Bottling a fruit beer problems

[eadavis80]

So, I bottled my first fruit beer last weekend. I had 3 pounds of raspberries in my secondary of American wheat. About 2 or so inches of raspberry "stuff" was still on the top of the carboy, while another inch or so of yeasties and raspberry "stuff" had settled to the bottom. The beer was in the primary for 1 week before being racked to secondary for two. There it sat until bottling day.

On bottling day, it was nearly impossible to not get a fair amount of "raspberry floaties" in the bottling bucket. I doubt (and surely hope) they'll impact the beer's flavor, but am hoping they settle to the bottom during bottle conditioning.

Does anyone have any hints/tips on how to successfully bottle a fruit beer that has a layer of "stuff" on the top and the bottom. I did my best to keep the racking cane away from those layers, but there was no way to keep a lot of the stuff out (at least none that I saw). So, 3 questions:

1. Any tips/hints on how to avoid this in the future
2. Will "floaties" settle to the bottom of the bottle during conditioning
3. Do you predict any taste problems with the "raspberry floaties" in the beer bottles?

I am guessing the beer will TASTE fine, but am hoping it looks okay - pouring a beer with floaties in it is, well, not what I was going for.

 

[LLBeanJ]

1. Puree your fruit and add to secondary (or primary once initial fermentation begins to slow). Cold crash for several days before transferring beer to bottling bucket/keg to allow the fruit to settle. Alternatively, if using non-pureed fruit, sanitize a paint strainer bag and line your fermentor with it prior to adding the fruit. Once it's done, you can pull the bag and the fruit with it.
2. The floaties should settle out.
3. I doubt you'll have any off-flavors or other taste issues from the floaties.

 

[MindenMan]

You didn't mention your hydrometer readings, I do hope you took some. I would say 'floaties" are caused by CO2 trapped w/i them. You may have bottled too soon. You also didn't mention how long you were in secondary, and there really isn't a specific time as all batches ferment differently.
My main concern is bottle bombs. I rushed my first and only so far fresh fruit beer, and I only had 1 bottle bomb I know of, two full cases of hardly drinkable gushers. I hope yours do not suffer the same fate as mine did.

 

[Hello]

Unrelated to floaties, you should leave the beer in primary until it is done fermenting because if it isn't done, adding fruit will allow it to ferment even more and you may lose more fruit flavor than intended.

You could cold crash or put some cheese cloth or a hop bag on the end of the racking cane next time you use fruit. I had no issues with strawberries but I am thinking I will have issues with my blackberry puree. I should find out tonight when I bottle.

 

[eadavis80]

I did mention secondary. I said it was there for two weeks until bottling day. Og was 1.040 and FG was 1.012, so I am confident initial fermentation was done prior to adding fruit to it in the secondary. I doubt I'll have bottle bombs...I hope not.

Good luck on tonight's bottling.

 

[beerbaker]

I've only done two fruit beers, both strawberry. For the first I used frozen halved berries, they floated on top and the beer below cleared fine. for the second I pureed the berries. They floated on top and a bunch collected at the bottom. Both beers I racked onto the berries in secondary, and after that finished fermenting (hydrometer!), I transferred to a 3rd vessel for another week to clear. The first beer was fantastically clear and quite delicious. The second didn't clear in that amount of time, and it's been bottled for about a month and is just starting to clear now. I won't puree again. Cold crashing as cold as you can for several days would probably help. After they are carb'd stash them in the fridge for a while and most of the debris will settle out.

 

[bleme]

Even the pro's have problems with raspberries. A local brewery did a test batch with raspberries. It was on tap for about an hour and still had seeds swirling in every pour. Eventually they pulled it to sit for a couple more weeks and see if it settles down.

 

[alby44]

You may want to consider using a paint strainer from lowes or HD when transferring....place over the auto siphon when racking to bottling bucket and it will accumulate the razz sludge on the outside of the strained, did this with a raspberry brown with great success!

 

[eadavis80]

Yup - next fruit beer I'll give that a try, for sure. Thanks. Hopefully the sludge/floaties settle some during bottle conditioning. As long as it tastes good and I'm smiling after a few, that's the big thing