Forgot to sanitize fruit for secondary.
- Thread starter dhoyt714
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What kind of fruit? Frozen/fresh/canned?
There's lots of variables.
There's lots of variables.
you could try using campden tablet(s) 24 hrs, then repitch yeast -- I have not done this myself, only read about it and I know it's used a lot in home wine making w/ fresh grapes and other fruits. maybe ask at the local brew shop where you can buy the tablets.
So only the muslin bag was in StarSan? And what kind of fruit are we talking about here? And source?
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Spartangreen
Well-Known Member
If it in the secondary, i'm assuming fermentation was done and there's alcohol in there. Alcohol kills the bad stuff to a certain degree.
I've forgotten to sanitize orange peels a couple of times and it turned out fine.
I wouldn't worry about it
I've forgotten to sanitize orange peels a couple of times and it turned out fine.
I wouldn't worry about it
Fresh fruit is typically covered in brett... so... I think the chances of it becoming infected are pretty high.
what kind of beer was it?
With fresh fruit... I'm guessing a Wit or something? Meh... I wouldn't sweat it. A brett infection isn't exactly the worst thing ever and you never know, it could be a great beer. A fruit-spiked berliner-weiss might not be so bad.
Not saying my method is the be-all, end-all but when i've added fresh fruit to beers in the past, I've always cut them up and then pureed them in the blender. Once nice and smooth, I'll put 'em on the stove top and very slowly and gradually bring them up to 170f in order to sanitize/pastuerize them.... then pitch the fruit. Just an idea.
what kind of beer was it?
With fresh fruit... I'm guessing a Wit or something? Meh... I wouldn't sweat it. A brett infection isn't exactly the worst thing ever and you never know, it could be a great beer. A fruit-spiked berliner-weiss might not be so bad.
Not saying my method is the be-all, end-all but when i've added fresh fruit to beers in the past, I've always cut them up and then pureed them in the blender. Once nice and smooth, I'll put 'em on the stove top and very slowly and gradually bring them up to 170f in order to sanitize/pastuerize them.... then pitch the fruit. Just an idea.
codycodycody
Well-Known Member
I've done the same and luckily mine turned out fine. I guess you'll see soon enough.
I wouldn't worry about it. The beer contains alcohol, that will prevent a lot of nasties from developing. Shouldn't be any Brett on tropical fruit, I think. Maybe give it a little extra time in secondary.
Whatever you do, don't dump it. Chances are very good it'll turn out just fine.
Whatever you do, don't dump it. Chances are very good it'll turn out just fine.
Did real fruit twice now. No sanitation. A little time in the freezer was all. No problems. Not saying there can't be. Two out of the millions of times it's been done is a very small sample size.
Without a problem eh? Eh? During that time, many brews went bad, and superstitions went rampant, and people were burned at the stake. Not necessarily in that order.
First things first... there are a number of different "infections" you can get and I put that in quotes because "infection" isn't really the right word since many beers are made intentionally with the culprits that do the "infecting". A beer can typically get infected with brettanomyces (which is simply a wild yeast), lactobaccilicus or pediococus (both are bacterias). We can get other infections but they are a lot less common. All three of those are intentionally used sometimes in different beers. As examples, all you have to do is think about the traditional Belgian coolships they used to chill wort and intentionally collect these wild "bugs" in the beer.
Brett is a wild yeast that is prevelent all over the planet and one of the big places it hangs out is on the skins of fresh fruit. It will give a beer a flavor of what is usually refered to as "barnyard" or "horse blanket". If you haven't had a heavily bretted beer, it's hard to imagine the flavor but once you try it, those descriptions make perfect sense. The other two (lacto and pedio) will give the beer different sour or very tart flavors (lambics, flanders reds, oud bruins).
Back to your situation... If you used fresh fruit, including the peels, without them having been washed really well or sanitized, I think the chances of you getting a brett infection are close to 100%. The other two shouldn't be a really high risk so I wouldn't worry about them. In all three cases, normal ABV levels, won't stop any of these infections at all. Again, if you think about how sours are usually made, these "bugs" are usually pitched well into fermentation or when primary fermentation is already done (how I always do it). If the ABV would protect beers from getting infected, this pitching method wouldn't work.
All of that said, there are a couple of things probably working in your favor... brett infections from fruit peels should be at least a little slow on the uptake and if your FG is pretty low, it might take the brett a little while to get going and produce any really material off-flavors. If you are bottling, refridgerating and then drinking the beer reasonably quickly (refrideration will slow the brett down quite a bit) then again, it may not be that noticable.
Bottom line is... it's not the end of the world and like someone said, definitely don't dump the beer but going forward, my suggestion would be to pastuerize the fruit, or somehow sanitize it another way, before pitching it. It may not be that big of a deal on this beer but if you are doing any bigger, aged beers (maybe a big dark cherry stout or something), I think the chances of the "infection" being noticable would, again, be close to 100%.
... and on the point about people doing this for thousands of years... that's true... but they've been simply using wild yeasts (a lot of brett) for those same thousands of years. An "infection" can mean a few different things and when folks are making beer today, "infection" means a flavor that isn't according to style. Brett is only acceptable in style guidelines in a few beers but that doesn't mean the beer won't be good! Other than the brett peice, I don't think you have much to worry about.
Brett is a wild yeast that is prevelent all over the planet and one of the big places it hangs out is on the skins of fresh fruit. It will give a beer a flavor of what is usually refered to as "barnyard" or "horse blanket". If you haven't had a heavily bretted beer, it's hard to imagine the flavor but once you try it, those descriptions make perfect sense. The other two (lacto and pedio) will give the beer different sour or very tart flavors (lambics, flanders reds, oud bruins).
Back to your situation... If you used fresh fruit, including the peels, without them having been washed really well or sanitized, I think the chances of you getting a brett infection are close to 100%. The other two shouldn't be a really high risk so I wouldn't worry about them. In all three cases, normal ABV levels, won't stop any of these infections at all. Again, if you think about how sours are usually made, these "bugs" are usually pitched well into fermentation or when primary fermentation is already done (how I always do it). If the ABV would protect beers from getting infected, this pitching method wouldn't work.
All of that said, there are a couple of things probably working in your favor... brett infections from fruit peels should be at least a little slow on the uptake and if your FG is pretty low, it might take the brett a little while to get going and produce any really material off-flavors. If you are bottling, refridgerating and then drinking the beer reasonably quickly (refrideration will slow the brett down quite a bit) then again, it may not be that noticable.
Bottom line is... it's not the end of the world and like someone said, definitely don't dump the beer but going forward, my suggestion would be to pastuerize the fruit, or somehow sanitize it another way, before pitching it. It may not be that big of a deal on this beer but if you are doing any bigger, aged beers (maybe a big dark cherry stout or something), I think the chances of the "infection" being noticable would, again, be close to 100%.
... and on the point about people doing this for thousands of years... that's true... but they've been simply using wild yeasts (a lot of brett) for those same thousands of years. An "infection" can mean a few different things and when folks are making beer today, "infection" means a flavor that isn't according to style. Brett is only acceptable in style guidelines in a few beers but that doesn't mean the beer won't be good! Other than the brett peice, I don't think you have much to worry about.
