hello, so im a fairly new home brewer and i did my first fruit beer. i added the fruit to the primary fermentation carboy and now i relized i should of waited till secondary fermentation so my question is should i even transfer to secondary? if i do should i leave the fruit in or take it out and leave it out? thanks!
brewing with beer with fresh fruit
- Thread starter RTFK
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
ryansanders
Well-Known Member
Personally, I kind of think damage done at this point. Major reason to put fruit in secondary is because the risk of contamination goes down substantially once wort is fermented whereas its a very hospitable substrate for microorganisms in the primary (kind of the point, right? Haha).
So at this point, any bacteria that rode in on the fresh fruit is good and established I would think. If it were me, I'd leave it in and see who wins: yeast or fruit bacteria
Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
So at this point, any bacteria that rode in on the fresh fruit is good and established I would think. If it were me, I'd leave it in and see who wins: yeast or fruit bacteria
Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
kadozen
Well-Known Member
Also someone with more knowledge can confirm or deny this but a lot of the fruit flavor gets kicked out during the primary fermentation. Doing it the way you did would have contributed more fermentable sugars too.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Home Brew mobile app
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Home Brew mobile app
This month's Zymurgy magazine has a good article about Short's Brewing Co. use of citrus fruit. They do both depending on the flavor profile. If they add fruit during primary it is usually in the form of juice or puree. If they add fruit in the secondary it is usually in the form of zest or peels.
They say that adding citrus to the primary captures the crisp tart flavor. Adding zest in secondary is similar to dry hoping giving it more an aroma.
They use all products that are delivered to them sterilized. They did say if you use fresh fruit to soak them in no rinse sanitizer.
There was also an article about using Kumquats. Both recipes for using Kumquats added them in the secondary.
For my wit bier I make I add dried bitter orange peel that I peeled myself. I usually add a portion at 5 minutes and then add the final amount in the primary. I sterilize the portion that I put in primary by removing a cup of wort at flame out and steep the orange peel in this. By the time the wort is chilled the peel is sterilized and ready to go in primary.
I have also made a Braggot with dried cranberries and a fruit beer with red cactus fruit. With both of these beers I bring enough water that will cover the fruit to a boil and then add the fruit and cover and let steep for 20 minutes. I then put the fruit and water in a sterilized blender and make a puree that I add to the primary. For the cranberry puree, I used a bag since there were a lot of skins. For the cactus fruit, I just poured it in. There were seeds but they settled to the bottom with the trub.
They say that adding citrus to the primary captures the crisp tart flavor. Adding zest in secondary is similar to dry hoping giving it more an aroma.
They use all products that are delivered to them sterilized. They did say if you use fresh fruit to soak them in no rinse sanitizer.
There was also an article about using Kumquats. Both recipes for using Kumquats added them in the secondary.
For my wit bier I make I add dried bitter orange peel that I peeled myself. I usually add a portion at 5 minutes and then add the final amount in the primary. I sterilize the portion that I put in primary by removing a cup of wort at flame out and steep the orange peel in this. By the time the wort is chilled the peel is sterilized and ready to go in primary.
I have also made a Braggot with dried cranberries and a fruit beer with red cactus fruit. With both of these beers I bring enough water that will cover the fruit to a boil and then add the fruit and cover and let steep for 20 minutes. I then put the fruit and water in a sterilized blender and make a puree that I add to the primary. For the cranberry puree, I used a bag since there were a lot of skins. For the cactus fruit, I just poured it in. There were seeds but they settled to the bottom with the trub.
