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...

Fruit Varieties

• 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.
• Raspberries - Raspberries can pair well with both pale and darker sour beers.
• Plums -
• Apricots -
• Peaches -
• Grapes -
• Rhubarb - I know, it's not a fruit. Too bad. We're going to give you some suggestions here anyway.

Aging Vessels

In wood or steel (or glass or plastic)?

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.
• 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
• Aseptic 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 .

Methods of Adding

(in progress)

Amount 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	Optional: leave pits in for some or all fruit.	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	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 .	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	Adds citric acidity; milder flavor compared to raspberries. Works well mixed with cherries.
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	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 .
Passion Fruit					1-1.5 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks	When using whole fruit, use pulp only.
Autumn Olive (Autumn Fruit)			1-1.5 lbs/gal		2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks	found in eastern US
Pomegranate	8 fl oz/gal					6-8 weeks
Pineapple					1 pineapple/gal	6-8 weeks	Chopped; leave skin out
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	Leave out pits.
Mango					2 lbs/gal	6-8 weeks
Fuyu Persimmons			2.5 lbs/gal			12 weeks	Works well with fruity Brett character.

See Also

External Resources

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