fruit in secondary help pls.

[tchuklobrau]

I am looking to make a cherry dubbel. I am going to tweek a dubbel recipe a bit, then I plan on using 3lbs of cherrie puree in the secondary. what is the best way to get the most cherry flavor into the beer? If i just rack onto the puree I will probably get a renewed fermentation which will take some of the flavor away right? would it be better to leave in primary 3wks, cold crash, then rack onto the puree, and then cold condition on the puree for 30 days? I am hoping to end up with a beer somewherebetween Omegangs 3philosiphers and lindemans kreik. Only closer to the lindemans in reguard to the cherry flaver.



sorry if i posted in the wrong area.

 

[heywatchthis]

Unless you actually kill the yeast, you will eventually end up with a pseudo secondary fermentation, whether its in the carboy or in the bottle (which could be a problem). If you're looking for Lindemans cherry flavor, you could always use extract (which is what it tastes like to me).

In most fruit beers, getting a lot of fresh fruit flavor into the beer usually requires a lot of fruit 1.5-2 lbs per gallon.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I agree with hey; if you are going to add only 3# of puree, you probably aren't going to get much fruit flavor, regardless of when you add it. I add at least 10# of fruit (fresh, 3# of concentrate) to a 5 gal batch. I would add that in secondary.

 

[MikeBilly]

To add a bit more, if you want to keep the sweetness you can wait til it finishes fermenting in secondary then add some maltodextrin or lactose to taste.

 

[tchuklobrau]

Ok so while the consensus is that i need more fruit, any response to the cold condition idea? Is it better to secondary on the fruit warm, or is coldconditioning on the fruit a good idea?

 

[teucer]

The cold conditioning step tends to make the yeast go dormant, so you won't get it to ferment much of the sugar. I'd give it about another week on the fruit before you cool it down - hopefully, enough to work its magic, but not enough to destroy the fresh fruit flavor.