Stopping Fermentation in Secondary

[redwood]

Hello all!

Started our second brew on New Years Day, with the lady wanting to do a Blueberry Wheat. We picked up a German Wheat Beer kit from the LHBS, and then we combined some other recipes we found online for the blueberry addition.

The kit was the typical 5 gal stuff.

6lbs LME
1lb Wheat Malt
1lb 2 Row Malt
1oz Tettnanger Hops
1oz Wheat Ale Yeast smack pack

Everything looked good today, 9 days in primary, bubbling had stopped (first mistake), and we put it into secondary with 3lbs of crushed blueberries, treated in campden and water overnight. Obviously we didn't take readings to see that it had stabilized.

We were feelin' good and then I noticed the water in the airlock starting to rise; I knew the yeast was going back to work.

So the question is, if left untouched, will the yeast will consume the glory of the blueberry?

Second, if we crash cool now and kill off the yeast, will warming the environment be sufficient for them to come back to life for bottling?

Oh other details: 70 degrees for the 9 days in primary.

 

[JMSetzler]

First of all... 9 days in primary probably gave you all you were going to get as far as fermentation is concerned. You should be seeing airlock activity in the secondary after adding 3 lbs of crushed blueberries. The yeast is going back to work on those new sugars. I don't know what you mean by 'consume the glory' of the blueberries. Your beer should have a nice blueberry flavor and aroma even after fermentation activity stops. I wouldn't crash cool this. What purpose would that serve? Wheat beers are supposed to have a cloudy haze.

 

[redwood]

First of all... 9 days in primary probably gave you all you were going to get as far as fermentation is concerned. You should be seeing airlock activity in the secondary after adding 3 lbs of crushed blueberries. The yeast is going back to work on those new sugars. I don't know what you mean by 'consume the glory' of the blueberries. Your beer should have a nice blueberry flavor and aroma even after fermentation activity stops. I wouldn't crash cool this. What purpose would that serve? Wheat beers are supposed to have a cloudy haze.

Ok cool. Was just under the impression that having vigorous fermentation was an indicator that much of the blueberry taste would be non existant after searching the forum for a few hours. Thanks!

 

[david_42]

There's no way to selectively ferment your priming sugar and not ferment the sugars from the blueberries. You might consider backsweetening with a non-fermentable to bring out the blueberry.

 

[WIP]

I have been wondering the same thing. I have been looking into doing a super sweet kriek for my wife. We where going to do it last weekend, but ran into issues. Most of the recipes are for a wheat beer with 48oz of Oregon Cherry Pure' in the secondary. I am affraid the yeast will eat off all the sweet stuff my wife wants.

My thought was to use an ale yeast that has a low alcahol resistance and use up as much of that strength as possible before adding the cherries. Does this sound right?

 

[Hang Glider]

Stevia makes a great back sweetener - non fermentable and tastes like sugar. Careful, it's very sweet. 2 packets to a half gallon makes my Apfelwein plenty sweet. You probably won't want much to 'pop' the blueberry back into view.