Soured Fruit Beer

The acidity and fruity characteristics in many mixed-fermentation beers make them good candidates for fruit additions. It is not recommended to put fruit into a beer to cover up some major flaw or off character. Fruit can complement a good beer but it will likely not fix problems. Quality fruit is expensive and you'll want to start from a good base if you are going to invest the time and money in good fruit for a beer.

2nd steepings - ref Jester King, Upright, Rare Barrel...

Aging Vessels

In wood or steel (or glass or plastic).

Active fruit fermentation may cause fruit particles to clog the airlock or bung and prevent the vessel from venting pressure. This may cause the airlock to shoot off or worse. The Rare Barrel prevents this problem by stabling foil over the bung holes of barrels of actively fermenting fruit beer rather than using a bung (~52 minutes in).

Forms of Fruit

(in progress)

Fruit is available to the brewer in multiple different forms.

• Whole or sliced fresh - Use a CO2-purged keg or minimize headspace in a carboy. Mold and acetic acid bacteria can grow on the skins of floating fruit . It is a good idea to swirl the fermenter every few days or to keep the alcohol in contact with the fruit. If using a barrel or larger fermenter, use a punch-down technique. Allow the fruit to get over-ripe (not rotten) for best flavor.
• Whole or sliced frozen - Freezing fruit has a few main potential benefits. First, freezing fruit helps to break down cell walls, which may make the fruit easier to access for yeast and bacteria in the beer. Freezing fruit can also knock back the microbes present on the fruit. Note however that freezing does not kill all the microbes on the fruit. Finally, freezing fruit allows the brewer (especially the homebrewer) to take advantage of local and seasonal fruits when they may not have a use ready for those fruits in season. IQF - Individually quick frozen ref Jester King
• Pureed fresh - pureeing fresh fruit has the benefit of extracting the fruit flavor faster. It also sinks to the bottom of the fermenter , so the problem of floating whole fruit is avoided. Puree can be difficult to rack the beer off of, and more beer may be lost compared to using whole fruit. Some brewers choose to heat pasteurize freshly made puree.
• Aseptic puree - Same as "Pureed Fresh", but has already been pasteurized. This is usually the case for commercially available puree. We recommend Oregon Specialty Fruit or The Perfect Puree for quality commercial puree.
• Concentrates and extracts - Concentrates can lose aromatics due to the process, and are generally not as recommended. Some manufacturers such as Kings Orchards uses a process that reintroduces the aroma back into the concentrate .
• Juice - Make sure there is no sugar or preservatives added .

Fruit varieties and usage suggestions

Specific notes on select fruit varieties

• Apricots - Noyeaux, getting pretty acidic.
• Autumn Olive - This is a shrub producing small tart fruits native to Asia and found naturalized in eastern US (though it is considered invasive).
• Black Currants - Finding black currant juice without added sugar can be difficult because of the juice’s high acidity. Keep this in mind when tasting the juice, as the amount of added acidity after refermentation can make the beer unpalatable .
• Blackberries - Adds citric acidity; milder flavor compared to raspberries. Works well mixed with cherries.
• Cherries - Both sweet and sour varieties of cherries are available. Generally sour cherries are used in beer. They are more difficult to find and to source some you may need to look into smaller local farmers or frozen or juice options. Varieties of sour cherries include Schaerbeekse (traditional in lambic), Montmorency, Morello and Amarelle. The stones also produce some character and can add to the beer, so you may want to consider leaving the pits in with some or all of the fruit.
• Fuyu Persimmon - Works well with fruity Brett character.
• Grapes - Wine grapes are preferable for their depth of flavor compared to table grapes. Consider both the influence of the juice of the fruit as well as the potential to pull tannins and flavor/aroma from skins. Some homebrewers have experimented successfully with blending finished wine with beers --mad fermentationist--
• Loquot - Leave out pits.
• Passionfruit - When using whole fruit, use the pulp only.
• Pineapple - Leave the skins out.
• Raspberries - Advice: use a fine-mesh bag for whole fruit or a fine-mesh strainer for puree since seeds/skins may not settle even with extended aging. Frozen products tend to be more consistent than fresh . Raspberries can pair well with both pale and darker sour beers.

Usage Suggestions

"Contact time" in the table below is for mixed fermentations with Brettanomyces. Kettle sours or beers that do not contain live Brett can have a much shorter fruit contact time (generally 1-2 weeks). All contact times are assumed to be applied in secondary, and at the end of aging. Keep in mind that this is just a general guideline for usage amounts. Brewers should consider their base beer's characteristics such as abv, flavor profile, acidity levels, etc. when considering how much fruit to add. It is common for lambic brewers to age much higher fruit to beer ratios and then blend back with unfruited lambic to the desired g/L amount. If you are really trying to nail the perfect fruit amount, applying this sort of technique could be useful (assuming you have suitable beers around to blend back). This will allow you to try different blend ratios to determine the appropriate amount of fruit for your beer and desired outcome.

Don't be afraid to experiment outside of these guidelines.

• Click here and comment on the MTF thread to add your recommendations to this wiki!
• Click here to convert pounds per gallon to grams per liter.

Fruit	Juice	Concentrate	Purée	Dried	Whole	Contact Time	Notes	Commercial Examples
Tart Cherry	12-24 fl oz/gal		0.5 lb/gal		1-2.5 lbs/gal	3 weeks juice/6-8 weeks whole		200 g/l (1.67 lbs/gal) Cantillon Kriek, 300 g/l (2.5 lbs/gal) Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek
Raspberry					1-2.5 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks		200 g/l (1.67 lbs/gal) Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, 300 g/l (2.5 lbs/gal) Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise
Apricot					1-2.5 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks		300 g/l (2.5 lbs/gal) Cantillon Fou Foune
Nectarine					1-2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Strawberry			0.5-1 lbs/gal		2-3 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Blueberry					2-3 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Blackberry					0.7-3 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Coconut
Elderberry			0.5 lbs/gal			6-8 weeks
Plum					2-3 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks		250g/l (2 lbs/gallon) Tilquin Quetsche (contact time of 4 months)
Peach			0.5-2 lb/gal		1-2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Rhubarb			0.5 lb/gal			6-8 weeks
Pear						6-8 weeks
Guava			1-2 lbs/gal			6-8 weeks
Grape (Table)
Grape (Wine)					2-3 lbs/gallon			300 g/l (2.5 lbs/gal) Cantillon St. Lamvinus and Vigneronne
Zante Currant	5-10 fl oz/gal			0.2-0.4 lbs/gal		4-8 months
Black Currant	24-36 fl oz/gal					3 weeks juice/6-8 weeks whole
Passion Fruit					1-1.5 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Autumn Olive (Autumn Fruit)			1-1.5 lbs/gal		2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Pomegranate	8 fl oz/gal					6-8 weeks
Pineapple					1 pineapple/gal	6-8 weeks
Cantaloupe			0.5 lb/gal			6-8 weeks
Prickly Pear			0.5 lb/gal			6-8 weeks
Apple			0.5 lb/gal			6-8 weeks
Watermelon	64 fl oz/gal					6-8 weeks
Loquat					2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Mango					2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Fuyu Persimmons			2.5 lbs/gal			12 weeks

See Also

External Resources

• Beer and Wine Journal Table of Fruits with water, sugar, and acid percentage.