Adding fruit to wheat beer

[MattGuk]

Hi all, I'm aware there is plenty of information regarding this, however, I just want to check with more experienced people than myself that my process seems about right.
I'm going to make a wheat beer this weekend, about 4.5%abv ish and was thinking of adding some frozen mixed berries to the almost fermented beer.
Plan is is to ferment as normal, then on day 7 - 10 added 2 packs of frozen mixed berries to the fermenter in a muslin/grain bag, once the bag has been sanitised.
Am I right in thinking that adding frozen berries to a mostly if not fully fermented beer should be ok? The alcohol content SHOULD make it pretty hard for wild bacteria to grow?
The other option was to blend the berries, add sodium metabisulphite to the blended puree, wait 24 hours, add to sanitised muslin bag then dump into the FV?

Thought on best option would be great, thanks guys.

 

[Harbey]

I've found much better results using puree - less debris and much more fruit flavor. I'd rack into a secondary FV before adding the fruit/puree.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I’ve made raspberry and cherry wheat beer and I add the berries in a muslin bag to the secondary fermenter and leave for two weeks.

 

[MattGuk]

I've found much better results using puree - less debris and much more fruit flavor. I'd rack into a secondary FV before adding the fruit/puree.

I have tried the funkin Puree before but wasn't happy with the results.
To be fair I did add at the end of boil at whirlpool temps, but one pack of that stuff at £10 a go is rather expensive considering is didn't do much.
Plus the puree just ended up with the yeast at the bottom of the bottle. I wonder if making my own puree would have the same result and would be better off just putting frozen fruit in a bag straight into the fermenter

 

[KegThat]

How about flavouring extracts? I can give you some for free if you put in an order for something else :)

 

[MattGuk]

How about flavouring extracts? I can give you some for free if you put in an order for something else :)

Thanks for the offer, very generous of you and may end up going that route, just wanted to have a go at coming out of my comfort zone and trying something a bit more hands on for the 1st time.
What extracts do you sell btw?

 

[KegThat]

No worries :) Yeah fair play sounds good!! Take a look here :) Flavourings Archives

 

[aamcle]

I have done 3 with funkin puree add it to the FV not the boil.

 

[The Baron]

I use frozen and tinned fruit which I add to the FV in supermarket veg bags after the initial fermentation is dying down say day 4ish which gives time for the yeast to attack any sugars in the fruit and leave for a further week

 

[MattGuk]

I use frozen and tinned fruit which I add to the FV in supermarket veg bags after the initial fermentation is dying down say day 4ish which gives time for the yeast to attack any sugars in the fruit and leave for a further week

This is basically what I was thinking of doing.
Am I right in thinking that frozen fruit doesn't need any special attention sanitation wise due to the fact that A: they are frozen and B: the present alcohol should limit bacteria growth?

 

[The Baron]

You are correct the fruit is food grade for human consumption so as long as you defrost it to say room temp and if you really want as you are sanitising the bag to put it in you can spray the outer bags with Starsan and the scissors too but the fruit is good to go.
Ps frozen fruit is best as the freezing has broken down the cell structure of the fruit which helps with extraction too

 

[MattGuk]

Perfect, I think it sounds like this is the route I take, wish me luck.

Thanks all for your advice

 

[MattGuk]

Actually, one last thing, is there anyway of determining how much extra abv this will add to a brew?

 

[MattGuk]

Actually, one last thing, is there anyway of determining how much extra abv this will add to a brew?

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Actually, one last thing, is there anyway of determining how much extra abv this will add to a brew?

Yes - put the recipe into brewfather and change the fruit addition to 'secondary' (on brewfather). This will give you an OG and a total gravity, ie with the fruit added.

 

[MattGuk]

Thanks Tess, never knew BF had that option.
Just goes to show everyday is a school-day

 

[The Baron]

Yea as Tess says or if not using Brewfather just add the sugar stated on the fruit packaging into your recipe software as just sugar and it will calculate that into the ABV

 

[-Bezza-]

This thread has been helpful. I have been eyeing up a recipe for Omnipollo Double Raspberry/Vanilla Smoothie IPA and wasn't really sure how to tackle the fruit part.

 

[MrRook]

I've often added fruit to the F V once primary fermentation is done (7-10 days). I use a bag on some fruit and straight in on others. Going to a secondary F V is unnecessary in most cases.

 

[sifty]

I used 3kg of frozen blueberries. Let them half thaw, mashed and placed in a fermenter, then racked part fermented beer on top. Went well, fermentation took off again with the extra sugar and stirred things up.
Cold crashing dropped everything out ok...