Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Using dried fruit  (Read 17027 times)

Offline secretsquirrel

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 12
Using dried fruit
« on: February 13, 2010, 05:57:41 pm »
Hi everyone,
Just bottled my first batch of a stout yesterday. I didn't do a secondary fermentation and let it sit for 3 weeks.  It smelled great. Very excited to try it. 

anyway, I've got a bunch of dried fruit laying around the house- sour cherries, pears, apples, persimmons, plums and lots of rolled oats.  Has anyone ever used dried fruit in brewing? If so, how? At what point would this be put in- with the grains in the bag or tossed in with the hops?

I was thinking of trying to do an oatmeal stout with cherries.  Does anyone have recommendations for me, or a recipe? Thanks,
S. Squirrel

Offline enso

  • Brewer
  • ****
  • Posts: 449
  • Northeast Kingdom, VT
    • Bristle Bros. Brewing Blog
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2010, 09:55:40 pm »
I would think to maintain fruit flavors/aromas you would want to add it directly to the fermenter.  Perhaps even racking the already fermented beer directly onto the fruit in another container which would start a new ferment.

Did you dry the fruit yourself or is this something purchased?  The reason I mention it is if you do not know how it was dried it could be treated with sulfites or other preservatives that might inhibit your yeast.

Otherwise I think it would work great.  Not sure how to account for the sugar in it.  I would imagine dried fruits are more concentrated.
Dave Brush

Offline secretsquirrel

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 12
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2010, 12:52:51 am »
Enso
the fruit i have was commercially dried. It does not have any preservatives.  Dried fruit is usually composed of fructose and had a higher sugar level than regular fruit.  I wonder how it will work...

Offline secretsquirrel

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 12
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2010, 02:37:28 pm »
Hi everyone,
I wanted to give an update to using the dried fruit question.  I made a Belgian white partial extract. I omitted the coriander and orange peel from the recipe as i didn't want competing flavors.
The beer went really crazy during fermentation; so much so that it continued to krausen its way out of the airlock. Being that this is my second batch of beer (I'm new at this) I somehow got the rubber cork stopper shoved into the fermenter after changing out the airlock. I thought, hell, I just contaminated the whole thing.  I ended up using the drain in the primary to transfer to the glass carboy- and committing the "don't aerate the beer while transferring" rule.  At this point, I thought all might be lost, so I took my dried pear halves and tore them up and shoved them into the carboy. I put about 2-3 pounds worth it. 
It continued to ferment. After 10 days or so I bottled the beer and let it sit. Turned out great; there is even a hint of pear.  The stuff is really high in alcohol as well...

Offline kylekohlmorgen

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1363
  • Saint Louis, MO
    • The South House Pilot Brewery
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2010, 01:33:51 pm »
The only problem is trying to get them out once your done... I used chopped fresh peaches in the secondary once... getting them all out took about 2 hrs... now I puree.

I've added dried fruit in the secondary and in the boil:

I recently used raisins in a belgian porter recipe. I weighed out about 7 oz, pureed them with hot wort, and added the puree with about 7 min left to go. Its not quite done cellaring, but the raisins add a great, smooth, "raisiny" flavor and maybe even texture.

I used dried cherries in the secondary of an apple cider. Even with the cider on the cherries for a solid month, I couldn't detect any flavors from them. This might have been hidden by the cinnamon sticks added as well.

As for the extract content, I used the nutritional facts on the back. They give "Sugars" in grams, and I assumed they were all fermentable. This was fairly accurate for the raisins, but it will probably work for other dried fruit
Twitter/Instagram: @southhousebrew

Recipes, Brett/Bacteria Experiments: http://SouthHouseBeer.com/

Offline madlionsmith

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2016, 10:00:47 am »
Anyone else have any experiences using dried cherries in Cider?

Offline fmader

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1675
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2016, 10:16:23 am »
I have used raisins, dates, prunes, and dried cherries all in a Quad. However, I caramelized them first in a searing skillet. I, then deglazed with the beer that they were going into. It added nice flavor.

However, in a stout, I would use fresh fruit or high quality concentrate. I used to make a killer tart cherry stout that one a blue ribbon in the NHC. I would add 10 lbs of tart montmorency cherries in the secondary. If you've had Bell's Cherry Stout, it's along that line. I've also used this in a cherry wheat and would probably use it in the cherry stout if I were to make it again. This concentrate is much more convenient, and because it's high quality, I didn't see or taste any ill effects. http://www.shorelinefruit.com/cart/6/cherry-concentrate/-cherry-bay-orchards-tart-montmorency-cherry-concentrate---32-oz
Frank

Offline Steve Ruch

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1743
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2016, 11:55:13 am »
Anyone else have any experiences using dried cherries in Cider?

Sweet or sour cherries?
I put fresh picked sour pie cherries in my last cider. It tastes just like cherry pie.
I love to go swimmin'
with hairy old women

Offline brewinhard

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 3272
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2016, 12:24:32 pm »
I was just going to reiterate caution when adding some commercially dried fruit, as they may have an oil on them for packaging purposes that could affect your head retention. Just something to keep in mind.

Offline bierview

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 235
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2016, 04:14:00 pm »
Hi everyone,
I wanted to give an update to using the dried fruit question.  I made a Belgian white partial extract. I omitted the coriander and orange peel from the recipe as i didn't want competing flavors.
The beer went really crazy during fermentation; so much so that it continued to krausen its way out of the airlock. Being that this is my second batch of beer (I'm new at this) I somehow got the rubber cork stopper shoved into the fermenter after changing out the airlock. I thought, hell, I just contaminated the whole thing.  I ended up using the drain in the primary to transfer to the glass carboy- and committing the "don't aerate the beer while transferring" rule.  At this point, I thought all might be lost, so I took my dried pear halves and tore them up and shoved them into the carboy. I put about 2-3 pounds worth it. 
It continued to ferment. After 10 days or so I bottled the beer and let it sit. Turned out great; there is even a hint of pear.  The stuff is really high in alcohol as well..

About your crazy fermentation, you might want to use a blow off tube instead of an airlock for primary fermentation.  Stick a 1/4 inch tube into the rubber stopper and put the other end into a container filled with sterilized water.

Offline chinaski

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 571
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2016, 06:56:43 pm »
Anyone else have any experiences using dried cherries in Cider?
I have made some cyser with dried cranberries.  The difficulty I ended up having was adding the dried cranberries after fermentation had finished; they contain so much additional sugar that the cyser got too sweet.  If I were to do it again, I'd add them close to terminal gravity but while the yeast were still active enough to ferment out some of the extra sugar.  I'd have to look back in my log book to see if I recorded how much dried fruit I added- I know it was a lot!

Offline erockrph

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 7788
  • Chepachet, RI
    • The Hop WHisperer
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2016, 06:18:14 am »
Anyone else have any experiences using dried cherries in Cider?
If I had to pick, I think I'd prefer tart cherry juice or concentrate over dried cherries. I get that toffee-like, raisiny flavor from dried berries and cherries (although nowhere near as strong as in an actual raisin), and I don't know if I'd want that in a cider.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

Offline HoosierBrew

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 13031
  • Indianapolis,IN
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2016, 07:06:14 am »
If I had to pick, I think I'd prefer tart cherry juice or concentrate over dried cherries. I get that toffee-like, raisiny flavor from dried berries and cherries (although nowhere near as strong as in an actual raisin), and I don't know if I'd want that in a cider.


Agreed. I really like the tart Montmorency concentrate from this company over any puree I've used, in both beer and cider. It has excellent flavor and acidity.

http://www.shorelinefruit.com/cart/6/cherry-concentrate/-cherry-bay-orchards-tart-montmorency-cherry-concentrate---32-oz
Jon H.

Offline homoeccentricus

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2009
  • A twerp from Antwerp
Re: Using dried fruit
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2016, 07:55:25 am »
I have used frozen tart cherries in cider, which works very well.
Plus, dried cherries in a Supplication clone (not yet finished). If you want to use dried cherries, make sure that there is no addition of (sunflower) oil. This is almost always the case.
Frank P.

Staggering on the shoulders of giant dwarfs.