Sterilising fruit

[rabbie]

Of course I'm thinking about the next batch already and might do something for the ladies...
This will involve fermenting onto some fruit/berries, anyone got any experience there?
I'm wondering how to make sure the fruit is sterile before adding to the fermenter, don't fancy boiling it up although that might be an option.
Is it safe to give a quick soak in star-san, drain and into the FV??

 

[robsan77]

I made a fruity wheat beer and boiled the fruits up in a little water for about 10mins. If you can vaccum pack them you can then heat them in the bag in a bath of water at about 70c for an hour.

 

[samurailord]

I have made plenty of wine with fruit, but unfortunately only used kits for fruit beers.

I have never sterilised the fruit itself - just sliced and mashed and left it to steep in a muslin bag in the fermenter for a couple of days before removing and squeezing out the last of the juice before adding yeast and sugar to get to the required SG.

Sometimes the naturally occuring yeast in the fruit has started the ferment by itself but I have never had a problem with a brew getting infected.

As I said, this was for making wine so the higher alcohol content might be helping with keeping out the nasties - if in doubt I would boil the fruit in the muslin bag to extract as much of the flavour as possible whilst keeping all the stringy pulpy bits together. I would also add a tsp of Pectolase or similar per gallon to avoid getting a pectin haze, depending on which fruits you are using, of course.

I'm sure someone with more experience will put me right

Andy

 

[Aleman]

There are two ways to use fruit in beer. . . . For fruits with a strong taste (raspberries etc) you can add them to the boiler for the last 15 minutes of the boil .. . although allegedly you can get a stewed fruit taste with this method. You also need to add significantly higher amounts of fruit to get the same effect.

The second method involves adding the mashed fruit to the primary at the end of fermentation (or adding the fruit to a secondary vessel and racking the nearly finished beer onto this). This is the preferred method for less strongly tasting fruit (Peaches etc). . . now you can use a weak metabisulphite solution to sanitise the fruit but TBH I have never bothered. . . Of course fruit beers are typically tart anyway so perhaps there should be some bacterial activity anyway. . . The thing that continues to surprise me is just how much fermentation picks up with the sugars in the fruit. . . . it can be very active.

 

Vinters world wide never steralise their grapes and there is no heat involved!

 

[Cussword]

I might be wrong here, (I usually am) but if you boil are you not pasteurising. Will that not make sure it is completely safe :?

 

[Aleman]

Wine and Beer are two entirely different things and need to be approached differently.

Vintners get away with practices that you cannot use in beer. The sugar levels in the must are higher than (most) worts which prevents some bacterial growth. pH in musts is lower than that in worts which prevents bacterial growth. Alcohol levels in wine is higher than in beer which prevents the growth of bacteria and molds . . . . etc etc.

Adding non sterilised fruit to green beer will probably succeed as the pH of the green beer will be lower than fresh wort and the alcohol level will be higher . . . combined these will probably prevent serious infection . . .but of the fruit beers I've done (One) I am running with 100% infection rate

 

[Cussword]

:thumb: Yes, thats what I meant :lol:

 

Vintners get away with practices that you cannot use in beer. The sugar levels in the must are higher than (most) worts which prevents some bacterial growth.

If what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, why do you get mold on jam?