Beersmith: Adding Fruit Puree to affect ABV

[ThreeTaps]

Hi all,

I just added my first recipe into Beersmith, which is a Cherry Wheat beer. It calculates my ABV to be 5.3%, however it's really going to be closer to 7% - 7.3% due to the can of cherry fruit puree I'm adding into the secondary. Is there any way to input the puree values into Beersmith so that it takes that into account?

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

You'd have to figure out what the potential of the puree you are using is, and calculate it into your recipe. You may be able to import/add it to the fruit download you can get at Beersmith.com, but IIRC it will not calculate it for you.

Best thing to do is take great notes, and measure your gravity after the secondary fermentation is complete, and then work your numbers from there to see what your FG is and then you can figure out what the fruit added to the total ABV%.

Fruit can be tricky since from season to season the ripeness and sugar content can vary considerably. It is hard, especially when using fresh fruit, to figure how many points it can add to the gravity.

Regardless, I'm certain your brew will be delicious, if you send me a six pack I can tell you what your asking within the first 2-3 beers!

Brew on, brew strong!

 

[dontman]

You add a "New" item under the 'add grain/extract' button. This will allow you to add the fermentability of the puree. The average potential from the Oregon puree is 1.029. I use this for all of the purees to get a decent estimate of the starting gravity.

 

[weirdboy]

I added strawberries to my list of fermentables as a sugar with the appropriate potential, etc. so that when I add them to my recipes it calculates the gravities and ABV correctly. The trick is that you need to click the "add after boil" (assuming you add it in secondary) or else your hop utilization and IBUs will likely be off by a bit.

 

[ThreeTaps]

Thanks for all the responses! I got it in there and now my ABV is 7.17%...that's gonna be a pretty strong beer without even knowing it by taste.

 

[dontman]

The trick is that you need to click the "add after boil" (assuming you add it in secondary) or else your hop utilization and IBUs will likely be off by a bit.

Good trick! I forgot about that. And I do always them into secondary.