Fruit Beers

Question:

But you’ll forgive me if I go throw up at the idea of using good beer to wash down <yuck sauerkraut…natures nastiest food, if you wanna call it food. {:

To quote some old western movie actor: Them thar’s fightin’ words pardner! I brew my own beer and, I make my own sauerkraut. I wouldn’t want to do without either. Cheers, Ross.

Response:

As a mead maker I’ve used fruit a number of times. I always freeze them to break down the cell walls. This allows more of the juice to be released. I have also taken fresh fruit and put in the blender to make fruit soup/paste. I add this to the kettle and let it steep for about 20 mins. The heat from wort/must will be enough to kill any of the nasties. I normaly add all of it to the primary and rack after 5-7 days. The flavor, aroma and color is out of this world. BTW..I have my first beer in the primary as I type. A HefeWeizen. The Ric * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet’s Discussion Network * The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet – Free!

Response:

If your fruit isn’t sterilized, I would suggest what others have done and drop it in the knockoff for about 15-20 minutes then drain the wort off the fruit into the fermentor. I have done 1 or 2 fruit beers in the secondary and wasn’t really pleased with the results..Good Luck and

Dropping fruit in right after shutting off the heat is generally sufficient. Let sit 5 minutes or so before chilling. I often specifically don’t pasteurise if I want a "Belgian" flavour to the beer. cheers, -Alan — — Alan McKay http://www.bodensatz.com/ What’s a bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html

Response:

It makes intuitive sense to me that you should at least steep the fruit in hot water, to extract the juices from the cells.

Fermenting on it for 4-7 days does the same thing. I’ve made cherry and raspberry mead, both times steeping the fruit with the must for about 30 minutes (never boiling). Both had very noticable fruit flavors.

The longer you have it hot, the more fruit flavours you generally speaking are siphoning off as those are the first to go, really. Even if you can get good fruit that’s been processed with sugar, they generally use only about 10% sugar to package "fresh" fruit, and that little is perfectly fine in a fruit beer, as long as "sugar" is the only other ingredient on the list, other than "fruit". The only flavored beer I’ve made was/is a raspberry wheat, and I used raspberry extract during bottling for the flavor. Good fruit extract is both all-natural and contains no sugar, so you don’t need to worry about priming issues, fermentation, etc. Purists might shun by extracting ways, but you can’t argue with the taste!

I’m a purist, and I’ve drunk really good fruit extract brews, but mainly for personal and "Belgian" reasons I would never even think of deviating from fresh, unpasteurised fruit. cheers, -Alan — — Alan McKay http://www.bodensatz.com/ What’s a bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html

Response:

But you’ll forgive me if I go throw up at the idea of using good beer to wash down <yuck sauerkraut…natures nastiest food, if you wanna call it food. {:

You can’t be a true beer lover IMO without also loving kraut … cheers, -Alan half-a-

Response:

I brew my own beer and, I make my own sauerkraut. I wouldn’t want to do without either. Cheers, Ross.

Here, here! -Alan — — Alan McKay http://www.bodensatz.com/ What’s a bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html

Response:

But you’ll forgive me if I go throw up at the idea of using good beer to wash down <yuck sauerkraut…natures nastiest food, if you wanna call it food. {: You can’t be a true beer lover IMO without also loving kraut … cheers, -Alan half-a-

Look at it this way, Alan…it leaves more of the *#^$ for you and my wife. I will say that I get some really wierd looks from waiters at restaurants when I order a Reuben and hold the kraut. I think I’ll go have a beer now and raise a Christmas toast to all and see if I can find that can of kraut that my wife has and throw it out! {: Luck Don’t Worry…Brew Hoppy Mike

Response:

No doubt…sounds good to me, kraut, kielbasa, pierogies (I think I will make some tonight) and homebrew (waiting for my first batch to finish off…) Probably the healthiest meal around! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – But you’ll forgive me if I go throw up at the idea of using good beer to wash down <yuck sauerkraut…natures nastiest food, if you wanna call it food. {: To quote some old western movie actor: Them thar’s fightin’ words pardner! I brew my own beer and, I make my own sauerkraut. I wouldn’t want to do without either. Cheers, Ross.

Response:

. I will say that I get some really wierd looks from waiters at restaurants when I order a Reuben and hold the kraut.

That’s like ordering a plate of escargot and saying "Hold the snails". I think I’ll go have a beer now and raise a Christmas toast to all and see if I can find that can of kraut that my wife has and throw it out!

There’s your problem, kraut from a tin can is a pretty poor substitute for properly fermented kraut made at home. Cheers, Ross.

Response:

I think I’ll go have a beer now and raise a Christmas toast to all and see if I can find that can of kraut that my wife has and throw it out! There’s your problem, kraut from a tin can is a pretty poor substitute for properly fermented kraut made at home. Cheers, Ross.

Yup, it sure is. I’ll volunteer a jar of kraut if he will volunteer to eat it cheers, -Alan — — Alan McKay http://www.bodensatz.com/ What’s a bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html

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Is it too much to hope there is a teeny tiny "Fermenting Cabbage 101" page on your web site? She asks oh so innocently. ~~Sorceress –The truth is out there. But the server is not resonding. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Yup, it sure is. I’ll volunteer a jar of kraut if he will volunteer to eat it

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Is it too much to hope there is a teeny tiny "Fermenting Cabbage 101" page on your web site? She asks oh so innocently.

I’ve got something I wrote up a while ago for some friends. Let me dig around to see if I can find it. Oh wait, here it is … Enjoy! -Alan Well, it seems there was indeed a bit of interest, and some folks are already making it. I thought I’d pass along the procedure that I was taught by my wife’s grandfather. It is soooooo easy. Most old folks back in Nova Scotia who make it have a "kraut knife". It’s a series of blades mounted onto a fixed board, and you slide the cabbage over the blades to grate it. Many folks have much smaller versions of this as a kitchen gadget. It’s like an upside down wood plain with verticle blades running lengthwise near the horizontal blade. Hmmm. / — / — <—– / — <—– / — You slide in the direction of the arrows. The 4 strips are blades sticking up. How many you put there has to do with how fine you like your kraut. The next diagonal one is a blade, too, that is mounted in a hole in the board. Below here you put your catch bucket. Most folks make their own kraut knives. My grandfather’s was built by my father-in-law (who’s a pro woodworker, so it’s pretty fancy). I don’t have one here in Ottawa so I simply chopped up the cabbage into chunks small enough to fit into the grater attachment of my Kitchen Aid, then fed it through the coarsest blade. A food processor should work fine. As you are grating you have to stomp the cabbage, and add pickling salt. It absolutely MUST be pickling salt (no iodine added). For a 20 litre bucket of kraut, 1/2 to 2 cups of salt according to your taste. You grate a couple of inches into the bucket, then sprinkle a bit of salt, then stomp. What do you stomp with? A stomper, of course According to my grandfather-in-law the stomper must ideally be made from apple wood. Now, this may only be because that area before WW2 was the world’s leading producer of apples, I don’t know. But it does make sense to use a really good hardwood with extremely tight pores and which will not impart a flavour to the kraut. Hardwood is also much heavier so it has better stomping ability You take an apple log about 12 to 18 inches long and perhaps 6 inches across, debark it, and sand it really smooth. Wash it. Drill a hole in one end and affix a long handle (ideally also of applewood, just to complete the picture). Voila! One stomper! This last time around I did not have access to applewood, so I simple used a regular untreated 4×4, about 5 feet long. I sanded it all really smooth, took off all the edges, and gave it a really good washing. It wasn’t as good as a real stomper, but it did the trick. Don’t know yet about flavour, but I don’t think it will be a problem. (NOTE : kraut tastes AWESOME! And no flavours at all from the wood) You stomp to "get the pickle up", or to get the juice out of the cabbage. Once your bucket is full, you put a plate or something down onto the top to keep the cabbage below the level of the "pickle", then put a weight on it to keep it there. I just found a dinner plate that best fit the bucket, then filled a 4 litre (4 quart) water jug with water and used it for a weight. It’s been "working off" for about 2 weeks now, and is probably ready to freeze or pressure-can into mason jars. I’ve never had a really active ferment, but my grandfather-in-law tells me it can sometimes make a real mess. All the old fellows say that you have to make kraut on a growing moon. I don’t bother with that and mine turns out just fine. Then again, maybe that’s why I’ve never had a really active ferment. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, there is a bacteria which naturally lives on cabbage. It is this bacteria which does the fermenting. I think that is everything. I have a bunch of photos which I’ll put up on the web sometime soon, and then let you all know. 12 heads of cabbage made 2 buckets, each containing about 15 litres/quarts of kraut. cheers, -Alan — — Alan McKay http://www.bodensatz.com/ What’s a bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html

Response:

(Major snippage) As you are grating you have to stomp the cabbage, and add pickling salt. It absolutely MUST be pickling salt (no iodine added). For a 20 litre bucket of kraut, 1/2 to 2 cups of salt according to your taste.

I have to disagree on this point. It must indeed be pickling salt but, the quantity is NOT "to your taste". In order to ensure a proper fermentation, the ratio of salt to cabbage is quite critical. The correct amount of salt is 2 to 2-1/2% by weight or, one pound of salt to each 40 lb. of shredded cabbage. Also, fermentation temperature is somewhat critical, 65 to 72 degrees F (18 to 22 C) is ideal. Kraut making at home is a simple process and produces a much superior product to what you buy in a can. Although it does involve fermentation, kraut making is OT for this group. If anyone wants to discuss it further, I’d be happy to take it to email. Cheers, Ross.

Response:

I am new to brewing and really have only made a couple of batches myself. I was thinking of making a Blackberry Wheat beer. My only question is this…when is the best time to add the blackberries? I have read several things and am not sure which is the best approach. I’ve seen that some people add them at the end of the boil while others add after the wort has cooled. Some even go so far as to add additional fruit at the second fermentation stage. My question is what is the risk of contamination and when should I add the fruit? Any help would be appreciated! New to the whole experience…. Trevor

Response:

I saw an article in BYO on this not that long ago. I have not has success with fruit beers myself. I tried a raspberry lambic last summer and a peach wheat this summer. Neither came out very good, neither had any good fruit flavor. I put my fruit into the secondary. I followed the guidelines for the right amount of fruit, etc. I don’t know what the problem was. If I remember from what the article said, it is best to add the fruit at the end of the boil. I can tell you putting it in the secondary is a waste. I think it just gets fermented out.

Response:

I’ve only done 2 fruit brews…berry weisse each time…and I added 5 pounds of mixed berries AFTER I turned off the fire and let it sit with the lid on for 20 minutes before I started to cool the wort, then poured the whole works into a bucket and pitched the yeast, racking to secondary and off the fruit after 5 days. I kegged the second one last weekend and it’s a wonderful, tart brew that reminds me of a belgian red. Luck Don’t Worry…Brew Hoppy Mike

Response:

I brewed a Blackberry Wheat Ale about a month ago. I used one 3.3 lb can of Oregon Blackberry Puree(it’s totally sterilized) and added it to my primary fermenter. As Ray Daniels mentions in his "Designing Great Beers", Blackberry is an assertive fruit. He goes on to suggest using them(assertive fruit… i.e. blackberries,rasberries, cherries etc.) in darker beers OR if used in light beers that you have to wait along time before all the flavors blend and the tartness of the fruit mellows out. As far as my own experience with this batch I would say he is right. Every week that goes by it becomes less tart and the blackberry flavor is a nice match for the Wheat Ale. If your fruit isn’t sterilized, I would suggest what others have done and drop it in the knockoff for about 15-20 minutes then drain the wort off the fruit into the fermentor. I have done 1 or 2 fruit beers in the secondary and wasn’t really pleased with the results..Good Luck and Happy Brewing Brewer Bob – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am new to brewing and really have only made a couple of batches myself. I was thinking of making a Blackberry Wheat beer. My only question is this…when is the best time to add the blackberries? I have read several things and am not sure which is the best approach. I’ve seen that some people add them at the end of the boil while others add after the wort has cooled. Some even go so far as to add additional fruit at the second fermentation stage. My question is what is the risk of contamination and when should I add the fruit? Any help would be appreciated! New to the whole experience…. Trevor

Response:

I’ve got a good section on fruit brewing (and incidentally I think Blackberry Wheat is an EXCELLENT idea …) Go to my page, recipes, then fruit. cheers, -Alan — — Alan McKay http://www.bodensatz.com/ What’s a bodensatz? http://www.bodensatz.com/bodensatz.html

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am new to brewing and really have only made a couple of batches myself. I was thinking of making a Blackberry Wheat beer. My only question is this…when is the best time to add the blackberries? I have read several things and am not sure which is the best approach. I’ve seen that some people add them at the end of the boil while others add after the wort has cooled. Some even go so far as to add additional fruit at the second fermentation stage. My question is what is the risk of contamination and when should I add the fruit? Any help would be appreciated! New to the whole experience…. Trevor

Response:

when is the best time to add the blackberries?

The answers will vary by brewer. I had okay luck using 1lb of blackberries to a 3lb batch. I heated the berries with some water to about 150-160F and kept there for 10-15 minutes. I smashed the berries as much as I could. Cooled them down to 70F or so. Poured the concoction into a metal strainer set into a funnel in the neck of my secondary. Lots of juice made it through. I pressed the pulp left in the strainer to get as much juice, but as little pulp, as possible. This was a 6 gallon batch of wheat beer. 3 gallons were normal and 3 gallons got the blackberry juice. I don’t think the final product has much berry taste, but I can detect the berries in the aroma. This was my second fruit beer. Personally, I think it all requires experimentation. Erik IDAHO!

Response:

It makes intuitive sense to me that you should at least steep the fruit in hot water, to extract the juices from the cells. I’ve made cherry and raspberry mead, both times steeping the fruit with the must for about 30 minutes (never boiling). Both had very noticable fruit flavors. The only flavored beer I’ve made was/is a raspberry wheat, and I used raspberry extract during bottling for the flavor. Good fruit extract is both all-natural and contains no sugar, so you don’t need to worry about priming issues, fermentation, etc. Purists might shun by extracting ways, but you can’t argue with the taste! Richard

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – when is the best time to add the blackberries? The answers will vary by brewer. I had okay luck using 1lb of blackberries to a 3lb batch. I heated the berries with some water to about 150-160F and kept there for 10-15 minutes. I smashed the berries as much as I could. Cooled them down to 70F or so. Poured the concoction into a metal strainer set into a funnel in the neck of my secondary. Lots of juice made it through. I pressed the pulp left in the strainer to get as much juice, but as little pulp, as possible. This was a 6 gallon batch of wheat beer. 3 gallons were normal and 3 gallons got the blackberry juice. I don’t think the final product has much berry taste, but I can detect the berries in the aroma.

A good rule of thumb seems to be to use at least 3/4 to 1 lb of fruit per gallon of beer, if you want an obvious fruit flavor. This was my second fruit beer. Personally, I think it all requires experimentation.

Yep! —

Response:

this is a recipe i got from an internet friend of mine. although his was with strawberries….mine is with raspberries. one word for it…PERFECT! the best beer i ever made. the fruit flavor was just enough. anyway, i added the frozen fruit (in a straining bag) at the end of the boil…take it off the burner and let it steep in there (with the lid on) for 15-20 minutes. mash them up every couple minutes with a potato masher. than take them out and let all the juice drain back into the brewpot. I did NOT put them in the primary. 6.6 lbs. John Bull Plain Wheat Extract (Syrup) 1.5 oz Hallertauer Hops (boiling) 0.5 oz Hallertauer Hops (finish) 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract 3 lbs. Frozen Raspberries 1 pkg WYeast Bavarian Wheat Blend XL 3/4 Cup Corn Sugar (for racking) matt Before you buy.

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and I added 5 pounds of mixed berries AFTER I turned off the fire and let it sit with the lid on for 20 minutes before I started to cool the wort, then poured the whole works into a bucket and pitched the yeast, racking to secondary and off the fruit after 5 days.

I made a Cherry Wheat using similar steps, the only difference was I used about 10 lbs of cherries and I froze them a couple of days prior to brewing. I threw them into the end of the boil. Besides chilling the wort, the freezing process helped pierce the skin of the fruit so the juices could come out. Easier than mashing the fruit in my opinion. By the way, the beer is awesome and keeps getting better every month. Cannot wait to quaff some tomorrow night with fresh kielbasa, sauerkraut, onions, pierogies etc. Hmmmmmmmmmm, beeeeeeer.

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – and I added 5 pounds of mixed berries AFTER I turned off the fire and let it sit with the lid on for 20 minutes before I started to cool the wort, then poured the whole works into a bucket and pitched the yeast, racking to secondary and off the fruit after 5 days. I made a Cherry Wheat using similar steps, the only difference was I used about 10 lbs of cherries and I froze them a couple of days prior to brewing. I threw them into the end of the boil. Besides chilling the wort, the freezing process helped pierce the skin of the fruit so the juices could come out. Easier than mashing the fruit in my opinion. By the way, the beer is awesome and keeps getting better every month. Cannot wait to quaff some tomorrow night with fresh kielbasa, sauerkraut, onions, pierogies etc. Hmmmmmmmmmm, beeeeeeer.

Oops…I did forget to mention that I bought frozen berries. But you’ll forgive me if I go throw up at the idea of using good beer to wash down <yuck sauerkraut…natures nastiest food, if you wanna call it food. {: Luck Don’t Worry…Brew Hoppy Mike

Response:

I’ve used the Oregon Purees for a Rasberry belgian ale. Two cans in a 5 gallon batch. I added the cans to the secondary. There was very little chance of infection, since the puree is sterilized, and I sanitized the cans, funnel and can opener before dumping them in. Plus the beer had fermented, so the alcohol was another preservative. I let the beer sit on the fruit for about four weeks. I have to say, it is absolutely the best fruit beer I’ve made, and blows away practically any commercial fruit beer(If I may toot my own horn). The Flavor and Aromas from the fruit are truly intoxicating. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I brewed a Blackberry Wheat Ale about a month ago. I used one 3.3 lb can of Oregon Blackberry Puree(it’s totally sterilized) and added it to my primary fermenter. As Ray Daniels mentions in his "Designing Great Beers", Blackberry is an assertive fruit. He goes on to suggest using them(assertive fruit… i.e. blackberries,rasberries, cherries etc.) in darker beers OR if used in light beers that you have to wait along time before all the flavors blend and the tartness of the fruit mellows out. As far as my own experience with this batch I would say he is right. Every week that goes by it becomes less tart and the blackberry flavor is a nice match for the Wheat Ale. If your fruit isn’t sterilized, I would suggest what others have done and drop it in the knockoff for about 15-20 minutes then drain the wort off the fruit into the fermentor. I have done 1 or 2 fruit beers in the secondary and wasn’t really pleased with the results..Good Luck and Happy Brewing Brewer Bob I am new to brewing and really have only made a couple of batches myself. I was thinking of making a Blackberry Wheat beer. My only question is this…when is the best time to add the blackberries? I have read several things and am not sure which is the best approach. I’ve seen that some people add them at the end of the boil while others add after the wort has cooled. Some even go so far as to add additional fruit at the second fermentation stage. My question is what is the risk of contamination and when should I add the fruit? Any help would be appreciated! New to the whole experience…. Trevor

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