Fruit Beer

[H4rty82]

I will be bottling up the Breferm Kriek i have had fermenting for almost two weeks tonight and without wanting to run before i can walk in the home brewing world i was after some advice.

I have checked many of the threads on this and other brewing forums but wanted to make sure i had the basic principle correct before i waste time and money...

If i were to make my own fruit beer, raspberry, strawberry etc would this be the correct way to go about it?

Follow the instructions on a wheat beer kit and instead of adding the 1kg (depending on kit) of sugar i should work out the amount of sugar in the ingredients i am adding, for example raspberry cordial and then top up with additional sugar if needed. I would then leave it to ferment and rack of into primed bottles when fermentation is completed.

Also, if i were to use whole fruit not a concentrate whats the best was of going about it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dizidave]

In theory yes, i think you have it spot on.

If you are using cordials etc instead of real fruit, make sure you know what additives are in the cordial (i.e. preservatives if any, pot sorb etc), if they have preservatives in, you will want to try to remove them before you add to your brew (by boiling) or they may stop the fermentation.

On the real fruit front, i have made several wines usng raspberries and what i tend to do is freeze the fruit, then thaw and mash, strain through a fine seive and then add. It can produce a fair bit of sediment but will eventually drop clear.

I am planning on doing exactly the same as you with a Coopers Wheat beer kit and adding raspberries as described above.

Good luck! :thumb:

 

[earthwormgaz]

In theory yes, i think you have it spot on.

If you are using cordials etc instead of real fruit, make sure you know what additives are in the cordial (i.e. preservatives if any, pot sorb etc), if they have preservatives in, you will want to try to remove them before you add to your brew (by boiling) or they may stop the fermentation.

On the real fruit front, i have made several wines usng raspberries and what i tend to do is freeze the fruit, then thaw and mash, strain through a fine seive and then add. It can produce a fair bit of sediment but will eventually drop clear.

I am planning on doing exactly the same as you with a Coopers Wheat beer kit and adding raspberries as described above.

Good luck! :thumb:

I think I read your advice about this. I've got strawberries in the freezer (English ones of course) that I'm going to boil and strain into the stout for a secondary fermentation ... possibly with some honey.

Well, unless somebody tells me it's a carp idea.

 

[klaus]

I have done this twice with a cheap lager kit split in half, i.e. 20 pints per brew. Halved the sugar plus put in a straining bag tinned raspberry. Gave a delicate flavour and a hint of pink. Same method again, this time pineapple chunks, just one large tin. Came out very well, again a hint of pineapple. The extra fruit provided some more sugar and this upped the alcohol, though I never took OG readings.

 

[earthwormgaz]

If you do a secondary ferment, do you take readings at the beginning and end of both periods and add the differences together to get the total alcohol?

 

[H4rty82]

I have done this twice with a cheap lager kit split in half, i.e. 20 pints per brew. Halved the sugar plus put in a straining bag tinned raspberry. Gave a delicate flavour and a hint of pink. Same method again, this time pineapple chunks, just one large tin. Came out very well, again a hint of pineapple. The extra fruit provided some more sugar and this upped the alcohol, though I never took OG readings.

I hadn't thought about doing this with a lager kit. I had just presumed a wheat kit would do the trick...

Im definitely going to be trying this with different fruits. The Belgian Monk in Norwich has a really good apple beer. Got to find something close to that!