Fruit

[Zappa42]

Hey everyone,

My wife is wanting me to brew her some cherry or rasberry beer in the spring. I am new to the hobby - still in the process of brewing my first batch. My first batch is from an extract kit and I am planning on doing several of these before moving on to harder stuff. I just ordered my second kit from Austin Home Brew- :rockin: Anyway, how hard is it to brew with fruits? Can it be added to extract kits? Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Joker]

I have added blueberry extract at bottling with what I feel is good success. Some prefer to use Oregon Puree during the secondary and also have good results from what I have read.

 

[c.n.budz]

The Oregon puree is a great way to go but it's kinda pricey. I've only made a few fruit beers, but what I did was get a couple bags of frozen fruit, heat them up in a sauce pan with some water to about 180-185* for about 10-15 minutes to kill off any nasties then cool and add to secondary. After I left the fruit in secondary for a week or so, rack to a tertiary for a couple days to cut down on bits of fruit that make it into the bottles

 

[reshp1]

Yes, you can brew with fruit with extract kits. I would add the fruit in the secondary since by then the beer won't be as susceptable to contamination because of the alcohol level, acidity and CO2. A good way to sanitize is to put the fruit in a zip lock bag and steep in 170F water for 10-15 minutes. You'll want to crush or mash up the fruit to unlock the flavor so the beer can absorb it. Good luck!

 

[splat]

my last batch was a rasberyy ale, and I think it turned out pretty good.... I blended up 1.5lbs of berrys in a blender and added to the wort for the last 15 minutes, and then blended up 1.5lbs and cooked them on the stove for 15minutes and added them to the secondary when I transfered...Left it in the secondary for about 2 weeks and then kegged...It didnt turn out as sweet as I had hoped, but it is pretty good. LOTS of stuff settled out in the secondary so i ended up with a little less beer....