First fruit beer

[iambeer]

Well, I heard a rumor that newbies are supposed to make fruit beers as soon as possible. I certainly dont want to disappoint the truth of that rumor, and I'm not even going to say my wife insisted I make it, because I like blueberry beer sometimes. This will be my 5th batch of beer so at least I waited that long before shoving fruit in my tub. I won't be going to Maine this year so even though I'm still in the early learning stage of brewing, I want a degree of success (or else have to buy exported Maine blueberry beer!) (even though most blueberries around here come from New Jersey!)

I researched recipes and found one on a forum that sounded good. I adjusted it to a 3 gallon ferment batch and switched to European ale yeast.

Briess 2-Row 4 lbs
Weyermann Dark Wheat 2 lbs
Caramel Munich 2 oz
Hallertau Pellets .4 oz @ 60 mins
Williamette Pellets .4 oz @ 30 mins
European Ale Yeast

Post boil gravity was 1.044 on the lower end of the expected range, and the taste was sweet and wheaty.

The yeast acted fairly normally; krausen at about 12 hours, a few days of furious CO2, followed by stillness since. It will has been steadily fermenting and will be two weeks this weekend. It's considerably less dark (not to mention very different) than all the other beers I've been making (Belgian dubbels and dark milds) so I am curious to try it out before putting the fruit in it. I figure two weeks is long enough time (?) to move it another carboy with fruit. I wanted to bounce this off you guys to squeeze as much chance of success.

I researched forums to see how people put blueberrues in and I settled with the method (below). Using newbie wisdom is strange though; things sound right but then your world gets flipped around and it didn't sound right at all. I've been holding this for about 3-4 weeks and I have no way of knowing if this is an okay way to do it.

Three pounds of Blueberries; fresh or frozen.
Freezing them helps to break them down later.
Crush them slightly, add water in a bowl just enough to cover
Add and dissolve about 1/4 to 1/2 campden tablet in bowl.
Add about 1/4 teaspoon of pectin enzime.
Let sit overnight.
Add entire mixture to secondary, and rack beer on top.

It seems a lot of people are saying ... "just cook it in 170F water"... and a lot of other 'ways to do it'. I don't know what way is best but I am prepared to do it the way I outlined above... but if that's not a good way to do it, please someone let me know.

I also have a small starter of the same yeast in the fridge; was thinking about pitching that in after a few hours racking. not sure if that's a good or bad idea, or doesn't matter. Because of the campden tablets from the prepped blueberry, I want to make sure the yeast are doing well.

Then I was planning on leaving it for another couple of weeks, and siphoning to a cold crash container. Thanks for any input, guys.

 

[iambeer]

My poor thread! Too much info?

 

[Cal_J]

When I add fruit, I generally pulverize the fruit and add it to my hop bag, adding it and the juice into the secondary for about 5 days or so... It has worked for me...

 

[LLBeanJ]

I think I would either: A) puree the blueberries in a blender/food processor and add in a little vodka to sanitize (maybe 4 oz or so), then rack beer over them; or B) Crush the berries and boil for 5 minutes or so, then cool and rack beer over them.

Either way, I would utilize a Home Depot/Lowes paint strainer back to contain the fruit in secondary. This makes it much easier to remove the fruit when ready to bottle/keg. I've done this with bananas and it works pretty slick.

Also, I haven't worked with blueberries thus far, but from some of the info I've read, it sounds like 1-1/2 lbs of berries per gallon is a good ratio.

 

[iambeer]

Hmm yes I think I will try closer to 1.5 pounds per gallon. Maybe I will split the batch into two secondaries and pasteurize/puree half and campden treat the other half. I think it is a worthwhile test.

 

[iambeer]

I just sampled it. Gravity reading 1.012, so 4.2% ABV before added sugar from fruit. And it tasted decent. I forgot about the wheat aspect. I guess this is also my first wheat beer. I think I may actually bottle a few without fruit, even. The European ale yeast is nice... clean but slightly sweet.

 

[iambeer]

Lucky me, fresh blueberries are in season now. I racked the beer on 4 pounds of fresh pureed blueberries last night. This morning, I went in to stir the bottom because it looked like the fruit never budged. When I stirred it, the whole thing floated up in one pale-ish piece like a floating cake. Strange. I guess I should have stirred it sooner.

 

[tippetsnapper]

Don't discount the canned fruit puree at your LHBS, I have had good success with those. I just brewed an apricot wheat, 4 days into fermentation when it slowed, I put the puree in a carboy and racked the fermenting beer on top of it...renewed fermentation while the yeast is as healthy as can be and no worries about fruit skin/sludge getting into final product.

 

[reinbrew]

Don't discount the canned fruit puree at your LHBS, I have had good success with those. I just brewed an apricot wheat, 4 days into fermentation when it slowed, I put the puree in a carboy and racked the fermenting beer on top of it...renewed fermentation while the yeast is as healthy as can be and no worries about fruit skin/sludge getting into final product.

The last time I made a fruit beer, I made a peach wheat and used the canned fruit. The beer tasted like the inside of the tin can. Took a year to drink it. I won't make that mistake again. Either using frozen or boiled fresh fruit in my next brew: Cherry Brown

 

[tippetsnapper]

reinbrew - maybe that can had been sitting awhile before you used it. I fortunately live near a large HBS that turns over their stock very quickly. I have made three separate batches with the canned puree (apricot and peach) that all turned out dynamite. I will however caution the use of liquid extracts.

 

[iambeer]

Tippet,

I appreciate your advice. However I haven't eaten fruit from a can since the 80's. I eat it either fresh or frozen. I was going to buy a 4 pound bag of frozen blueberries when I then noticed fresh blueberries, sweet and friggin delicious, were the same price because they are in season. They are so good they almost didn't make it into the beer. Those are the type of ingredients I would like to use. I figure if fresh fruit doesn't work, nothing will. This line of thinking makes me want to make a peach sangria. Fresh summer peaches and red wine like they do it around the Mediterranean. Anyway having said all that, it does seem like a waste to put fresh fruit in beer, becaude im all about cost issues. But I gotta try it before coming to that conclusion. I want my homebrew to be something that isnt viable for a commercial beer to produce. Then again maybe I'm just being naive. I'll find out.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

I just sampled it. Gravity reading 1.012, so 4.2% ABV before added sugar from fruit. And it tasted decent. I forgot about the wheat aspect. I guess this is also my first wheat beer. I think I may actually bottle a few without fruit, even. The European ale yeast is nice... clean but slightly sweet.

This pertains to my first thoughts on your thread. Many home brewers, newbs and veterans alike, assume that fruit can cover flavor flaws in your beer. This reminds be of bathroom odor spray: it just smells like sh%$*# flowers/fruit. I'm glad your base beer is nice and tasty. When doing a fruit beer your first step should be to make a good and accurate base beer. When I use puree, I make my base beer a few points sweet (AG mash adjustments) so that the tartness and drying out from the fruit fermenting balances the beer nicely.

 

[iambeer]

Bier it is thanks to someone on this site somewhere who wrote: always taste your beer before adding fruit. It just makes sense. And a search on the white labs yeast descriptions for 'fruit' seems to have fixed the outcome partially of this beer with giving me a good yeast. Thanks for the encouragement. I can't help but to hope this eill turn out great.

 

[iambeer]

The blueberry flesh cake that floated up from the bottom is starting to look like an ant farm, CO2 bubbles instead of ants, with carved little tunnels leading up to a moderate krausen. I hope it breaks apart soon... I get the feeling that the yeast is not getting the best blueberry exposure if it's together in a block like that. I read many people only leave fruit for 5 days. I was kind of hoping for the other thing I read about leaving it 1 to 2 weeks, but I don't want risk losing the blueberry taste. Now I will just have to relax and check back on Saturday. (Although I'm sure I'll be checking in on the antfarm every chance I get).

 

[iambeer]

Guys,

Sorry I am bumping this but I need some advice.

The blueberry flesh which I put through a blender is floating at the top of the carboy. It is in one piece.

Because of this, I'm afraid the yeast can't get to all the fruit. The yeast has been working away steadily because I assume only a fraction of the sugar is available to the yeast. I could very well be wrong. The color of the beer is definitely purple.

I'm worried about fermentation being completed before something like the fruit starts to decompose and/or create bad flavors.

Has this happened to anyone? If so, how did you deal with it? Or, anyone, what do you suggest I do? I don't want to touch anything fermenting unless necessary.

Thanks

 

[LLBeanJ]

You may want to poke the fruit down with a sanitized racking cane or something to keep the berries from molding. I found with using banana puree I had to do this every couple of days after about the first week. They eventually dropped around the end of the 2nd week. I don't think I'd worry about the sugars not being accessible to the yeasts. They're tenacious little buggers and if there's sugar to be had, they'll get at it.

 

[iambeer]

LLBean, thanks for that info. Do you know if I should be expecting most of the blueberries to drop to the bottom?

 

[LLBeanJ]

I'm not sure, since I've never worked with blueberries before, but I would think so... eventually. After a week on the blueberries, I'd do gravity samples every couple of days and rack off when stable, whether or not the berries have fallen.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

There's probably no need to stick anything in the carboy. The skins are likely floating due to co2 bubbles affixed to them. Rocking the carboy a couple times should do the trick.

 

[iambeer]

Oh, I have shaken it every day since Sunday. It floated up on day two when I tried to stir it. It is still in the shape of the bottom of the carboy. It floated up like a buoy. It is all in one piece, kind of still---molded as LLBean said.

And the fermentation has increased every day. Today it is faster than ever. I don't know if it's the yeast waking up or if it's the sugar seeping through the mold. But it looks like I should either wait it out or stab that cake. I don't even know if it will break apart if I poke at it. It didn't break apart when I tried to do that on Sunday.

I just want the yeast to tear that thing apart. I may have to take a stab at it....

 

[LLBeanJ]

Before you do, how long has it been on the fruit? If it's been less than a week, I wouldn't touch it and just let the yeasties do their thing. After a week is when I'd be worried about mold growing on the fruit and that's when I'd be trying to get it stirred up a little bit just to keep the fruit wet. Swirling may be all that is necessary, but if it doesn't do it, then punch it down with something. That's also when I'd start taking gravity readings in anticipation of it stabilizing. I would think it would be finished after two weeks, but the yeasties do work on their own timetable.

 

[iambeer]

It's only been 3 days. By mold I meant 'molded' together in one piece and it's all under the liquid. It seems perfectly healthy, it's just in one solid pretty thick block. I wonder if the pectic enzyme I was supposed to use would have fixed this.

Waiting... I like the sound of that. Thanks. That I can do (with a little assurance).

 

[LLBeanJ]

Yep, let it be for now. Sounds like everything is normal.

 

[tippetsnapper]

FYI - An article you may find interesting from craftbeer.com, I read it and thought of this thread.....and my defense of fruit puree. http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/stories/craft-beer-muses/show?title=fruits-of-their-labor-the-challenges-and-rewards-of-brewing-with-fruit

"Advantages of Fruit Puree

Both McAdam and Ganum are fans of using fruit purees like those made by Oregon Fruit Products (OFP). These purees are lightly processed to remove undesirables like pits and stems while going through a flash heating pasteurization killing wild yeasts and bacteria while maintaining the integrity of the fruit. Purees from companies like OFP promise a fresh product without preservatives, flavorings or colorings, giving you the closest possible approximation of fresh fruit without the negatives.

Both brewers use purees as well as fresh fruit when appropriate, regarding its pros and cons, Ganum says, “Fresh fruit tends to have more nuanced flavors and can be great for sour/funky beers, where the resident yeasts and bacteria from the orchard may produce unique characteristics. Pureed fruit, assuming it's pasteurized, is tremendously more predictable,“ said Ganum.

It’s even becoming possible to find exotic fruits like mango puree that the brewers at The Commons Brewery used in their Saigon Saison, a beer inspired by Vietnamese cooking."

 

[DrewschBag]

It's more fun to brew with real fruit and fun is the reason I started brewing in the first place!

 

[tippetsnapper]

It's more fun to brew with real fruit and fun is the reason I started brewing in the first place!

Its more fun to not have a batch of beer get spoiled so you can drink it. To each his own.

 

[iambeer]

I don't get it. Why would real fruit get spoiled? Most people pasteurize it; I used Camden to remove living bacteria and yeast. So it is stable. The difference between canned fruit and fresh is like the quote you used: the fresh stuff maintains the subtlety and nuance.

 

[iambeer]

Okay. No change after a week. Still, CO2 bubbling gently, less than 5 days ago but still somewhat active. Still solid mass of blueberry floating like buoy. To be on the safe side I am thinking about racking this to another vessel and letting it finish fermenting without the fruit for a week. I'm spooked about the possibility of fruit spoilage. Thoughts? Advice? Thanks

 

[LLBeanJ]

Leave it alone. RDWHAHB.

 

[iambeer]

Leave it alone. RDWHAHB.

::twiddles thumbs::

::stares at the bubbles and the blueberry blob::

::looks at the calendar::.

I am leaving for a week starting this weekend which marks two weeks of fruit in the beer. I don't feel comfortable leaving it alone a third week. But it's not done fermenting. I could stick it all in the fridge (~40F). Or rack it off the fruit. Or bottle it. Somehow, I didn't plan correctly and I'm a week off. I can't seem to make up my mind about what to do about this. I beg you please don't allow this innocent beer to be made a terrible mistake of by me.