Fruit Floaters....

[Jbug]

Ok, my first sour has been rockin' away since the first week of feb. so, I decided it was time to rack off and add some fruit.

I froze 4.5 lbs of peach and 1 lb of raspberry, then skinned, pitted and sliced the peaches. Then tossed slices and berries into the secondary, racked beer on top, sealed fermenter, plugged in my airlock.

A couple days have gone by and I'm seeing some activity in the airlock. My curiosity got the best of me, I opened up the bucket to see what was going on in there and I see some, if not all, of the peaches floating in krausen. Pretty cool but not what I was expecting.

My question is should I give my bucket a swirl to try to sink the floater or leave well enough alone?
Thanks fellas!

Josh

[spiderwrangler]

They are gonna be in there for a while, I'm assuming... they'll eventually get down in it more.

[Jbug]

Yeah these I figure would stay for 6 months or so... then rack and feed again then on to bottles... my consternation was with mold forming on the fruit... guess that really may not matter?

[spiderwrangler]

Go ahead and swish them down, I've done that in the past with fruited things, but may not be necessary. On the other hand, it isn't going to hurt. Not sure on the mold, periodic submerging may help with that... I guess you'll find out if that's a concern or not...

[anday6]

pH should help with mold and, if you do have enough fermentation, the CO2 will help too. So try and keep the cover on that bucket.

[Jbug]

pH should help with mold and, if you do have enough fermentation, the CO2 will help too. So try and keep the cover on that bucket.

OK OK I'll keep the lid on! This has been such a cool process, having to feed the bugs and watching the airlock and just the whole "my first sour" thing, has been exciting. I can't keep my eyes off of it. I guess I better start another so I don't nurture this one to death!


Josh

[brewinhard]

If you are planning on keeping it for 6 mos, then you might have been better off racking into a small carboy to reduce the headspace which can lead to oxidation. Plastic buckets are notorious for allowing oxygen to enter through their walls over a period of time. This can lead to acetobacter producing vinegar-like notes in the beer if too much oxygen gets in over time. Just be aware.

The fruit will eventually fall to the bottom of the fermenter (well at least peaches and raspberries will). Cherries tend to float, at least in my observations. You could gently swirl the fermenter to submerge the fruit which will help the wild ones to feast on them.

[spiderwrangler]

Yeah, carboy would be better for long term storage... I've had cherries float on me too...