Fermenting with fruit

[BigWilley]

I am getting ready to do my annual fruit beer and instead of using extract i'm going to use an aseptic puree. My idea is to do a primary fermentation without the fruit and then sanitize a clean tank, add the puree and transfer the beer onto the fruit for secondary ferment. I want to keep as much aroma as possible. Anyone tried this, or have suggestions?

[dougbeer]

I've never done it like that, but I have used the asceptic puree from Oregon Fruit products many times.
What I do is add it to the same fermenter after fermentation and as much yeast as possible has been removed. I use anywhere from 1/2 lb to 1 lb of puree per gallon of beer. Leave it sit for a few days and then transfer to bright tank. I've never had any luck filtering fruit beers and have just used finings instead.

[GlacierBrewing]

I've used an aseptic raspberry puree in the past. What we did was to allow the beer to ferment out and transfer if off the yeast and filter it (if you so desire filtered beer). When the beer was in the bright tank, prior to carbonating (force carbonation), we removed a pressure-release valve from the top and introduced the puree through that port (we then replace the valve). At that point we would carbonate the product. It work pretty good for us.

Luck to ya'
Dave

[Sir Brewsalot]

If I'm reading that right Glacier, it sounds like the resulting product would have all the sugar from the fruit addition in an unfermented form?

What was your ratio of beer to fruit concentrate - roughly speaking?

Thanks,
S

[GlacierBrewing]

It's been a long time since I've done this so I'm not clear on the ratio but I seem to remember one "big" pouch to 20bbl. The pouches were like 10-20 pounds. The puree was EXTREMELY tart, no sweetness, so the sugar issue didn't exist. And, no, I can't recall the company who made that stuff. I think they were in California.

[BigWilley]

The reason I am going to transfer to a second tank istead of dumping the fruit through a pressure relief valve is because the bags of puree are almost fifty lbs. and it seemed like it would be akward and unwieldy on a ladder to handle a soft bag. If I recieve the product and its doable I will just dump through the top of the original tank. The brix on the cherries is 18, so there is plenty of sugar, you may have used an extract and not a puree. I usually use a natural extract which is perfectly fine to add post filtration. Im curious as to the poster who said he had no luck with filtering the fruit beer. What was the problem, flow or clarity. Having a "clear" beer isn't an issue, I just dont want fruit chunks fouling up my beer lines.

[scott isham]

I've been making a raspberry beer using puree for about 3 years now and I have found the the most of the pulp from the puree will actually "float" on the surface of the beer. There will be very little pulp in the bottom of the fermenter and what pulp there is can be taken off the bottom of the cone just like yeast. While you're transfering to a brite tank you just have to watch you sight glass very carefully and stop the flow when you start getting chunks. If your using cherries, I'm not sure if they'll float or not, I've never used them. I've never had any chunks of puree floating in my beers.

Scott

[Ted Briggs]

I made way too much of this stuff at another brewery as a Razz was our best seller, and recently made a batch here.
Primary ferment for 3-4 days then add the fruit to the PRV port. If you get Oragon Fruit the mouth of the bag should fit nicely in the port. Yes, this means climbing a ladder you 'Girly Boy'! It will put a little thrill into your day. :-) We did it all the time w/ 30bbl fermentors.
Dont add it to the server. You WILL get a seconday fermentaion from the sugar in the fruit. Then you can draw off alot of the pulp w/ the yeast. Dont expect to re-pitch of course!
IMPORTANT add pectic enzyme with the fruit- this helps with the filtering issue.
Also dont try for bright beer- filter 7-5mc at the tightest or do a 2 stage filtration. Finnings in the tank might help too but I add a extra week to fermentaion for natural settling. I wouldnt try to just run it into the server and hope not to get chunks!!
At 4 bags, 176 pounds, for a 10 bbl batch you will get a INTENSE fruit character w/ a red hue and Pink Head (raspberry) 2 bags per 10 bbls is more the norm. If you want more flavor you can add the extraxt to the server.
Last, after buying that fruit this will probably be the most expensive beer you make!!

[reno-jazz]

Originally posted by scott isham
IMPORTANT add pectic enzyme with the fruit- this helps with the filtering issue.
Also dont try for bright beer- filter 7-5mc at the tightest or do a 2 stage filtration. Finnings in the tank might help too but I add a extra week to fermentaion for natural settling. I wouldnt try to just run it into the server and hope not to get chunks!!

Scott

We just started using the puree from Oregon Fruit and my god, the beer was not clear at all, even after I fined it and then ran it through our DE filter twice. You could not even see through this stuff. We are going to do a trial with Scott Lab's pectinase on this next batch. Any idea about how much that will help?

It really is not that bad adding the puree through the PRV ports, the nozzle fits right into a 2" TC and the bags are very durable. Was a hell of a lot easier than doing it the old way we used to, stuffing whole fruit into the fermenter through that 2" hole. That was not fun. At least doing it that way we could get clear beer, though. And never had an infection, just added it to fermented beer where the pH was pretty low and the alcohol present. You would expect something to happen, but it never did. Crashed it soon after so that any baddies wouldn't have much time to grow up and effect the beer. Our filter has a prescreen in it that caught all the big chunks, so every so often the filter would have to be shut down and the screen pulled, hosed off, dunked in sanitizer for a bit, then put back in and filtration started again. Never clogged up the filter bed itself (DE filter). My two cents.

Jazz

[Sir Brewsalot]

Hey Jazz,
If I may ask, how many days into the fermentation did you add the fruit, and how long after adding the fruit did you wait before crashing the temp?

S