Adding fresh juice to primary - pasteurize?

[Mothman]

Hi all.

I'm making a mandarin IPA as per some direction I got from a commercial craft brewery that made a beer I really enjoyed.

The brewer advised to add fresh orange/mandarin juice to primary on ~ day 3. In my mind I'm thinking it's going to ferment out and I don't know what it's going to add to the beer... but I am going to follow the direction given.

Unfortunately, the brewer seems to be unable/uninterested in answering any more of my questions LOL, as I sent a couple questions to him and got no further reply.

So, I'm coming to you!

When I add the juice to the primary, should I be worried about infection? The yeast will still be working... will that protect from potential infection?

Or should I be pasteurizing the juice first? And if so, how? Can I just heat it gently to a particular temperature, hold it there for 10 minutes or so, then cool it?

 

[Rob2010SS]

I don't believe you need to pasteurize it. You're buying juice pre- packaged at the store? If so i don't think you need to pasteurize but you should use juice with no preservatives. Preservatives have a negative effect on yeast i believe.

On a side note i added juice once and i won't do it again. It ferments out without adding much flavor and dries out the beer pretty severely. I'l use fruit over juice any day

 

[Mothman]

It's not store bought, no, it's fresh squeezed from oranges and mandarins.

My hands were all over the oranges and juice. Lol so I'm nervous of adding it straight in.

And yeah I am thinking the juice will ferment out completely, but I want to try it.

It isn't a lot of juice, maybe two cups, so doubt it will have much impact.

I'll be making a vodka tincture from the zest and adding at bottling, which is where I figure I'll get more citrus flavor and aroma.

 

[Mothman]

Could I use a small amount of campden in the juice and let it sit overnight?

 

[BongoYodeler]

It might be worth your time to read through the Lemon-Lime Hefeweizen recipe thread. In this recipe Simply Limeade, (previously unopened), is added to the primary. It is not from concentrate and has no preservatives. They also make an orange juice which might work in your recipe.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/lemon-lime-hefe-weizen.255659/

 

[TGFV]

I have done several beers with simply lime, rasberry and lemon and all come out great. I've also used fresh squeezed lemon and pomello, though both in secondary for a high abv beer.

It will dry your beer out either way, but I would recommend the campden route

 

[RM-MN]

It's not store bought, no, it's fresh squeezed from oranges and mandarins.

My hands were all over the oranges and juice. Lol so I'm nervous of adding it straight in.

And yeah I am thinking the juice will ferment out completely, but I want to try it.

It isn't a lot of juice, maybe two cups, so doubt it will have much impact.

I'll be making a vodka tincture from the zest and adding at bottling, which is where I figure I'll get more citrus flavor and aroma.

There aren't many things that can survive in fermenting beer...but there are some. None of them will hurt you but they can hurt your beer. Things like acetobacter or a wild yeast can severely change the flavor. Carefully heat your juice to 150-160 before you add it (chilling it would be beneficial before you add it unless it is a very small amoung) to kill off bacteria and any other biological agents. It only takes seconds at 160, a bit longer at 150. Don't go above 160 as it can set any pectin and then you get hazy beer.

 

[frankvw]

Store bought fruit juice should not require sterilization. When you buy it, it's either been pasteurized after being packaged (rendering it sterile in the container) or it's loaded with Natamycin (Pimaricin), Potassium Sorbate and/or other anti-fungal preservatives.

The latter are intended to prevent fermentation and kill yeasts. When making cider these preservative-laden juices are pretty much useless. Whether they will kill the fermentation when added to your beer will mostly depend on how much you add and how much yeast there already is in the beer. War will ensue and either the preservatives or the yeast will come out on top, but significant inhibition of the yeast to some degree is more likely than not. So stay away from these and use pasteurized juices if at all possible.

Home pressed fruit juice, fruit pulp or fresh fruit should be pasteurized before use. They are likely to contain wild yeasts and other microbes. The acidity of the fruit, pulp or juice will provide some degree of bacteria control, but this depends on the pH of what you're working with.

In closing, fruit, pulp and juice all contain a balance of sugars and acidity. The sugars will ferment out, the acidity will remain. Sweet tasting fruits loaded with fruit sugars may be more tart and acidic after fermentation than fruits that are less sweet to begin with.

Have fun!

 

[Mothman]

Thanks all...

I'm going to consider whether I even want to bother with the juice.... It's only about 2 cups going in a 3.5 gallon batch... Not sure if it's worth it...

But if I do, I will heat pasteurize. I don't care if I introduce a bit of haze to the final product.