What should I expect???

[ray m]

Just a quick question, gents, about what my fruit is doing in my secondaries right now. Again, I'm using dark, sweet cherries. Added them yesterday @ 4 p.m. Today, @ 1 p.m., the cherries have all risen up to just under the surface of the beer. The airlock is bubbling about once every 5 sec. or so, about what it was doing last night when I got home from work. The "krausen", if it can be called that now, is not real thick in appearance, but rather, is light and airy looking, but probably a good 1-1/2 inches thick.

Everything I've read about adding fruit says to expect a balls-to-the-wall fermentation, but maybe that's when it's in the primary with everything else.

I still do have that leftover starter in the fridge, but I think plenty of yeast got racked over into the secondaries from the primary fermenter. I even added a some slurry from the primary.

Does all sound OK, here? This is my first fruit experience. Reassurance and opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks loads in advance.

Drink hearty!!! Ray

[beerturtle]

Ray,

Despite not having a huge amount of experience with fruit in the secondary, I think you'll be OK here. As long as you have acitivity in the airlock, i would think that things are looking good. Let us know how everything turns out. :)

[ray m]

Thanks, Turtle....at this point, airlock is still raised, but the "krausen" is pretty much gone. Cherries are still floating at the surface. I guess the whole idea for adding cherries to the secondary and not the primary is to eliminate the vigorous fermentation activity from scrubbing the fruit flavors away. Am I wrong with this mode of thinking?

I think I'm just going to leave it alone, let the fruit sit for a couple weeks, then rack again to clarify for a couple days, then bottle.

Drink hearty!!! Ray

[sallad]

how much fruit did you use? a couple pounds of cherries is not likely to have as much fermentables as your initial wort, so i don't think you'd expect too vigorous of a fermentation ion 2ndary. sounds like everything is good! let it sit a while on the fruit then re-rack to clear.

[ray m]

Thank you for your input Sallad....I used 6 lbs. of dark sweet cherries (weight was before depitting and destemming). I bought them probably 3 months ago & put them in the freezer, then thawed them out a couple days. They were very ripe, but not bruisy. Before pasteurizing, I mashed them up a little, but I did not turn them into pulp.

All indications are that all is well. I suppose there is not as much sugar in these things as I thought. The color of the beer is a beautiful deep red. I will probably draw a hydrometer sample to see what the reading is & taste on Wednesday.