Hello I never added any fruit to my beers before. So my question how would one add fruit purée to there beer would one add it to the secondary or add it to the primary fermenter just before hitting Final gravity? An if one goes about adding it just before hitting final gravity how many day’s into fermentation would one want to wait before adding the fruit purée to there beer??.
After i rack my brew to the secondary. Thats 10 days after primary fermenting. I add the fruit. Into the secondary. Most the time before i transfer i take a grav reading. Make sure my active fermenting has slowed down.
I think most home brewers rack onto fruit in a secondary from what I’ve read. Although there are a lot of funny stories about explosive fruity blow off out there. For the Kriek I’m making it will be on the cherries for a long time so it has to be in the secondary
I always wait until the beer is done fermenting and rack onto the fruit in the secondary as well. I always get some fermentation but not a tremendous amount.
Keep in mind the amount of debris you’re introducing into the beer with fruit and have a plan to deal with it on bottling/kegging day. I primarily use cherries so either bag 'em and weight them or protect the intake of the racking cane with a filter. Cherry beer ideas? - #42 by WMNoob
I’ve always added it to a secondary but only because I harvest yeast or making a sour. I don’t see a problem adding it at primary
I have been told that if you are making a big beer with high OG then you want to introduce adjuncts later in the fermentation because the yeast can stall after pigging out on simple sugars. I think some strains are more finicky than others in this regard.
Agreed but with a light wheat maybe it doesn’t matter. I think I’ll give it a go with my next gose. Now the next question. If adding to the primary add at 5 min, WP or rack on after chilling?
If adding to the primary, and confident that you have the room for it, add first I would say.
So you wouldn’t add it hot side?
I suppose if you want some sanitary backup that would be alright.
One of the concerns of adding it hot is pectin haze. If you’re worried about sanitation heat it to 140F for 20 minutes, let it cool, then add it. I’d be worried about losing flavor adding it during the boil as well.
That’s why I was thinking WP but that would be messy. I’ll just rack on it. I don’t save any yeast from my gose anyway
It is much better to add the fruit puree to the primary. Just wait until the primary has actually crashed and then pour it in. I used to do the whole “put it in the secondary and then siphon the beer on top of it” thing. But that requires a blowoff hose, takes more time and gets no better results. Instead waiting until the primary has crashed and then adding it puts the fruit into the beer at basically the same time. Fermentation is not going crazy so there is little risk of having the fruit flavor compounds get blown off with the CO2. Another advantage is a lot less sediment in secondary and also more beer makes it into the keg. Made my best ever Apricot Honey Ale using this method and I have been making that recipe for quite some time now.
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