Beer Forum

So my buddy is sniffing around this girl who has been hanging around us because of the brewing. After tasting her first homebrew, she's been hovering like a vulture helping us brew and drinking far too much of our beer. No problems. We make plenty, and if it helps my friend get some I'm down for it.

Now here's my question. Her birthday is coming up and she wants to brew her first batch (extract). She's been thinking furiously about what she wants to brew and she decided to celebrate western new york by doing a Loganberry wheat beer. (Loganberry, BTW, is like a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry. Southern Ontario and Western New York are the only places I know of where people drink Loganberry beverages).

Now, I don't know too much about adding fruit flavors to a beer. For that matter I'm not to keen on fruity beers when it comes to drinking them. Still, playing the role of wingman means helping this chick out.

Does the sugar in the fruit have an impact on the way you brew? When do you add the fruit? Is a fruit extract better than actually berries?

Fruit extract is easier, but the flavor it imparts doesnt seem to give the right flavors. I would go with the fruit, if you really have to do a fruit beer.

When to add- I would do a secondary on this beer and add the fruit then. Just put the fruit in your fermenter and rack on top of it. Freeze the berries first and put them in your fermenter. This breaks the cell walls a bit and lets the yeast get at the sugars. Expect a huge blow off when the yeast get at this, I'd use a 6.5 gallon carboy or a bucket if you have one.

Make sure the berries are clean and then freeze them. Don't worry about sanitizing them before you add. I would look at using 2-3 pounds of fruit per gallon to get a good flavor from them.

Tell your pals gf she needs to start bringing one of her like minded friends with her....

I would but my wife might object.

I would get her drunk and encourage a threesome but the damn woman doesn't drink and hates beer.

Obviously I sinned greatly in a past life.

Now, once again showing my newbiness, I thought some fruits had their own yeast strains on them, hence the process of winemaking. Does this have any impact on the fermenting process or does the fact that they're frozen kill whatever natural yeast strains might be on the berries?

By sticking the fruit into secondary, the tiny bit of natural yeast would have to compete against the alcohol (toxic to yeast) and against a much, much larger population of beer yeast cells. That wild yeast doesn't stand a chance.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

Well god damn it. Despite being the worlds largest consumer of Loganberries, it's mostly just grown in the Pacific Northwest region. I can't find any place to find fresh Loganberries.

I can, however, find plenty of extracts and juices.

As much as I would prefer to do frozen fruit in the secondary, how do you do it with a juice or an extract?

If using extract, rack to your bottling bucket. then pull off an 8 ounce glass and put one drop of your flavoring in it then taste it. If it tastes ok, scale it up and add it to your bottling bucket. If not add another drop, taste, and adjust from there. Once you have the right amount added, make sure you do a good slow mix so as not to introdouce too much air in the beer. then bottle and enjoy.

If using juice, treat it like the fruit, put it in your secondary and be ready for a blow off. Make sure its pure juice with no preservatives or other additives.

Use the extracts as a last resort. They will work but just aren't as good as real fruit. You should also consider using the Oregon Fruit Puree.



This stuff is available in all sorts of fruit. Many homebrew shops carry it. I see MoreBeer normally carries it but is out of most varieties. Northern Brewer (another BN sponsor) has a wider variety available. http://www.northernbrewer.com/beer-flavorings.html

Don't know if your loganberries are available in this brand of puree though.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

Also, I would add that most of the flavor from sweet-type fruits (or purees) will ferment out. A sour or tart type fruit (raspberry or sour cherries) will stay with the beer.

If you use a sweet fruit, you may need to add some citric acid to brighten up the fruit flavor.