Using a Juicer

[Sc0ttyt^]

Hi all, I'm pretty new to brewing sours. My first was a kettle sour with sour cherry juice, and my second is another kettle sour with Sach and Brett, split in 2 seperate fermentors for experimentation. I stockpiled some frozen sour cherries, raspberries and pluots for my current and future brews. I've been thinking, wouldn't adding juice be easier than whole fruit? No worries of mold, issues racking, and potentially higher yield. To my surprise there's not a lot of talk of people using a juicer for processing their fruit additions... does anyone out there have some experience with this? I plan to move away from standard kettle sours and try out the post-souring method outlined by RPh_Guy. I would think using a juicer would be particularly helpful for fruit additions in a fast sour.

 

[RPh_Guy]

wouldn't adding juice be easier than whole fruit?

Yes!!

No worries of mold, issues racking, and potentially higher yield.

Maybe (mold is a process issue), yes, and yes.

To my surprise there's not a lot of talk of people using a juicer for processing their fruit additions.

IMHO people making fruit beer generally have no idea what they're doing.

Using as press (not a juicer) is ideal for reasons beyond those already mentioned. A press introduces less oxygen during extraction, creates a more clear juice, and allows processing of greater amounts of fruit.

Regardless, if you have a juicer capable of processing the amount of fruit you have, I'd say go for it. Avoiding racking issues alone makes it worthwhile in my opinion. If you can use a press, even better.

I realize this post is about a month old, but I hope this helps. Cheers.

 

[Sc0ttyt^]

I'm really just getting into brewing sours, but it is quickly pushing clean beers off the schedule. My first batch with brett (WLP648) went well. I used raspberries in half that batch at just under 1lb/gallon, and I think I liked the unfruited beer better while others seemed to unanimously prefer the raspberry variant... I plan to continue fruiting at most half a batch at a time.

I should probably get a few more fruited batches under my belt, but at some point I want to borrow a juicer from a friend and try a side by side experiment. I imagine the potential for tannin extraction from things like skins, pits and stems is lost when using juice. However, that may not much of a factor with focus on quick turn sours.

If it goes well I may consider buying a press or a masticating juicer over the centrifugal juicer to reduce oxygen as you suggested.

Thanks RPh_Guy