Using frozen fruit???

[Allekornbrauer]

Hello When using Frozen fruit in your beer how does one go about making sure that it’s sanitary enough to add it to your beer in the secondary fermenter?. The reason I ask is I am doing a 3gal batch of wheat beer an I want to add some blueberry’s to it. This is my first time using fruit.

 

[IslandLizard]

Freezing kills most bacteria and wild yeasts. Repeated freezing and defrosting (2x is plenty) breaks up cell walls so the beer can get to it faster.

Dunk the packaging in Starsan before opening.

I'd add fruit (or dry hops) to the "primary" and forego secondaries all together, unless you're bulk aging for longer than 8-12 weeks or making sours. Secondaries can cause infections and oxidation, while not offering any benefit those first 8-12 weeks.

It is important to submerge the fruit and gently swirl the fermenter or stir gently every other day so the fruit gets doused with beer (alcohol). This is to prevent mold growing on top of it. If you have CO2 (tank) available you should flush the headspace with it after adding the fruit. This helps prevent oxidation due to air that entered the headspace while adding the fruit.

 

[S-Met]

Freezing does not sterilize, but your contamination risks are relatively low. It will reduce some of the wild surface yeasts and the existing beer/wine/cider/mead will not be a hospitable environment for the wild yeasts to survive.

Blueberries are usually tough skinned as compared to strawberries, raspberries or blackberries. I usually do a single freeze-thaw, but would consider another cycle for blue.

 

[Abrayton]

I use raspberries often and I will mash them up a little bit when they are half frozen to break up the skin. Then into a muslin bag and into the fermenter for a few days. Seems to work well.

 

[50calshooter]

I put it in a colander and submerge it in sanitizer before I put it in the secondary.

 

[Dgallo]

As stated earlier. Your risk of infection is low here. If you have hopped and have an alcohol level of greater than 5 you should be ok. I’m a firm believer in blending or emulsifying fruit before adding. Sterilize your blender obviously. If your looking for a forward fruit flavor 1lb/gal of beer. If you want it more subtle, 0.25-0.5 lbs/gallon works well.

 

[JimRausch]

Over the past couple years I have added blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries, peaches, and papaya to various beers- usually an American Wheat base. My method has pretty much not changed: I put the fruit in a ziplock, smash it with a rolling pin and put it in the freezer. A week or 2 later I take it out, let it partially thaw and smash again. Then freeze again. The day I'm going to use them, I take it out of the freezer and let them thaw. If not totally thawed when I add it, no big deal. I have added late in primary, but usually add to a carboy in a secondary fermentation. Mostly because I'll split a 6 gallon batch into 3 and add different fruit to each partial batch. I do spray the ziplock bag and spray the rim of my bucket before opening, but don't sanitize otherwise (OK I sanitize the carboy of course). So far, knock on wood, no contamination, and no oxidation issues. The fruit does kick off a true secondary fermentation which produces new CO2.