Fruit position in secondary

[gundarak]

I'm going to take this into serious consideration. The more I read on this I've been hearing about flavor & ester loss with the pasturizing process and since she's wanting big raspberry flavor & smell this may be a better alternative.

maceration is a wonderful process that gets us many nice things such as limoncello. Neutral grain liquors over 50% do a wonderful job pulling the essential oils and flavors out of things, which is why i use them very often as my flavor additives into the secondary. Some people state that it gives the beer a fake or artificial taste, but when you do the maceration yourself, I have to disagree.

You can choose to make a tincture (let the alcohol macerate the ingredient for 3-4 weeks, discard the ingredient) and add that to the secondary, or if you want to macerate the ingredient and also use it in the secondary, macerate for 30 mins and make sure to also dump the alcohol you used for the process into the secondary as well. A tremendous amount of the ingredient your macerating will be in the alcohol, even after only sitting for 30 mins. Its worth it!

 

[Shawnanigans]

Update: I presented her with the ideas you all provided & she went with the pasturizing at 170 for 10 minutes & then throwing it in a cheese cloth bag & let it do what it does. The raspberries ended up basically turning into the canned puree and sunk to the bottom.

Thank you all for the advice!!! I'm looking forward to trying some of the other methods on my own brews. Also thanks to gundarak I'm gonna be attempting limoncello because after looking it up I just have to

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Right on. Let me know how it turns out! I'll be starting my batch tomorrow afternoon so I'm a good week out before I'll be doing anything with the raspberries

 

[Shawnanigans]

Right on. Let me know how it turns out! I'll be starting my batch tomorrow afternoon so I'm a good week out before I'll be doing anything with the raspberries

I forgot to mention she added 2 cups of water to the 4.5lbs of raspberries.

We racked on top of the raspberries and took a preliminary sample. It was really good, It already has a big fruit flavor and scent. I'm sure it's going to be everything she wanted. Can't wait for two weeks from now when we keg and carbonate.

 

[gundarak]

I'm gonna be attempting limoncello because after looking it up I just have to

let us know your experiences and how it turns out

its very satisfying to make limoncello.. and you can have it in a bottle ready to drink in 7-10 days.. depending on the strength of the liquor you use to macerate. I personally use 195 proof neutral grain (Like 195 proof Everclear)

Macerate for 7-10 days, strain and filter.. make a simple syrup and add to the lemon liquor. Bottle and make sure to throw it in the freezer before you drink. Always server cold!

FYI, traditional limoncello is about 30-35% ABV.. and there are calcs out there on the web that will help you figure out how much sugar syrup to add to get the desired ABV. Have fun! :rockin:

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Just racked mine onto the raspberries now. The beer tasted incredible on its own so I can't wait to see how this turns out. I put the froze. Raspberries in the carboy last night and let them sit in 12oz of vodka then just added the beer. What's the progress report on your brew?

View attachment 1428678934284.jpg

 

[Shawnanigans]

Well I was gonna wait till Sunday but I can't wait now. That looks really good Ole_Smoky ours was in a bottling bucket but going to be kegging it on Sun and will post a pic of the sample then. Hers is super red because the raspberries broke up so much in the pasturizing process. Gundarak I'm planning on picking up the stuff for the limoncello tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to having that to drink on soon. Thanks for all the tips!

 

[Shawnanigans]

Well here it is from Sun. It took me a couple days to figure out how to attach the picture but I got it. It has a gigantic up front raspberry flavor with a nice wheat finish. Can't wait to try it carbed up next Sun. Turning the raspberries into a puree gave it a deep red color. She loves it!

I'm curious to hear how yours turns out. I have a feeling yours is going to be more my style. This taste like raspberry juice with beer in it to me.

View attachment 1429019093526.jpg

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Ah I really like that red, mines looking pretty close to the same color. I'll probably end up bottling it Fri morning.... What abv% did yours turn out to?

 

[Shawnanigans]

It was 6.2%. The yeast kicked hard for 7 days straight then we had a 2 day fermentation after adding the raspberries. I was expecting closer to 5.

 

[Ole_Smoky]

How do you get the new ABV% after the raspberries have fermented? I was sitting at 5.5% when I racked to secondary, Ive found ways online to estimate the new % with the added vodka but nothing yet on the raspberry fermentation.

 

[Shawnanigans]

I used this article to do it. I'm a big fan of this guy. He really seems to know his stuff.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/10/adding-fruit-to-beer-increases-alcohol.html?m=1

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Right on ill check it out tonight. I ended up bottling the beer this morning. First impression is pretty tart, good and you can deff taste the raspberry. Once I got a glass cooled right down then the tart wasn't as intense. Be nice to see what some carbination and a good month of conditioning will do!!

View attachment 1429138884010.jpg

 

[Shawnanigans]

I really like the color of that! We are going to be trying ours carbed up this weekend if we don't sneak a sample tonight. Lol I hope some aging does it good man.

 

[Shawnanigans]

So the beer has been a rollercoaster of taste. It first stated out very raspberry with a wheat finish, then the raspberry faded except for the tartness and it tasted more like wheat, now the tartness is almost gone and the wheat is taking a back seat again but the raspberry has mellowed too. Its becoming a great beer IMO.

 

[BakerBrew]

I'm currently finishing an ale with 12 frozen and diced mangos in secondary. All the chunks are still floating at the top and haven't lost too much color after almost 2 weeks. If doing mango again, this is what I will do. Put the fruit in a large, fine mesh nylon bag. Weight it down in secondary. If possible, use a bottling bucket as to allow space and access to stirring the bag around. My WLP060 yeast picked up a bit on top, so they may have driven off a lot of mango aroma and flavor.

 

[Shawnanigans]

That sounds like a lot of mango. I used this page to get an idea of how much per gallon when I was designing mine.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/beer-fruit-amount.html

I just did a blue berry shandy for a wedding and with that one I just dropped the blueberries right into the beer. I did 1lb of blueberries, 1 gal of lemonade and 4 gal of beer in the secondary for a week then kegged it. The blueberries never sunk but the beer has a nice purple color and a good blueberry flavor to it.

You'll have to let me know how the second attempt at mango goes. I've never thought about mixing that with an ale but I could see it working.

 

[DesignatedDrinker]

Every fruit beer I have made to include ones that have won comps, I have just thrown the fruit in there and racked on top. it will float around and add flavor just fine. In fact I'm doing a Mango Pale Ale this coming weekend, 5lbs will go straight into secondary and racked on top. Now when it comes time to racked out of the secondary, don't worry about screening off the cane, just racked, and you will get a little fruit sediment towards the end, it adds character!

 

[eadavis80]

I used a can of sweet cherry puree for a 5-gallon wheat extract kit (NB's) and that can didn't do much of anything besides change the color. It all fermented out, but I did not notice hardly any taste or smell change. Next time I make a fruit beer, I'll just go back to frozen fruit - live n' learn...