Adding Fruit To Weizen In Primary After Fermentation Stops

[facter]

Okay, I have a problem - I dont have any spare vessels to rack off my dunkelweizen in order to add raspberries to it in secondary .. usually i dont even seconday my weizens, i dump them into a keg and let them ages a little in there - i like them fresh off the ranks and green for flavour ...

what is the detriment here if I add the fruit to the primary fermenter without racking it off? I have never done it, and am told not to do it ... I know that there can be problems with leaving the beer on the trub, but seeing as this beer has only been there for a week now and is only just really finishing bubbling away, is that a problem if the fermentation re-starts in a weizen?

Let me know why i shouldnt, let me know if it will add..or aything really - its advised against, but i dont know why - i know you can restart fermentation or push it along in high gravity belgiums, so why not a weizen?

 

[Stuster]

When I've added fruit, I've racked to secondary. Mainly to avoid leaving the beer on the yeast. But thinking about it, I guess you're right, there shouldn't necessarily be a huge risk with leaving it in primary. Re-using the yeast might be a bit more difficult of course. :blink:

Why don't you take one for the team, and tell us how it goes.

 

[Ross]

I don't secondary at all & always add my fruit to primary as the main fermentation subsides.
Works fine... Just about to filter a Banana beer that's had 4.5kg of bananas in it for just over a week.

Cheers Ross

 

[yardy]

ot a bit, do you pasteurise the fruit before adding to primary/secondary ?

Cheers

Yard

 

[Stuster]

I don't yardy. If you boil or heat the fruit, you'll lose and change some of the flavour and aroma. You'll also end up with pectin haze apparently. Also, with adding it at the end of primary, you already have alcohol there which helps to prevent infections taking hold at this point.

More banana beers, Ross. I remember you mashed with bananas but didn't get much banana in the final beer. Does this one with secondary banana have more banana to it?

 

[Ross]

ot a bit, do you pasteurise the fruit before adding to primary/secondary ?

Cheers

Yard

I just freeze mine - I know there's a slight risk of infection, but not had one to date. If I was bottling, I'd probably want to pasteurise in some way.

cheers Ross

 

[facter]

hmmmm. Thanks guys - I am going to add it into the primary then ....

I am also going to be re-using this yeast cake with another weizen right on top of it, so we'll see how that goes as well - luckily the next one is a cherry beer hahaha

 

[Stuster]

It might be a good idea to wash the yeast this time to remove some of the fruit trub. I don't normally bother with this, but just to avoid problems I'd probably do it in this case. :unsure:

 

[facter]

Can I ask why? infection?

 

[Stuster]

No real evidence, it just seems better to separate the yeast from the left-over fruit. But maybe it's just my obsessive-compulsive streak coming through.

 

[Jye]

Can I ask why? infection?

As Stuster said before, the first beer will have alcohol to help prevent any infections from the fruit. But adding a fresh wort to the yeast cake with fruit may be asking for trouble.There will be no alcohol and the sweet wort is a perfect medium for an infection to grow.

 

[winkle]

Ok, I'm about to brew a weizen and dump a pile of Acerolas into it @ primary (after about 5 days) for the QLD swap.
Just to confirm, I was going to simply freeze the fruit but should I be sanitizing them prior to freezing or is that unnessary?

 

[Ross]

Ok, I'm about to brew a weizen and dump a pile of Acerolas into it @ primary (after about 5 days) for the QLD swap.
Just to confirm, I was going to simply freeze the fruit but should I be sanitizing them prior to freezing or is that unnessary?

Just freezing should be fine - Give them a rinse with hysan 1st if you have any, if you want to make sure.

cheers Ross

 

[Steve]

Acerolas

Acer - what? :huh:

 

[winkle]

Acer - what? :huh:

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/acerola.html
Should be interesting, maybe even healthy