemplating 2.5 - 3 lbs) and put them in a sanitized cheesecloth 'bag' with something heavy (a previous poster said marbles, that seems smart) and then just lower it in slowly?

I think i could accomplish that with minimal splashing and I imagine that it would stay submerged? It might make racking to the bottling bucket a bit easier as well?

If this is just over complicating it then I can just go out to home depot and buy another bucket. It's just that for me siphoning ends up being such an ordeal and I'm always freaking out about oxygenation i was wondering if it could be avoided

 

[eadavis80]

Do you have an auto siphon? Siphoning should not be difficult. Plus, you'll most likely want a secondary fermenter eventually, so I'd go ahead and get one and rack your beer on top of the fruit.

 

[mcbar]

Do you have an auto siphon? Siphoning should not be difficult. Plus, you'll most likely want a secondary fermenter eventually, so I'd go ahead and get one and rack your beer on top of the fruit.

I would second the suggestion to get an autosiphon if you don't have one. Best $7 I ever spent - probably my favourite piece of brewing equipment per dollar. I siphoned my first few batches manually, and I was kicking myself for not getting the autosiphon right off the bat.

 

[Wolfbayte]

The bouyancy of fruit isn't determined by the order of what is added to what. If it floats, it floats. You can put it in a sterilized bag with some marbles if you need to sink it.

And sorry "dump it in" was bad phrasing. You don't want to splash your beer. I only meant to convey that you don't need to be worried about primary vs secondary 99.9% of the time. The beer doesn't seem to notice how we label our equipment.

Probably goes without saying, but the marble or stainless steel nut you use as a weight should also be sterilized.

Another reason to always have a sprayer of Star San solution handy.

 

[pwnshop]

I think my fear is just that I will not sanitize well enough and then contaminate the beer, or that I will mess up while racking and oxygenate the beer. Im sure it would work out fine but i just get paranoid.

I do have an autosiphon but it is quite small (good for 1 gallon batches but not 5). I think siphoning is not the hard part its just avoiding splashing and making sure everything is sanitized well etc.

If I just go and buy a big bucket and transfer into it will that be fine or does it need to be a certain kind of bucket? I could go buy a carboy but the only homebrew store is quite far away and a pain to get to. I have a home hardware on my street that sells big pails for like 6 bucks...

 

[billl]

You want a food grade bucket and/or carboy.

 

[Wolfbayte]

I think my fear is just that I will not sanitize well enough and then contaminate the beer, or that I will mess up while racking and oxygenate the beer. Im sure it would work out fine but i just get paranoid.

I do have an autosiphon but it is quite small (good for 1 gallon batches but not 5). I think siphoning is not the hard part its just avoiding splashing and making sure everything is sanitized well etc.

If I just go and buy a big bucket and transfer into it will that be fine or does it need to be a certain kind of bucket? I could go buy a carboy but the only homebrew store is quite far away and a pain to get to. I have a home hardware on my street that sells big pails for like 6 bucks...

Your "fear" is a valid concern. Put the fruit in the primary then RDWHAHB.

 

[pwnshop]

I took the plunge and racked to a secondary last night. I tried to keep the splashing to an absolute minimum and i sterilized everything as best i could with starsan.
I figure its best to make the attempt at something new and see if it works out. If the beer doesn't get an infection and it doesn't taste horrible then next time I won't be so afraid. Baby steps I guess!
I attached a picture of the secondary in my wine cooler/fermentation chamber. i could hear bubbles from the blow off pretty well immediately.
I did rack on top of the raspberries, but they are all floating. Someone mentioned that they could possibly get moldy? I intend to let this sit in the fermentation chamber for about 2 weeks, do you guys think the fruit will go moldy?

thanks!

edit: I forgot to add that I got that carboy off craigslist for 15 bucks from a guy that lives a 5 minute walk away from me, and I also visited a new LHBS that I didn't know existed thats about a 15 minute walk away from me. awesome!