Removing brew from fruit puree?

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msarro

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Hey everyone. I'm expecting to use fruit puree in a secondary fermenter with my current batch of beer. There will be a significant amount of fruit puree (about 12#). when I am racking this to the bottling bucket, what is the best way to keep chunks of fruit from getting pulled into the syphon? Will the fruit chunks flocculate with the yeast? Will the yeast digest the puree?
 
Never tried it, but I'd imagine using pantyhose as a strainer over your racking tube would work. Make sure it's sanitized, obviously.

I'm sure there are other things you could do that are similar
 
My concern about using a strainer is re-oxygenating the wort since it would act like an aerator, wouldn't it?
 
msarro said:
My concern about using a strainer is re-oxygenating the wort since it would act like an aerator, wouldn't it?

Not a kitchen strainer, but a sort of filter on the end of your racking cane. It wouldn't oxygenate the wort if it's submerged in it
 
I just did this. It will sink to the bottom with the yeast. Just rack off of it like you normally would. Be careful not to stir up the trub. I'd move it 24 hours before you are ready to bottle that way if you disturb the trub you give it plenty of time to settle out.
 
Hey everyone. I'm expecting to use fruit puree in a secondary fermenter with my current batch of beer. There will be a significant amount of fruit puree (about 12#). when I am racking this to the bottling bucket, what is the best way to keep chunks of fruit from getting pulled into the syphon? Will the fruit chunks flocculate with the yeast? Will the yeast digest the puree?

I bottled up a strawberry blond last night. I used whole strawberries diced up into 1/4-1/2" pieces and after a week in the beer they are pretty much mush. I have tried putting the 1 gal. paint strainer bag over the end of the siphon but that did not work because you will get small pieces sucked right up to the end of the siphon stopping the flow. What works the best is to put the bag over the outlet hose in the bottom of the bottle bucket and put a twist tie around it but do not put it tight against the end. Leave it hang off a few inches to catch the pieces as they come through the hose. You can try to avoid the fruit pieces but a few pieces with get sucked through the siphon. That's ok. They will go right through with the flow. When you are done, lift up the hose, slide the bag off the end. Commence bottling.
I'm assuming puree is mushy and should work the same. Most of the berries are still at the top but a lot are still in suspension so it's impossible to avoid them being sucked up. But that's ok.
 
Fantastic! Thanks for all of the help folks, I'll look unto getting either pantyhose or some filter bags to try that bag idea.
 
Fantastic! Thanks for all of the help folks, I'll look unto getting either pantyhose or some filter bags to try that bag idea.

If you have a Home Depot, Lowes or any hardware store near you, go to the paint dept. and pick up some 1 gal. and 5 gal. paint strainer bags. They come in handy at times, whether to use them for straining wort or dry- hopping etc. They're worth the couple bucks they cost and can be rinsed out and reused. IMO.
Just make sure you always sanitize them
 
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