Fruit in my wheat beer during secondary

[Andrew21213]

So I wanted to add fresh fruit to my secondary, in my wheat ale I made. the fermentation has stopped at around 5% my question is about the fruit sugars restarting the yeast. I have stabilizing tablets I could use but I’m not sure what the drawbacks on those are. The fruit in thinking of adding is banana.

I’m okay with more than 5% but I don’t want anything too crazy high. And I want some of the sweetness form the banana. The yeast I used is Munich Classic wheat beer yeast. Thanks!

 

[Andrew21213]

By the way I don’t have a keg, so I use priming sugars to bottle and create the carbonation. So I’m also curious if the stabilization tablets would prevent that from happening.

 

[Dgallo]

So I wanted to add fresh fruit to my secondary, in my wheat ale I made. the fermentation has stopped at around 5% my question is about the fruit sugars restarting the yeast. I have stabilizing tablets I could use but I’m not sure what the drawbacks on those are. The fruit in thinking of adding is banana.

I’m okay with more than 5% but I don’t want anything too crazy high. And I want some of the sweetness form the banana. The yeast I used is Munich Classic wheat beer yeast. Thanks!

Fruit will not raise your abv unless you add a huge amount. Also don’t use a secondary fermenter, it’s only going to increase your risk of oxidation. Add the fruit right to the primary fermenter. Typically 1 lb of fruit per gallon is a good amount. I’ve never personally use banana but I’m sure someone will respond who has and give you advice through experience with it. Anyway here is a little article on fruit and abv
https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/10/adding-fruit-to-beer-increases-alcohol.html?m=1

 

[Jag75]

I've never used banana so I cant speak to that . I've used other fruits though and frozen then thawed fruit adds water. Fermentation does kick back in but on my experience it almost balances out in the end you may go from a 5% to a 4.8%
It's so close I dont even worry about it. You have to make sure it's done before bottling. I brew sours all the time and never use stabilization tabs .

 

[VikeMan]

So I wanted to add fresh fruit to my secondary, in my wheat ale I made. the fermentation has stopped at around 5% my question is about the fruit sugars restarting the yeast. I have stabilizing tablets I could use but I’m not sure what the drawbacks on those are. The fruit in thinking of adding is banana.

I’m okay with more than 5% but I don’t want anything too crazy high. And I want some of the sweetness form the banana.

Whether or not fruit will raise your ABV depends on the ABV of your beer, and the sugar and water content of the fruit. In my experience, most fruit/beer combinations actually result in a lower ABV. How much the ABV changes (either up or down) depends on the amount of beer and the amount of fruit.

The fruit addition calculators I had been seeing have either ignored the water content or had other issues, so I added my own to BrewCipher, which can be downloaded ---> Here <--- among other places.

 

[VikeMan]

I’ve never personally use banana but I’m sure someone will respond who has and give you advice through experience with it.

I have used banana. 10 pounds (pre-peeled weight) in a 5.1 gallon batch of sweet stout. That sounds like a lot, but it was not overpowering at all. I let the bananas ripen until nearly mushy (beyond what you'd normally eat, but not rotten...you want maximum natural conversion of starches to sugars), then peeled, frozen, thawed, and chopped/smushed into small pieces.

 

[Jag75]

A friend of mine brewed a choc banana porter and it was really good . I didnt ask him his process but he did say he used a bunch of banana.