Another Fruit Topic

[Cogwork]

Alright, I'm working on an apple ale now. Now I've read the Joy of Home Brewing, and I've skimmed over the topics here. But I was wondering if someone could give me a few pros and cons of adding the fruit in primary versus secondary.

The book says that adding right after the boil serves to pasteurize the fruit. Which is supposed to help with off flavors. But almost every topic here says to add fruit in the brite tank.

So please enlighten me oh Guru's of the brew! Thanks in advance.

 

[shot0rum247]

I am a proponent of adding fruit during the last 5 to 10 min of the boil. This allows you to get the flavor from the fruit without any bitter acrid flavors. Also, like you mentioned, it kills off anything that could contaminate. Do not add fruit to the beer at all from the time that it has cooled down to when the initial fermentation is done, unless it is pasteurized. For instance, if you wanted to do your initial fermentation over oak chips, boil the chips then add them to your primary. If you do not want to add fruit during the boil then I would add them during a secondary conditioning in a carboy. Since this is after the primary fermentation there is enough alcohol around that usually you dont get contaminations. However, just to be sure it is always good to drop whatever you are adding into some boiling water...fruit is dirty stuff you know? I hope this helps...ther are so many ways to add fruit to your beer and I'm sure others will continue to enlighten you.

 

[Cogwork]

Thanks for the post. Yeah, the book mentioned putting the fruit right when you take the wort off the boil, so it's still hot, and then let it steep for 10-20 minutes. I'm thinking I might go that route this time around. I appreciate your insight!

 

[shot0rum247]

I am not one to question Papazian, that book is a bible of mine. However, the big idea is to get the beer from off the boil to pitching temps as soon as possible. Just be cautious while letting the brew sit for 20 min and it should be fine as it is still pretty hot.

 

[nebben]

You can treat fruit by soaking mashed (smashed) fruit in with 1 campden tablet's worth per gallon... so if you have 1/2 gallon apples mashed up (with the juice), use 1/2 campden. Soak for 24 hours and put the fruit in the beer. No more "dirty fruit."

 

[Nurmey]

Boiling fruit tends to release the pectin (as in jelly) and your beer may not clear. Personally I would go with the campden tablets.

 

[Cogwork]

I'll have to look into the campden tablets next time. Second batch went through must smoother last night. Much more prepared. The fruit is still in the fermenter. So now my question is it should be alright to leave the apples in their until I move to secondary right?

 

[DRoyLenz]

By adding fruit to your boil/primary, you're bound to lose a lot of the flavor and aroma to the steam, and even more so, those flavors and aromas are likely to be carried away by the CO2 in primary. Jamil, on his internet radio show said, "Adding it to the primary ferment when you first add your yeast and all that, is probably the worst of all the choices. Cause what's going to happen is the CO2 is going to drive off most of the aroma... and you're getting no sanitization." You're more likely to introduce infection before primary is complete, if you add it directly to the primary.

If you were to add your fruit to a blender, make a puree (or buy a nice Oregon Puree), you can simmer that at about 160F to pasteurize it, making sure not boil it. Then rack your beer on top of that to secondary. The alcoholic presence will prevent contamination.

If you're using fruit extract, you want to add it at kegging/bottling, and you don't need to sanitize (but you do need to sanitize anything that touches the extract).

If you're going to brew a fruit beer, I'd recommend listening to the Jamil Show episode on it, you'll learn a lot. http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Fruit-Beers-The-Jamil-Show-04-24-06