Brewing Wheats with fruit

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jg12333

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So i have a Weisenbier going and i was planning on putting half a bottle of blueberry extract in before bottling but the more i read about fruit flavored i decided frozen fruits the way to go. So i boiled around 2 pounds of frozen blueberries and raspberry; not looking for too much flavor, and just threw them into the primary after 3 days. And im thinking about adding another pound in the secondary. What do you guys think about that. Did i screw anything up by adding them in half way though fermentation or what maby just added more time? And how does everyone else out there do it when they make fruit flavored beers?
 
I'm doing a raspberry and a lime wheat right now. They're in primary for another two weeks. I'll take 3 lbs of frozen raspberries, defrost, put in sanitized food processor to puree, put in secondary vessel, then rack onto the puree in the secondary. The lime is a similar process; I make my own extract and rack onto in the secondary.
 
the biggest problems with putting them into primary are that the fermentation will a) eat all the sugar in the fruit, and b) blow a lot of the flavor and aroma out while it ferments.

The best thing to do is rack onto fruit in secondary and then transfer to a tertiary to get all the junk out.
 
Yeah i was thinking that. I brewed this one from a kit expecting 4%-5% and wanted to ensure i got above 5% i like my beer with alittle kick i know its not the smartest wayto go about it but what the heck. And i still plan on putting another pound in the secondary for the flavor.
 
Yeah i was thinking that. I brewed this one from a kit expecting 4%-5% and wanted to ensure i got above 5% i like my beer with alittle kick i know its not the smartest wayto go about it but what the heck. And i still plan on putting another pound in the secondary for the flavor.

That's fine. Next time I would suggest boosting with some sugar (don't go too high on this, and be sure you balance your recipes to use it) or even some additional malt extract and just use the fruit to get the desired flavor.
 
Only problem I see is boiling the fruit. Boiling the fruit will set pectins and can cause cloudy beer. You should be fine using frozen fruit directly after thawing or if you wish to pasteurize you can heat it to 150F for about 15min.
I usually use pectin enzyme when making meads with fruit which may be a good thing to add to your beer to help with the pectins.

Craig
 
Velotech Have you tried the new seasonal bluemoon with lime.
Actually, yes. I'm in grad school now in Denver and Keith Villa, the Coors Master brewer and man who created Blue Moon came into our class and gave us all samples. Man, that was a great class!

The beer is ok, very drinkable. The lime was there but subtle. If I went to a restaurant and they had the Blue Moon or BMC, I'm definitely drinking the Blue Moon. I'm going for more of a German flavored wheat than Belgian.
 
the pectic haze you get from pateurizing is a fair trade for not having wild yeasts attack your beer. fruit has naturally occuring yeast in its skin, so the best way is to use a pectic enzyme if you really have a problem with hazy beer, and pasteurize.
 
I agree with leaving the boil out when using frozen fruit. I just thawed mine and added to the secondary. Wait a week and rereack into new fermenters. As far as your alchohol level goes, just realize the fruit will bump it up quite a bit. Wish I could figure out how much though.

Btw, good news with you boiling and it possible causing a cloudy beer...... it's a wheat! who cares!
 
As far as your alchohol level goes, just realize the fruit will bump it up quite a bit. Wish I could figure out how much though.

I'm also interested in the answer to this one. There must be a way to split a batch after primary and add the fruit to one to figure this out. Could it be as simple as taking SG of each after transfer?
 
Not unless you dissolve all the fermentables from the fruit into your wort first.
 
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