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Soured Fruit Beer

1,411 bytes added, 09:28, 16 March 2018
added section "Changes To Alcohol Content"
When using whole fruit, it is typical for the fruit to be carried to and held at the top of the fermenter by the carbonation. Some producers have voiced concern over the fruit sitting for prolonged periods of time in contact with air and prefer to push the fruit cap down periodically (and to ferment in such a vessel as to allow this)<ref name='Jester King on the Sour Hour pt. 1'/> (~40 minutes in). If you are fermenting in carboys and feel that you are getting acetic character from the fruit cap being in contact with air you can swirl the carboy periodically. Note that many who have used whole fruit have not noticed any problem with a fruit cap being in contact with air, so you may or may not find that this is a concern for you<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1170422922985920/ MTF facebook thread about fruit caps]</ref>.
 
===Changes To Alcohol Content===
Most fruit does not greatly change the overall alcohol content of the beer that it is added to since most fruit is within the 1.045-1.060 starting gravity range, or lower <ref>[http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/FruitDat.htm Ben Rotter. "Fruit Data: Yield, Sugar, Acidity, Tannin". Improved Winemaking website. 2011. Retrieved 03/16/2018.]</ref>. Wine grapes are a notable axception to this, which have high starting gravities that produce 10-15% ABV wines. When adding fruit to beer and allowing it to re-ferment, changes to the ABV can occur based on the amount and type of the fruit, the format of the fruit, and the ABV of the beer. Fruit concentrates and dried fruit may add more alcohol than when added in juice/whole fruit format because the water content of the fruit has been removed. The gravity of fruit can be fairly easily determined by using a refractometer. [http://sourbeerblog.com/a-guide-to-blending-sour-beer-with-fruit/ Matt Miller of Sour Beer Blog] provides a calculator that can help predict alcohol changes based on the gravity and quantity of the fruit (and beer), and [https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/10/adding-fruit-to-beer-increases-alcohol.html Michael Tonsmeire] provides a calculation as well.
 
See also:
* [http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/FruitDat.htm "Fruit Data: Yield, Sugar, Acidity, Tannin" by Ben Rotter.]
==Forms of Fruit==

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