Tripels with fruit?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by William_Navidson, Aug 17, 2015.

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  1. William_Navidson

    William_Navidson Pooh-Bah (1,557) May 1, 2015 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I know there are already a number of fruit + beer x threads on here, and I've scoured many. But, I was hoping to get some confirmation that my proposed fruit addition wasn't completely misguided as it's my first time brewing with it.

    Right now, I have 5g of a tripel in primary (~2 weeks). Ideally, I would like to split this up into a few 2daries and rack ~1g each onto peaches, blueberries, and raspberries, freshly-picked. I know that these fruits require different amounts to get the flavor to come through properly, but I think I have that handled.

    For the fruit, I was hoping to freeze them briefly, and then puree, and funnel the goop into the bottom of my secondary, racking the beer on top. Then, I was going to leave the tripel on the secondary for ~4weeks, before bottling and letting it sit for a while.

    For a tripel (~9% ABV) do I still have to worry about pasteurizing the puree, first? Do I have to take anything else into account considering that the fruit isn't store-bought? Does my general fruit strategy sound okay?

    Also, I'll have some leftover of the base tripel -- would I be better off bottling those 2g now, and letting it sit for a number of months? Or, should I keep it in the primary (leaning against this, for reasons)? Or, should I try to find a different secondary container?

    Any help is much appreciated, thanks!
     
  2. tkdchampxi

    tkdchampxi Pooh-Bah (2,473) Oct 19, 2010 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah

    It sounds like you are worried about contaminating your beer with some wild bugs or yeasties. Freezing and pureering isn't going to ensure that you don't introduce something nasty. There's still a risk. You have some options though (scroll down): http://byo.com/hops/item/679-fruit-brew-part-2-techniques
     
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  3. William_Navidson

    William_Navidson Pooh-Bah (1,557) May 1, 2015 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Any thoughts on what to do with the remaining 2g? Bottle it already, or does it need to go to a separate secondary?
     
  4. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    You can bottle the 2gal and age it in the bottle. If your brewing process was good, it should be fine to drink after a month or two and might improve with age.

    This thread reminded me to re-make my Triple Cherry Tripel. That's three kinds of cherries, folks. Montmorencey, Rainier and Black. Not sure if I can fit it in the schedule. So many beers to brew...
     
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  5. William_Navidson

    William_Navidson Pooh-Bah (1,557) May 1, 2015 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Thanks! I think that's what I'll do, then -- bottle the remainder and let it go for a while.

    And that cherry tripel sounds fantastic. I wasn't sure about brewing with fruit because it's not a type of beer I'm a huge fan of, usually, but my girlfriend's garden was overflowing with fresh stuff so I figured I should put the free ingredients to good use. I'll have to try cherries sometime in the near future.
     
    Brew_Betty likes this.
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