Secondary Fermentation and adding fruit

[Beaujack]

Hey Al!

Just racked my mead to secondary. So far so good. Not great though. It seems my orange I put in during primary didn’t really transfer any flavor. From what I researched adding during secondary is good for flavor. My brother brews beer, and recommended using extract. What yours guys opinions, go to’s, or pointers on when or how to add fruit to your secondary. I have mine in a glass carboy and have a feeling adding real fruit to that small head will be difficult to keep clean and remove fruit when I’m done with secondary. Open to all suggestions!

 

[jpitz31]

Try playing around with different qualities of fruit, It is a "taste it yourself and see" kind of thing.
My wife makes jam and juice with sugar, She then cans it. It is very easy to add to your secondary and very clean as it is just juice.

 

[Beaujack]

If I add more fruit juice(sugar) do I stand the chance of reactivating the yeast?

 

[Dan O]

If the orange flavor is what you're looking to impart, try using just the zest & not the whole orange, certainly not any of the pith. The pith will add bitterness, but, the zest is where the real orange flavor will shine through.

 

[Cat Assistant Brewery]

If you can find it I always had pretty good luck with sugar free frozen fruit. I let it thaw out a little in sanitized tupper ware, I let get to room temp and than add it to the beer. Also I would recommend looking in to a wide mouth carboys. I have two specifically for when I do fruit beers. They make it super easy to get fruit out afterwards.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BN27TC8/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_51HXR5NC0YM5C4TFYWM7_3

 

[jpitz31]

If I add more fruit juice(sugar) do I stand the chance of reactivating the yeast?

Yes you will, secondary is still part of fermentation. Once fermented, keep the beer cold in the frig. If the juice ferments a lot you will have wine tasting beer. Ask me how I know. ;-) Another option is to add juice to the final beer, once fermentation is complete. It will add some sweeter fruit flavor. Again if the beer then gets warm enough to start fermenting, Wine flavor will occur.