Berries in turbo

[Griff097]

Does anyone have a guide to calculate how much sugar I have added by putting summer fruits into the FV?

Our freezer packed in, so I put 500g of black forest fruits
400g blueberries
500g strawberries
The OG 1043 so I was expecting a 4% ish easy drinker, but it's come out at 5.9% and doesn't taste strong, after reading here about back sweetening and long conditioning I can't believe how well this has turned out, first day in the keg, first go at turbo and this must be beginners luck!

 

[johncrobinson]

There are tables out there listing the ( Average.) sugar content of various fruits,However the variation in actual content is absolutely enormous.
Far too wide to be much of a guide in winemaking.

Apart from grapes which are an exception,The max sugar content of most other fruits top out at about 6% abv.

When trying to decide how much sugar to add to the must,The very best way forward is to use a hydrometer to tell you how much sugar you need.
This should be done immediately prior to the start of fermentation.

Any added sugar should be totally dissolved and mixed before taking readings.

 

[Griff097]

There are tables out there listing the ( Average.) sugar content of various fruits,However the variation in actual content is absolutely enormous.
Far too wide to be much of a guide in winemaking.

Apart from grapes which are an exception,The max sugar content of most other fruits top out at about 6% abv.

When trying to decide how much sugar to add to the must,The very best way forward is to use a hydrometer to tell you how much sugar you need.
This should be done immediately prior to the start of fermentation.

Any added sugar should be totally dissolved and mixed before taking readings.

I get your point, maybe someone clever can work it out backwards if the OG 1043 and the FG 998 how much sugar did the fruit add, I am a bit dyslexic.

 

[johncrobinson]

About 16oz per Gallon.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Just wanted to add - I know you didn't mention raspberries, but they go a long way and they're tart as hell! I made some cider once and it was supposed to be a 2 gallon batch. It turned into a 5 gallon batch as the raspberries were so tart and so fruity so I had to put loads more apple juice in. Whoops!

 

[Griff097]

Just wanted to add - I know you didn't mention raspberries, but they go a long way and they're tart as hell! I made some cider once and it was supposed to be a 2 gallon batch. It turned into a 5 gallon batch as the raspberries were so tart and so fruity so I had to put loads more apple juice in. Whoops!

Funny you should mention that as its blackberry season soon, I am trmpted to Pick a few kilos, boil them and add them to the next batch.

I think the yeast I used made all the difference to how sweet it finished as it was Cider yeast with sweetener, never heard of that before but well impressed with the results.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Please don't boil them - you'll kill the flavour. You can scorch them with boiling water though to get the lurgies off lol

I've never tried that sort of yeast. I tend to use erythritol - it's expensive though. I'm planning on stabilising my next cider and then I can sweeten with impunity and carbonate in the fridge under pressure.

 

[Griff097]

Please don't boil them - you'll kill the flavour. You can scorch them with boiling water though to get the lurgies off lol

I've never tried that sort of yeast. I tend to use erythritol - it's expensive though. I'm planning on stabilising my next cider and then I can sweeten with impunity and carbonate in the fridge under pressure.

Thanks for the tip, I read loads of advice before getting round to doing it the way I did.
I was going to simmer/boil them into a purae, I assumed I would get all the flavour that way?

Saying that I am not known for cooking Lol

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

In my opinion, the best way to get flavour out of fruit is to freeze it, and then let it thaw at room temperature with sugar on it (or if you're making cider, the apple juice). Obviously it will need filtering of seeds and what not but I'm sure you've got that covered.

Boiling fruit might make it taste cooked and ruin the flavour. I found this when I made my banana wine. I'm sure @johncrobinson will agree that boiling fruit is not advisable. John is the king of wine and I trust his every word lol

 

[johncrobinson]

Whatever you do don't boil them or any other fruit.
Scald or pasteurise 80c for 5 mins ,Or use campden tablets.

Boiling should be reserved for wines made from hard root vegetables.Even then it should be kept to a minimum as during boiling released starch will cause stubborn hazes in the finished wine.

Thanks for the compliment LisaMC Been watching your latest thread,Whens the brewery getting set up ?

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Watch this space JCR

 

[johncrobinson]

For juice extraction,If one is not in possession of a hydraulic press,Freezing and thawing is THE way to go.

 

[Keruso]

Does anyone have a guide to calculate how much sugar I have added by putting summer fruits into the FV?

Our freezer packed in, so I put 500g of black forest fruits
400g blueberries
500g strawberries
The OG 1043 so I was expecting a 4% ish easy drinker, but it's come out at 5.9% and doesn't taste strong, after reading here about back sweetening and long conditioning I can't believe how well this has turned out, first day in the keg, first go at turbo and this must be beginners luck!

This maybe useful - I made my 1st turbo cider last weekend, I wanted something around 7.5%, the apple juice was somewhere near1.046 original gravity tested with my hydrometer, using brewersfriend ABV calculator, assuming final gravity will be 1.000, I would need a 1.060 starting gravity. Brewersfriend have a chapitalization calculator that tells you how much sugar to add, bit of a faff having to convert brix to specific gravity, and converting us gallons to litres but it tells you how much sugar to add.

 

[Griff097]

This maybe useful - I made my 1st turbo cider last weekend, I wanted something around 7.5%, the apple juice was somewhere near1.046 original gravity tested with my hydrometer, using brewersfriend ABV calculator, assuming final gravity will be 1.000, I would need a 1.060 starting gravity. Brewersfriend have a chapitalization calculator that tells you how much sugar to add, bit of a faff having to convert brix to specific gravity, and converting us gallons to litres but it tells you how much sugar to add.

I have brewfather but haven't spent much time on it to understand it.

 

[Shirley Bassett]

Having looked at Asda’s web page re frozen fruit it gives the following as sugar contents per 100g of defrosted fruit:

Black Forest Fruits - 21g of sugar = 105g in 500g of fruit,
Blueberries - 9.1g of sugar = 36.4g in 400g of fruit,
Strawberries - 6.1g of sugar = 36.6g in 500g of fruit.

The maximum amount of sugar that you have added is 105 + 36.4 + 36.6 = 178g of sugar.

The above assumes that the average sugar content of the web page is correct, and that your brew has extracted all of the sugar from the fruit.

As a general guide 20g of sugar in 1 litre of solution will ferment to give you a 1% alcohol by volume end product. I usually batch prime turbo cider at a rate of 10g of sugar per litre of end product, which roughly adds 0.5% abv to the bottled cider.

So for example most supermarket apple juice contains around 110g of sugar per litre. This will ferment to around 5.5%abv.

I checked your start gravity of 1.043, (and assumed it ferment down to 1.000, which in my experience is a good estimate of final gravity for turbo cider) in 2 separate on line ABV calculators. Both gave an ABV value of 5.6%, so your expected 4% and seems to be on the low side.

Hope this helps.

 

[Griff097]

Having looked at Asda’s web page re frozen fruit it gives the following as sugar contents per 100g of defrosted fruit:

Black Forest Fruits - 21g of sugar = 105g in 500g of fruit,
Blueberries - 9.1g of sugar = 36.4g in 400g of fruit,
Strawberries - 6.1g of sugar = 36.6g in 500g of fruit.

The maximum amount of sugar that you have added is 105 + 36.4 + 36.6 = 178g of sugar.

The above assumes that the average sugar content of the web page is correct, and that your brew has extracted all of the sugar from the fruit.

As a general guide 20g of sugar in 1 litre of solution will ferment to give you a 1% alcohol by volume end product. I usually batch prime turbo cider at a rate of 10g of sugar per litre of end product, which roughly adds 0.5% abv to the bottled cider.

So for example most supermarket apple juice contains around 110g of sugar per litre. This will ferment to around 5.5%abv.

I checked your start gravity of 1.043, (and assumed it ferment down to 1.000, which in my experience is a good estimate of final gravity for turbo cider) in 2 separate on line ABV calculators. Both gave an ABV value of 5.6%, so your expected 4% and seems to be on the low side.

Hope this helps.

I estimated that based on ales which usually finish about 1010 as that's my experience with AG brewing, so as it finished at. 998 it sounds like your research and estimations are correct, but I would have thought that whole fruit wouldn't provide the whole sugars available.
I don't know if in future, crushing the frozen fruit partially would help with extraction of sugars/flavours?

 

[Nicks90]

Yes, after thawing the fruit give it a gentle squish with the back of a big ladle or potato masher
Not mushed up, but squished. That will allow the sugars and flavour to escape much better.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Fermenting on the pulp will help too, as will using pectolase.

 

[dad_of_jon]

thank you all you've convinced me to try a fruit beer again, raspberry saison rocket or something like that.

 

[Griff097]

thank you all you've convinced me to try a fruit beer again, raspberry saison rocket or something like that.

Never do e a fruit beer, what sort of proportions of say MO to fruit would you be thinking of?