Adding Fruit to fermenting

Try some of these great recipes out, or share your favourite brew with other forumees!
User avatar
Wizz69
Steady Drinker
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 5:58 pm

Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Wizz69 » Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:34 am

I w and to add some straw berries to my fermenting bucket. How do I Sanitise them or can u add straight into bucket.

I could just soak them in sanitiser?

Ta much

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

---- Keep Calm and Brew On ----

User avatar
Jocky
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2738
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:50 pm
Location: Epsom, Surrey, UK

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Jocky » Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:44 pm

Whole strawberries are tricky.

I’ve not done It myself but you could give them a few minutes soak in starsan (or maybe vodka), then chop and throw them in to the finished beer. There’s always a danger though that they’re carrying something else with them and you get a wild yeast in your beer too, although alcohol should keep that in check.

A winemaker’s technique is to mash the strawberries, adding some water until you have a thick puree and then mix in a finely crushed campden tablet per 4 litres of purée and leave overnight. That should kill off everything.

Personally I’d just buy a ready made puree as it’ll be sterile, although whatever you do, use a LOT. It’s hard to get strawberry flavour into beer. Really hard. Or cheat and use a flavouring.

Good luck!
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

User avatar
Wizz69
Steady Drinker
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 5:58 pm

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Wizz69 » Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:53 pm

Really appreciate your comment. I was also thinking about mashing them with some water then cooking for 5m.

Letting cool and then adding. I have used tinned Strawberries before and just opened and added directly because the contents will already be sterile

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

---- Keep Calm and Brew On ----

User avatar
Bad 'Ed
Piss Artist
Posts: 193
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:35 pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Bad 'Ed » Sat Nov 28, 2020 8:45 pm

Wizz69 wrote:
Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:53 pm
Really appreciate your comment. I was also thinking about mashing them with some water then cooking for 5m.
I imagine cooking them will change the flavour quite a lot.
Never enough time...

Rookie
Falling off the Barstool
Posts: 3552
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2007 5:30 pm
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Rookie » Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:39 pm

Once the primary fermentation is done the ph of the beer and the alcohol make it very inhospitable to anything that could hurt your brew.
A couple of batches ago I added some wild blackberries to a wheat beer. All I did to them was to clean them a bit and bag them. It came out quite good.
I'm just here for the beer.

User avatar
Bad 'Ed
Piss Artist
Posts: 193
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:35 pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Bad 'Ed » Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:55 pm

What would freezing them do to the flavour do you think? It would kill most bugs and break the structure of the fruit to let the juices out more easily.
Never enough time...

User avatar
Jocky
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2738
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:50 pm
Location: Epsom, Surrey, UK

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Jocky » Sat Nov 28, 2020 11:07 pm

Bad 'Ed wrote:
Sat Nov 28, 2020 8:45 pm
Wizz69 wrote:
Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:53 pm
Really appreciate your comment. I was also thinking about mashing them with some water then cooking for 5m.
I imagine cooking them will change the flavour quite a lot.
I think that cooking them makes them taste a bit like jam, rather than the fresh fruit.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

User avatar
Wizz69
Steady Drinker
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 5:58 pm

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Wizz69 » Sun Nov 29, 2020 12:10 am

I get it, but I so freezing may be a good idea then, but and as stated. It is added after primary fermentation so is mostly alcohol.

I guess I will mash then freeze, then add to the pot for second Ferment.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

---- Keep Calm and Brew On ----

WalesAles
Falling off the Barstool
Posts: 3899
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:07 pm
Location: South Wales UK.

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by WalesAles » Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:44 pm

Wizz,
Take a look at this.....viewtopic.php?f=4&t=71317&hilit=cerveza+strawberry

Washed the Strawberries in cold water, cut off the green things then blended.
Read through the post to see Monkeybrew`s review.

WA

Happy Blending! :D

User avatar
Wizz69
Steady Drinker
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 5:58 pm

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Wizz69 » Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:39 am

Thanks for the advice. Reading the trail is inspiring.

May end up pulling, and then freezing and then adding to the 2nd Ferment bucket and then let the warmish wort fill over the top. By the time the bucket is filled and started 2nd the frozen oxk would be no more and the whole lot will stabilise.

I guess this is an experiment. I have I am only making a batch of 15L.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

---- Keep Calm and Brew On ----

User avatar
Cobnut
Drunk as a Skunk
Posts: 759
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:23 pm
Location: Ipswich
Contact:

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Cobnut » Tue Dec 01, 2020 11:42 am

I haven't used strawberries in a beer, but I have added raspberries (supermarket frozen ones) and blackberries (wild ones, picked and frozen).

I think Jocky is right that you will need quite a lot of strawberries to get a strong flavour.

I used 70g per L of raspebrries and blackberries in a 9%-ish Belgian blond. The raspberries gave the beer a lovely red gue and plenty of flavour, the blackberries gave a nice purple tint, but less falvour (more subtle than the in-your-face raspberry). One thing I did find was that the blackberries made the beer really hazy for much longer than did the raspebrries. Eventually it cleared, though.

The fruit was added in secondary (one 23L ish batch split 3 ways: plain, raspberry, blackberry).

The raspberry one got me a Gold medal at the Brew Con World Series competition in 2018, which pleased me! Sadly, it's all gone now.
Fermenting: nowt
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!

User avatar
Bad 'Ed
Piss Artist
Posts: 193
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:35 pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Bad 'Ed » Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:44 pm

Cobnut wrote:
Tue Dec 01, 2020 11:42 am
One thing I did find was that the blackberries made the beer really hazy for much longer than did the raspebrries
What do the wine peeps use for getting things to drop bright, pectolase?
Never enough time...

Chris Brooks
Steady Drinker
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:20 pm

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by Chris Brooks » Mon Mar 14, 2022 8:55 am

2 part finings - Kielselsol and Chitosan/gelatine.

Available a A=B finings at Wilco for £1.70. I got some on Saturday.

It works as well in beer as it does in wine and is very fast.

Not only is it easy to use, you can actually see it drop out. This combo is the only type of fining I now use, except Irish moss in the boil.

User avatar
MashBag
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2140
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:13 am

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by MashBag » Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:49 am

What a bizarre thread.

Strawberries don't need starsan FFS , washing under the tap would be sufficient. An active fermentation will also clean up. The bigger issue is they float and risk getting infected - so best to crush them. Freezing makes them more digestible to the yeast, but certainly isn't mandatory.

Wimemakers (grape) use gravity. It clears just fine.
Last edited by MashBag on Tue Mar 15, 2022 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

WalesAles
Falling off the Barstool
Posts: 3899
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:07 pm
Location: South Wales UK.

Re: Adding Fruit to fermenting

Post by WalesAles » Tue Mar 15, 2022 7:35 am

Mash,
MashBag wrote:
Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:49 am
What a bizarre thread.
FFS
Wimemakers
What`s a Wimemaker?
Googled it but can`t find a thing. #-o
Please enlighten me. :D

WA

Post Reply