Fruit Purée Question

[boondocksaint]

Hey brewers,

Have a blonde ale in the Spike CF-10 right now. Plan is for it to be a Strawberry Shortcake Blonde Ale. Fermented at 68 for 6 days.

Semi-cold crashed two days ago to 55 degrees. Will do second trub dump this evening.

Adding a vanilla bean tincture (3 split/scraped Madagascar vanilla beans in 3oz vodka) after trub dump.

Also, adding 11lbs of strawberry purée to conical.

On that note, I picked up some potassium sorbate thinking I would need it to halt fermentation once I add the purée. At this stage, is that even necessary? If so, can I add it just before (in conjunction with) adding the purée?

As for the purée, my plan was to just dump straight into the conical. Let it sit for a week or ten days, then do another dump via the butterfly valve (trub dump essentially). Then, transfer to kegs. Will the purée settle out so I can dump it? Or, is there a better process for this?

I want the strawberry flavor along with the vanilla to compliment the blonde ale. I don’t want it to be a strawberry smoothie! Haha…Thoughts?

Cheers

 

[VikeMan]

On that note, I picked up some potassium sorbate thinking I would need it to halt fermentation once I add the purée. At this stage, is that even necessary? If so, can I add it just before (in conjunction with) adding the purée?

Do you not want the sugars in the puree to ferment? If you don't, I suppose you could stun the yeast with the sorbate. If you do want them to ferment (typical for most fruit beers), just add your puree and give it time.

 

[boondocksaint]

Do you not want the sugars in the puree to ferment? If you don't, I suppose you could stun the yeast with the sorbate. If you do want them to ferment (typical for most fruit beers), just add your puree and give it time.

I had planned on not having the renewed fermentation, but I guess I’m not completely against it. Suppose it depends on how/how much that would affect the flavor of the beer and the fruit. I’m at 5.25% now which was within the range I was going for.

 

[VikeMan]

I had planned on not having the renewed fermentation, but I guess I’m not completely against it. Suppose it depends on how/how much that would affect the flavor of the beer and the fruit. I’m at 5.25% now which was within the range I was going for.

The strawberry puree, unless it has been concentrated, is actually going to reduce the ABV of a beer starting at 5.25%. The sugars will ferment, but the water content dilutes it.

 

[boondocksaint]

The strawberry puree, unless it has been concentrated, is actually going to reduce the ABV of a beer starting at 5.25%. The sugars will ferment, but the water content dilutes it.

It’s the 11lb bag from Aseptic Fruit Purées. I don’t think it’s concentrated

 

[VikeMan]

It’s the 11lb bag from Aseptic Fruit Purées. I don’t think it’s concentrated

I think you are correct, i.e. those are not concentrated.

 

[superiorsat]

I think if you don't let if ferment you basically just mixed 11 pounds of fruit smoothy into your beer and the beer will be very sweet and lower ABV as 11 pounds is close to a gallon of liquid. Strawberry flavor should still come through well enough on a Blonde ale to be pleasing. I usually shoot for 1.5 minimum to 2 pounds per gallon of beer( when doing strawberry ) to get the Strawberry flavor to my liking after fermentation. I would also wait to add the vanilla until after the strawberry's are done fermenting so you don't blow some of the vanilla aroma/flavor out the air lock. Certain beers I'll add up to 48 ounces of juice to 6 gallons before kegging and I mash low to accommodate otherwise the beers come off to sweet for our liking. You would have close to 128 ounces so thinking the sweetness would be off the charts if you don't ferment it.

 

[boondocksaint]

So, being that I already had it semi-cold crashed to 55 degrees would you then raise the temp back to 68-70 to ferment out some of the strawberry?

 

[superiorsat]

Absolutely.

 

[boondocksaint]

Thoughts on repitching the yeast I harvested? Or, do you think there's enough still in suspension to work on the fruit puree some?

 

[superiorsat]

You should be good to go as is.

 

[VikeMan]

Thoughts on repitching the yeast I harvested? Or, do you think there's enough still in suspension to work on the fruit puree some?

The answer to "Is there enough yeast still in suspension for fruit in secondary or for carbonation?" is pretty much always yes, even after cold crashing, or even after lagering.