Fermentation in the secondary

[Ducky]

I am brewing a watermelon wheat beer. I racked the wort and yeast on top of a little bit of watermelon puree to boost the gravity, and let it ferment. My gravity has been at 1.014 for a few days now, no bubbles in the airlock, and the krausen was all but gone. So I transferred earlier today to the secondary, and added more watermelon puree for flavor. I just checked the beer, and I am getting bubbles in the airlock again. A bubble about every 15 seconds. Is this bad? Are the yeast going to eat up all the watermelon flavor like they did in the primary?

 

[scinerd3000]

yes your fermentation is renewed because you added more fermentables....it will add flavor also but you will lose some to fermentation.

 

[Ducky]

yes your fermentation is renewed because you added more fermentables....it will add flavor also but you will lose some to fermentation.

What stops the yeast from eating all the flavor? Because, of the few cups of watermelon puree I added to the primary, no flavor made it through.

 

[carnevoodoo]

What stops the yeast from eating all the flavor? Because, of the few cups of watermelon puree I added to the primary, no flavor made it through.

Yeast eat sugar. Any kind of sugar you put in there that they can convert, they will. You could use something to kill the yeast, but then you can't bottle condition.

 

[Ducky]

Yeast eat sugar. Any kind of sugar you put in there that they can convert, they will. You could use something to kill the yeast, but then you can't bottle condition.

I didnt even consider this would happen. Go me! for not putting 2 and 2 together. How much watermelon flavor can I expect to actually make it to the bottle?

 

[Ducky]

Could I put the carboy in the basement to stall the fermentation? Or would that be dumb?

 

[davesrose]

Fruit can really kick start another fermentation and/or get quite fizzy. But there's not much you can do to try to prevent yeast from doing what they do: convert sugars to alcohol. Don't feel that it's all lost, though. There's still plenty of fruit flavor that stays in the beer. You might be surprised how much it carries through.

 

[Ducky]

Fruit can really kick start another fermentation and/or get quite fizzy. But there's not much you can do to try to prevent yeast from doing what they do: convert sugars to alcohol. Don't feel that it's all lost, though. There's still plenty of fruit flavor that stays in the beer. You might be surprised how much it carries through.

I hope so. I didnt really taste any out of the primary with 2 or so cups in there. I am hoping another 3.5 cups will be enough. I am tempted to add another cup for good measure but I am more worried about too much watermelon than not enough.

 

[davesrose]

I am tempted to add another cup for good measure but I am more worried about too much watermelon than not enough.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fruit beer fan....but brewed a couple for my former gf. I found she really liked a heavy taste of fruit, so I had to keep adding a few pounds worth of it (to levels that were way too much for me or my family...but she liked them like that). It's always safer to just let things be now....once you don't see any more fizzing, taste a sample of the beer. I suspect you'll find it just right....but if you want more fruit, then just add it in batches.

I'm always an advocate of tasting your beer once it's in secondary and tweaking if you find it lacking in something.

 

[Ducky]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fruit beer fan....but brewed a couple for my former gf. I found she really liked a heavy taste of fruit, so I had to keep adding a few pounds worth of it (to levels that were way too much for me or my family...but she liked them like that). It's always safer to just let things be now....once you don't see any more fizzing, taste a sample of the beer. I suspect you'll find it just right....but if you want more fruit, then just add it in batches.

I'm always an advocate of tasting your beer once it's in secondary and tweaking if you find it lacking in something.

I was under the impression that once it was racked, you left it alone. But I guess I dont see any reason I couldnt add more watermelon puree if I feel it needs it. I sure smelled and tasted good right after I racked it. I was able to get a decent idea of the final product because some CO2 stayed in the beer.

 

[davesrose]

I was under the impression that once it was racked, you left it alone.

Especially by the time the beer is in secondary, there's no chance for infection and there's less chance of a change of major flavor changes. I know some on this forum like to say that beer can drastically change flavor while it ages, but I've found most my brews only have subtle changes from the end of fermentation to kegging or storing. My feeling is that beer is a lot like cooking....especially with adding fruit to secondary when you're not as worried about infection....you can add ingredients incrementally to be sure they're just right for your own preferences. The only thing I would do is wait about a week or so to make sure your first batch of fruit has completely fermented and "steeped" in your beer; before tasting a sample and deciding if you need more fruit.

 

[Ducky]

Especially by the time the beer is in secondary, there's no chance for infection and there's less chance of a change of major flavor changes. I know some on this forum like to say that beer can drastically change flavor while it ages, but I've found most my brews only have subtle changes from the end of fermentation to kegging or storing. My feeling is that beer is a lot like cooking....especially with adding fruit to secondary when you're not as worried about infection....you can add ingredients incrementally to be sure they're just right for your own preferences. The only thing I would do is wait about a week or so to make sure your first batch of fruit has completely fermented and "steeped" in your beer; before tasting a sample and deciding if you need more fruit.

Makes sense. I dont want to jump the gun and over-fruit it. Thanks for your help man

 

[davesrose]

Makes sense. I dont want to jump the gun and over-fruit it.

And I think that's why it's best to say try it in batches....especially when it comes to fruit in beer, everyone has different preferences. I don't think you can really just say X amount of fruit is what everyone needs, when some like lots of fruit while others like subdued fruit. So RDWHAHB is probably the best universal advice for anything brewing related

 

[Clayton]

it takes time for the fruit tast to come back
it will be much more fruity after 2 weeks conditioning that right out of secondery.
think about cider it takes months to taste fruity after fermentation and its all fruit.
flavors mature and change so much, most ofton for the better with a little time
i really dont think tasting the beer right out of the secondery is of much use. just keep good records and if some thing needs to be change next time make note of that after the beer is mature and at its peak.

 

[Ducky]

it takes time for the fruit tast to come back
it will be much more fruity after 2 weeks conditioning that right out of secondery.
think about cider it takes months to taste fruity after fermentation and its all fruit.
flavors mature and change so much, most ofton for the better with a little time
i really dont think tasting the beer right out of the secondery is of much use. just keep good records and if some thing needs to be change next time make note of that after the beer is mature and at its peak.

I've never brewed cider, I had no idea that fruit flavor was so delayed.

 

[hossua]

Fruit in the secondary should impart a bit more flavor than from the primary... That being said if you aren't happy with the fruitiness at the end you could always garnish your beer with a hunk of melon.

 

[Ducky]

Fruit in the secondary should impart a bit more flavor than from the primary... That being said if you aren't happy with the fruitiness at the end you could always garnish your beer with a hunk of melon.

Just the way 21st amendment does it . Man, I wish I could have found a clone of hell or high watermelon from them.

 

[volcar]

I read in designing great beers that with assertive flavored fruits i.e. raspberry you add 1 pound to each gallon of beer and with mild flavored fruits i.e. apricots you add 2 pounds to each gallon of beer.

Seeing that watermelon has a mild flavor I would add about 2 pounds per gallon .

I am doing my first fruit beer with 2 different fruits raspberries and apricots and did a 3/8 ratio of raspberries and 5/8 ratio of apricots. It ended up being just under 2 pounds of raspberries and 6 pounds of apricots for a 5 gallon batch. I cut up and pitted the apricots and left the raspberries whole, I split the fruit in half and stuck one half in a grain sock and drop the sock in after boil when temp reach about 170 degrees and let that sit for about 30 minutes. The other half I froze and am going to put that into secondary and probably let it sit for about 2 weeks .

Starting gravity was at 1.054 read just after the fruit in the grain sock was taken out of the wort. So from my records that 4 pounds of fruit at added just after boil only added about 0.001 to the gravity.