adding fruit to secondary

[Twhite1978]

I'm considering a blueberry cider but not sure of the best way to add the berries to secondary? Should I boil them first? Should I crush, puree or leave whole? I don't think I can fit them in a nylon bag through the carboy neck? Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[MarkKF]

I do my blueberry in the primary (bucket) but you could purée them in a blender and put them in the carboy.

 

[hopmatic]

Normally, I'd say not to boil them. This leads to a "cooked fruit" flavor instead of the fresh flavor.

They will need to be crushed - or at least have the skins broken.

I'd add them straight to the carboy and later rack through a nylon bag.

 

[Twhite1978]

Thanks guys. I'm using frozen blueberries from the grocery store. So I'll lightly mash them before adding them to secondary. I'm making a three gallon batch of cider and after primary it will be split. One gallon is going to a apple jack experiment and the reamaining two will be blueberry cider.....hopefully! I read that apple jack concentrates not only the alcohol but also the flavors, therefore I'd rather keep it as bland as possible and leave out the blueberry.

 

[Schott703]

Don't get your hopes up to high for a blueberry taste. I've done 2 batches in the past 2 years. If you add them to the secondary, it kicks off a second fermentation and eats up most all the blueberry flavor. Before bottling add some pure blueberry extract. It's still adds some sugar so make sure you pasteurize or keep it cold.

 

[eadavis80]

I added frozen raspberries (3 pounds for a 5 gallon batch) last summer to a wheat beer and it turned out nicely. I didn't boil them or mash them or anything. I just got them into the narrow opening of my 5 gallon glass carboy (so I'm sure I did a little light mashing to get them all in there), but it turned out well, I think. A nice mild amount of fruit flavor in the beer. Good luck!

 

[solbes]

Check into heat pastuerization. Something like 160F for 20 minutes or so (don't quote me on the actual numbers). Boiling will produce haze. Also agree that adding blueberry extract (like 2 oz) along with real fermented blueberries, produces a pretty good result. I've made 2 Sunset Wheat clones with this method with good results.

 

[Twhite1978]

Do you use homemade extract or can I buy it somewhere? I've checked online and it looks like if have to boil the blueberries to make an extract.

 

[Twhite1978]

Do you use homemade extract or can I buy it somewhere? I've checked online and it looks like if have to boil the blueberries to make an extract.

In other words, should I use the extract that can be bought at an online retailer of home brewing goods or did you guys extract/concentrate your own blueberries?

 

[Dixon9717]

I read somewhere to freeze your fruit first to break down the cells to get maximum flavor. I did that with Mango once and it turned out tasting like mango......

 

[solbes]

I used something like this from Midwest Supplies, although it was blueberry. Haven't seen it there for awhile, so I wonder if they are discontinuing?

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/cherry-extract-4-oz.html

 

[Schott703]

Be careful! Make sure you use pure extract not flavoring. Any good health food store will have it. 100% pure. Expensive but worth it. Blend to taste before bottling

 

[Twhite1978]

The blueberries are from the freezer aisle. Lol!

 

[Schott703]

Thaw them and re-freeze. When there flash frozen at the produce facility it's done so fast they don't split. When you do it at home / they split