Rack to Secondary??

[vsanchez949]

I want to add some blueberry puree to my brew. Will it be okay to just add them to my primary or should i rack to a secondary then add them? My primary fermentation has already finished.

 

[s3n8]

I think most fruit additions take a while to ferment out. For that reason, most people rack out of the primary to avoid the dreaded autolysis. If I were you, I would add the blueberry puree to secondary, rack on top, and leave most of the yeast and trub in primary.

 

[FishinDave07]

+1, rack on top of the puree in the secondary.

 

[homebrewer_99]

As far as using fruit is concerned my best advice is NEVER add fruit to a primary.

Adding anything to a primary is going to rouse the yeast and dirty up the beer so to speak

Racking to a secondary clears up the environment and actually gives you the opportunity to sample a glass of brew to ensure you have a good tasting base brew.

If the brew is not on track and you added the fruit to a bad tasting beer you just wasted your money on the fruit.

 

[Edcculus]

To add to what homebrewer99 said, fruit will not make a bad beer good. You will just have a bad beer with fruit in it.

 

[homebrewer_99]

To add to what homebrewer99 said, fruit will not make a bad beer good. You will just have a bad beer with fruit in it.

I typed in "Adding fruit to a bad tasting beer will just give you a fruity bad tasting beer."...but deleted them at the last moment.

 

[vsanchez949]

You guys are awesome...THanks for the input! :rockin:
Another question though.. Will the added sugar in the fruit throw off the amount of priming sugar I will add at bottling time? Should I add less?

 

[s3n8]

the sugar in the fruit will ferment out in time. Once its done, bottle with the normal amount of priming sugar.

 

[Revvy]

I think most fruit additions take a while to ferment out. For that reason, most people rack out of the primary to avoid the dreaded autolysis. If I were you, I would add the blueberry puree to secondary, rack on top, and leave most of the yeast and trub in primary.

The "dreaded autolysis" is a myth to homebrewers. People have left their beers on the yeastcake in primary for upwards of 6 months with no problems. It's really not an issue with todays modern healthier yeast. That's why many of us have opted for longer primary periods.

vsanchez949, for fruit it is a good idea to rack onto the fruit in a secondary vessel (but not becasue of autolysis.) But be prepared, you may get a second krausen forming, as fermentation may begin again of the fruit, so don't freak out. Also with some fruits you may need to rack to a tertiary vessel if you find there is a lot of seeds, skins or pulp in the bottom of the secondary vessel.

Some folks recommend freezing the fruit first to help burst the skins.

 

[vsanchez949]

I see... Thanks again for the great info guys!

 

[chelero]

when generally, do you rack onto the fruit? after prmary fermentation, but how long would that be approximately? 7 days?

 

[s3n8]

Only way to know for sure is to check the gravity of the beer. I have had beers ferment completely in 3 days, and others take closer to 10. With that said, I almost never rack to secondary sooner than a month.

 

[chelero]

so you wait until you've achieved the final gravity?

 

[s3n8]

so you wait until you've achieved the final gravity?

Yup.

There are lots of reasons to let the yeast continue to break down and consume other undesirable compounds. Even if the gravity is not dropping, the yeast are still active and working hard to clean up the brew. racking early will stunt this.