Some fruit beer questions + yeast cleaning

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by ssam, May 29, 2020.

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  1. ssam

    ssam Pundit (997) Dec 2, 2008 California

    Just racked a kettle sour onto frozen mangoes. I expected fermentation to ramp back up strongly, but there aren't any visual cues that is happening (over the course of 2 days). Years ago, I added fruit and the carboy popped its bung with all the activity!

    This beer was at or close to its final gravity based on my reading at transfer, is my experience this time very out of the ordinary?

    My plan was to let it hang out for two weeks on the fruit. How is that timeframe, too short?

    Also, question about Brewcipher @VikeMan, how accurate is the fruit addition calculator and what is it based on? It changed my SG by 2 points when I inputted 3.5 lbs of fruit in 4 gallons, based on nothing this seems low.


    Also unrelated question that I'm not sure warrants another thread... how bad is it to "clean" yeast with not great tasting tap water?
     
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    It's not uncommon for a fruited secondary of a kettle soured then Sacch fermented beer to be a little slow visibly. Two weeks is not generally too short. Personally, I've never seen it take that long.

    The calculator is based on the water, sugar, and total carbohydrate levels typical for each fruit. It computes an effective OG including the beer and the fruit components, predicts 100% attenuation of the fruit's sugars (but not non-sugar carbs), and recomputes the predicted FG and ABV accordingly. Why are you surprised that the SG (assume you're talking about OG) only changed (increased?) by two points. Some effective OGs, depending on the beer and the fruit, actually decrease. Some stay the same. Some increase. Don't forget about the water that's in the fruit!

    ETA: I have seen some fruit calculators that ignore the water added, and therefore always increase the gravity. That's wrong. Actually, I hadn't seen any that account for the water, which is why I built my own and then included it in BC.
     
    #2 VikeMan, May 29, 2020
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  3. MrOH

    MrOH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,995) Jul 5, 2010 Virginia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    Was the fruit still frozen, thawed but cold, or room temperature? I'm guessing that there was a big temp drop and that it will take a bit for the yeast to wake back up, especially in a sour beer where it was no longer actively fermenting or fermenting very weakly.
     
  4. Prep8611

    Prep8611 Savant (1,208) Aug 22, 2014 New Jersey

    I usually fruit for a week or sometimes two based on nothing scientific but it works for me.

    I aleays freeze or pasteurize or both when adding fruit to beer. I’ve had good luck pasteuriZing fruit on the stove. Macerate fruit with wood spoon then freeze in loaf pans. Add the fruit loaf to seconary. I always parchment paper the pans to prevent sticking.
     
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