Adding fruit to a beer kit

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caffix

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Hi all,

I've made several beer kit brews over the years, so I have some experience - but generally my successes are by following the instructions to keep things "safe". I use the default kit of plastic bucket with airlock, then into the keg.

My new batch will be a St. Peter's Cream Stout. What I'd like to do is to add some fruit - either fresh or dried, not bothered but would prefer fresh. I'm thinking cherries, or banana + figs, to enhance the flavour.

Normally I add about 70g of sugar to my barrel at the end of brewing. My worry is that if I substitute this for fruit, I won't get enough of the fruit flavour. Or - can I add the fruit at the start in the initial fermentation? And if so, how much?

Some tips would be much appreciated, thank you.

Caffix.
 
caffix said:
Hi all,

I've made several beer kit brews over the years, so I have some experience - but generally my successes are by following the instructions to keep things "safe". I use the default kit of plastic bucket with airlock, then into the keg.

My new batch will be a St. Peter's Cream Stout. What I'd like to do is to add some fruit - either fresh or dried, not bothered but would prefer fresh. I'm thinking cherries, or banana + figs, to enhance the flavour.

Normally I add about 70g of sugar to my barrel at the end of brewing. My worry is that if I substitute this for fruit, I won't get enough of the fruit flavour. Or - can I add the fruit at the start in the initial fermentation? And if so, how much?

Some tips would be much appreciated, thank you.

Caffix.
Click to expand...
I've added Blackberries to a kit lager a couple of times. They added little or no flavour, but a bit of colour. I used pectolase overnight to try and prevent hazing.

See the Blushing Blonde recipe here

https://us.diybeer.com/brewing-info/recipes/ale-recipes

A stout is a bit different in that you would need a lot of fruit to make any real impact.
 
caffix said:
Hi all,

I've made several beer kit brews over the years, so I have some experience - but generally my successes are by following the instructions to keep things "safe". I use the default kit of plastic bucket with airlock, then into the keg.

My new batch will be a St. Peter's Cream Stout. What I'd like to do is to add some fruit - either fresh or dried, not bothered but would prefer fresh. I'm thinking cherries, or banana + figs, to enhance the flavour.

Normally I add about 70g of sugar to my barrel at the end of brewing. My worry is that if I substitute this for fruit, I won't get enough of the fruit flavour. Or - can I add the fruit at the start in the initial fermentation? And if so, how much?

Some tips would be much appreciated, thank you.

Caffix.
Click to expand...

When I've added fruit, I've usually gone for puree, something like this. And I would normally add it a 3-5 days before bottling.
 
When bottling a simply IPA, I racked 4.5Lts onto half a punnet of strawberries in a demi John. I'd rinsed the berries in a weak campden solution and then squirted with starsan before.
Left for 4 or 5 days, then bottled as usual.
It was a lovely strawberry flavour and aroma. Faded after a month or two tho. I'll be repeating this with blackberry in a few weeks.
 
I have a strawberry blonde on tap at the moment which has a real strawberry hit which I'm not keen on but the missus, in-laws and daughters boyfriend love it.
Used frozen 1.5kg strawberries straight to pot and made a purée.Cooled and added to the fermenter but it sat for about six weeks before I kegged it.Been on tap for around 3 weeks now and still holding strong as I just finished a pint of it.
 
Thanks all.

It sounds like... from what you're saying... adding fruit in a decent volume (mashed down to a purée) in the primary fermentation is safe?

I'm thinking cherry and plums might be a suitable combo.

Cheers all
 
My next brew is a Raspberry Porter which i tasted in my local Lloyds, adding a 1kg of raspberry berries after 1 week of fermentation hope it tastes as goods the pub one.
 
private4587 said:
My next brew is a Raspberry Porter which i tasted in my local Lloyds, adding a 1kg of raspberry berries after 1 week of fermentation hope it tastes as goods the pub one.
Click to expand...
Make sure to freeze first as this helps break down the pectolase and making a puree shall also pasturise the killing of any nasties.
 
I use frozen fruit from Aldi i.e Mango etc. I usually put it in a bag and put in the FV after 3 days of fermentation having occurred. and leave in until probably a day or 2 before leaving to clear ( usually I have dry hopped as well so it will be a cloudy/hazy IPA). I also have sometimes put in a carton of juice of my choice after drinking the first 2 pints from the keg depending on how fruity I want it which can be seen as sacrilege by some but it does work and because it is kegged no worry's if there is any re-fermentation. I once did 2kg of rhubarb which I chopped and boiled for just a couple of minutes then bagged and left in the FV the same as before. I also added 150 g of lactose to the keg to slightly counter the acidity of the rhubarb and it was top notch it was rhubarby with still a sour kick to it and is on my list as a regular brew from now on. Hope this helps
 
Just bottled 40 pints of bitter which had 4 wax washed oranges, quartered and put in the the fermentation bucket right at the start. Has the required aroma, just waiting for settlement to taste. Will advise!
Have also tried apple & chilli in a lager kit in the same manner & returned a wonderful taste.
Ginger porter next!
 
Currently awaiting the results of my Cherry Wheat Beer. 5 Gallon (UK) Wilko kit with brew enhancer rather than sugar brewed for 2 weeks then transfered to secondary on 3 Litres of Cherry Juice. I used the 1 Litre cartons from Sainsburys (from the fridge as they dilute juice rather than concentrate). This was was made up to 5 Gallons (US) as I had a US Bucket. The remaining Wheat Beer was bottled as normal and tastes really good. Leaving the Cherry for another week (total 3) before I bottle that. So 5 weeks should have a finished batch ready to drink.
athumb..
 
Rinse it with a sanitiser, freeze it, puree it, add after primary fermentation, my guts say cherries and figs would work better than banana, have you thought about cranberries? Bit of tartness?
 
Banana is great but unfortunately I didn't put enough in to start with as although the taste was there it needed more.
 

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