I just recently made black berry porter. I mashed 2.5 pounds of blackberries and threw them into the primary. The next day fermentation kicked off but the berries were floating atop my Carboy. Is there anything to be concerned about?
Blackberry beer
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markcurling
Well-Known Member
Nope! They'll probably start to sink in a couple of weeks
Most fruits will float in a fermeter...the CO2 being created/released by the yeast collects under their mass and pushes them up. If adding to the secondary, the alcohol already present can help prevent infection if "punching down" the fruit into the liquid....although fruit in primary should probably be left alone and allowed to form a pellicle if it wants to.
It is always safer to add things to the secondary ferment rather than the primary, as the existing alcohol will help inhibit unwanted microorganisms and wild yeasts. As for juicing, that would probably help to reduce proteins and other components causing hazes in your beer. Either way, I'd strongly suggest pasteurizing anything you add to the ferment....just juice them out (or add just enough water to almost cover the berries) and heat them up to about 170*F for 15 minutes (don't boil!). Let cool to match the fermenter temp and dump in...you'll add to your peace of mind greatly.
And remember that whole fruits, purees, and raw juices have an assortment of proteins, enzymes, and other stuff in them that don't occur in grains and hops, as well as often being coated with wild yeasts and other critters. Wash thoroughly (you especially don't want to be adding any pesticides or fertilizers to your brew!) and pasteurize any fruit you add after the boil. Even with pasteurizing and even overkilling with campden tablets or other winemaking additives, the presence of the fruit and the resulting components can cause fermentations that are very different from a straight-up grain-and-hop beer. Things can go faster or slower, a ferment can seem to stall and then re-start all by itself as different critters go to work, and can cause very odd looking or smelling ferments. In particular, the appearance of fruit-related pellicles (i.e. non-yeast growths on the top of the liquid) can be very freaky at first - they can look like rotten mold, vomit, or worse...and can smell about the same. TRUST YOUR BEER. And be PATIENT. If you're worried about the appearance of the pellicle, be sure to check out the Pellicle-Photo Collection/ thread here.
Example:
I brewed a smoked ale this past summer. I was working on a blueberry farm at the time and had taken a bunch of berries home and frozen them. When I racked to secondary, I reserved 1.5gal and racked that onto 3lb. of berries and some dried roasted hot peppers (the berries were frozen and thawed 3x, then pasteurized with the pepper bits). The beer seemed stalled for about a week while the non-berried brew continued clearing. Then the berried brew started another ferment from the sugars in the berries. When I checked the fermenter, all of the berries were floating in a somewhat solid pellicle with what appeared to be a purplish-white slightly fuzzy mold in between them growing quite impressively. After letting the ferment complete, I punched through the pellicle and racked it off for bottling. A slight taste puckered my face with the raw sourness. After several months in the bottle, the sourness faded out entirely and the result is a wonderfully complex brew that I absolutely plan to do again (although I think I'll dial back the smoke a little bit...2# of beechwood-smoked and 2# of cherrywood-smoked in the 5gal batch was excellent for the straight-smoke brew, but a little overpowering with the berried version.
-Bryan
And remember that whole fruits, purees, and raw juices have an assortment of proteins, enzymes, and other stuff in them that don't occur in grains and hops, as well as often being coated with wild yeasts and other critters. Wash thoroughly (you especially don't want to be adding any pesticides or fertilizers to your brew!) and pasteurize any fruit you add after the boil. Even with pasteurizing and even overkilling with campden tablets or other winemaking additives, the presence of the fruit and the resulting components can cause fermentations that are very different from a straight-up grain-and-hop beer. Things can go faster or slower, a ferment can seem to stall and then re-start all by itself as different critters go to work, and can cause very odd looking or smelling ferments. In particular, the appearance of fruit-related pellicles (i.e. non-yeast growths on the top of the liquid) can be very freaky at first - they can look like rotten mold, vomit, or worse...and can smell about the same. TRUST YOUR BEER. And be PATIENT. If you're worried about the appearance of the pellicle, be sure to check out the Pellicle-Photo Collection/ thread here.
Example:
I brewed a smoked ale this past summer. I was working on a blueberry farm at the time and had taken a bunch of berries home and frozen them. When I racked to secondary, I reserved 1.5gal and racked that onto 3lb. of berries and some dried roasted hot peppers (the berries were frozen and thawed 3x, then pasteurized with the pepper bits). The beer seemed stalled for about a week while the non-berried brew continued clearing. Then the berried brew started another ferment from the sugars in the berries. When I checked the fermenter, all of the berries were floating in a somewhat solid pellicle with what appeared to be a purplish-white slightly fuzzy mold in between them growing quite impressively. After letting the ferment complete, I punched through the pellicle and racked it off for bottling. A slight taste puckered my face with the raw sourness. After several months in the bottle, the sourness faded out entirely and the result is a wonderfully complex brew that I absolutely plan to do again (although I think I'll dial back the smoke a little bit...2# of beechwood-smoked and 2# of cherrywood-smoked in the 5gal batch was excellent for the straight-smoke brew, but a little overpowering with the berried version.
-Bryan
