Fruit beer

[Trogger]

For those who have tried, how do you use fruit in a beer? I've read where some people just throw it in the fermenter, some in the boil...
It is possible to mush it up, strain it and lightly boil the juice into a syrup? Then add that to the fermenter?
Primary or secondary?
Thoughts and suggestions?

[ray m]

I made a cherry ale last year where I used 6 lbs. of dark sweet cherries. They were frozen for quite awhile before I was ready to use them. Then I thawed them, took the pits out, and put the cherries into my secondary, where I racked the beer from primary onto the fruit. After about 10 days, most of the fruit sunk to the bottom, and I racked again to get more sediment out.

The result was not an in-your-face cherry taste/aroma....very subtle, but it was there. Looking back, it was a pain in the ass. Next time I'll just use the little bottles of fruit flavorings.

[danno]

you don't want to boil fruit, for two reasons: Pectic Haze and Tannins...

[Otis_The_Drunk]

Never Boil fruit, as mention above^^ boiling fruit sets the pectin and creates a really nasty chill haze and also puts many tannins that you don't want floating in your beer, it's a really bad thing to witness.

Fruit extracts aren't the same as using fruit or fruit juices in a beer, the flavor characteristics just do not compare.

I use blue berries, cherry juice, strawberry slurry, frozen black berries ect in my fruit beers.
Black berries or cherry juice really work well in wheat beers.
Just make sure to read the label of fruit juices and make sure that it's 100% juice and has no high fructose corn syrup in it.

If you are not comfortable with using whole fruit, use fruit slurries or juices.

[wild]

For my Chocolate Cherry Porter, I tossed 48oz. of cherry purree at knock out and left to steep for 30 minutes. Yesterday I racked to keg and bottle. The alcohol still is too strong to pick out the cherry and chocolate easily. Just have to work on that patience thing.

Wild

[Trogger]

So what it seems like, then is that some people just toss the fruit right in to the wort at flame out and that should kill any unwanted critters...others throw right into the primary or secondary… Anyone have troubles with unwanted growths in the beer if they didn’t try to sterilize the fruit?

Thanks for the input...

[Otis_The_Drunk]

you can pasteurize your fruit by steeping it at 150-160 Degrees F (anything over 160 will set the pectin) for 15-20 minutes after the boil, you can ferment the fruit in either the primary or secondary fermenter. (usually I put it in secondary)

[danno]

one more hint, freeze your fruit for a little while before you heat it, the freezing helps break down the cell walls, which will give you more flavor...

[barleypopmaker]

I have had pretty good results with using fresh juice with no preservatives, and no High Fructose Syrup. But I was wondering if anyone has tried using frozen juice from concentrate? I was thinking of giving it a try and was curious if anyone has had good results.

[mikfaria]

I will be the dissenting(sp) opinion here. I make my berry blondes by boiling 2 lbs of berries with 4 lbs of corn sugar (sacrilige) It has a great taste and you'll be singing drinking songs with your friends in short order. I like the taste, but the strength is a bit much 3-22's is more than enough for this guy.
It all depends on what kind of flavor you're lookin for. I get a strong berry flavor, but add insane alcohol content. The other metods give your brew a more subtle fruit character and less alcohol.

[Audiopup]

Originally posted by mikfaria
I make my berry blondes by boiling 2 lbs of berries with 4 lbs of corn sugar (sacrilige) It has a great taste and you'll be singing drinking songs with your friends in short order.

I am not an expert by far, but I think that the 4 lbs of corn sugar is kicking up the alcohol content. I would cut back on that, because I don't know how much flavor, especially berry flavor, it is bringing to your beer.

[banjolawyer]

I have 7 gallions of cream ale that is ready to come out of the primary. I plan to put 5 gallons in a keg and go ahead and carbonate.

I'd like to experiment with the other 2 gallons, and I'm thinking I'll put it in a secondary carboy for a week or so together with some fresh fruit.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what would be a good fruit to add, and perhaps also advise me on how much of the fruit to add to 2 gallons? Thanks!!

[Trogger]

As the original thread starter, I'll tell you what happened to mine. I used 1.5 pounds of raspberries in a porter. I put them in a sauce pan with an ounce or two of corn sugar to macerate them, just like you do to make a fruit topping. Raised temp to 160-170 ish for a few minutes to kill all the bad guys and then cooled and put into a carboy and put beer on top. Left for 2 weeks. Worked great. The raspberry flavor is pretty strong, even for a porter.

I would want to try strawberries in cream ale, or even something like peach. I would use .5 pounds for light flavor, 1 pound for medium flavor and 1.5 or more pounds for strong flavor, based on my conclusions above for 5 gallons. For 2 gallons, do the math and proportion accordingly.

[Dextolen]

adding my experience...

Added a 49 oz can of Oregon Red Raspberry fruit puree to the secondary fermentor. It's already sterilized and basically went through a full ferment again. I had to use a blow off tube.

Anywho, the beer is somewhere around 9% I'm guessing. (Didn't take a grav. reading right after adding the puree). It's tart, but mellowing each week. Next time I will add more non-fermentable sugars to maintain a hint of sweet to go along with the very prominent raspberry flavor.

[brewernelson]

Twice I tried to make up a cherry wheet like Mr Adams, a little heavy on the cherry flavor. The first time I used 1 4 oz bottle of cherry extract and mixed into a 5 gal carboy and the end result was regular wheet beer. The second time, I used two 4oz bottles in a 5 gal carboy and ended with a very small cherry flavor. The cherry extract might smell strong but it really does not work well for flavor.

[Dextolen]

I use extracts at bottling time, not in the carboy. I think it helps keep the flavor there.

[brewernelson]

sorry, ment I added the extract to the bottling bucket at bottling time. How much did you use and how did it turn out using Sam as a reference?