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Fruit in the primary past a week

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homoeccentricus

NewBee
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Mar 27, 2014
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If you put fruit in primary, you leave it in there until primary fermentation is completed. How else would you do this?
 

Thig

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 2, 2014
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Georgia, USA
Just read Ken Schramm's chapter on adding fruit and he "sort of" recommends adding the fruit after fermentation.
 

McJeff

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May 17, 2013
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Farmington, Maine
My normal process has been to ferm in a bucket with the fruit in a sack for the first whole month. Few days before I'm rdy to rack I take the fruit bag out. I've not had a problem doing it ip this way ... Yet. So I've been reading it's prob an accident waiting to happen leaving the fruit in the whole month. So looking to fine tune my process.

I have about 50 lbs of blueberries frozen and waiting for the basement to cool down. I'm goin to do a few test batches, 1 week primary, 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary. Just to see the flavor differences.
 
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Honeyhog

NewBee
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Oct 6, 2013
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Vancouver, BC
If I'm using fruit in the primary I leave the fruit in the primary until the ferment is done and then if I add more fruit to the secondary I only leave it until the fruit has bleached white then rack it off.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
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Apr 27, 2010
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Typically I leave the fruit bag in until fermentation's complete, but a little longer shouldn't be too bad as long as you've got enough alcohol in there and the bucket's sealed well enough that the CO2 is staying around and keeping the O2 away from any floating bits of the fruit bag.

I don't typically use fruit in secondary but from what I've read, once the colour's bleached out, that's about all you're getting out of it so you might as well remove it. I've also read that full extraction is usually within about 7 days but I'm guessing that will depend heavily on the fruit, how it was prepared, and how much sugar and alcohol are in the must.

I've left fruit in as long as 6 months without ill effect (free-floating cranberries in a JAO variant and I waited till they sank, they tool their sweet time) and I've had other JAO batches go on for long periods of time with the fruit in and I don't think it's caused a spoiled batch (one or two have spoiled or not turned out well but I think the causes have included things like a bad seal, fruit fly infestation, or using crappy fruit like unripe apples to begin with) but I've also left fruit bags in lower-alcohol brews and they will go pretty fuzzy in a year (don't do this, it's bad, bad brewing technique to forget about batches like this and a nasty cleanup job when you finally get to it. Bad mazer. BAD <whacks self with rolled up newspaper>).
 

WVMJack

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Feb 12, 2013
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Karnage, WV
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There are more than 1 issue and depending on what style you want. Seeds can add bitterness and excessive tannins from some fruit so leaving them in to long might make it take forever to age out and be good. The spoilage thing can be a problem if you are not stirring or if you dont put on an airlock in time. The other thing is that the fruit will just continue to fall apart after the flavors have been extracted for no gain, just making more particles that need to be cleared. Some people expect their melomel to taste exactly like the fruit, so adding it to the secondary after fermentation is finished is just flavoring the mead with fruit. Others prefer to have a more complex fully fermented taste and put the fruit in the primary until the primary ferment is done or remove it early to avoid excessive tannins or bitterness. We sometimes as mentioned above like to do both if we want to boost a little more fruit flavor, or ever add some strawberries for a few days to any fruit wine to give it a little more nose. So you see its a hard question to answer, depends on the fruit, they style you want and whether you dont mind more sediment in your wine or have to leave it in longer due to a trip out of town etc. You might due your experiment as you noted, but that would pretty much be for just blueberries, you would need to repeat it for most different fruits, like peaches, or elders, or blackberries, each is unique, this aint simple grape winemaking where all you have to do is squish some grapes and everything is easy. WVMJ
 
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WVMJack

NewBee
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Feb 12, 2013
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Karnage, WV
www.wvmjack.com
What is SAID on GM STAYS on GM. I dont want a bunch of purple toed people stomping around our place trying to force their grape wines on us as this is what they do whenever you tell them they got it much easier than mead makers and country wine makers who have to use some imagination in crafting their brews. I dont mind the beer guys dropping by, they always bring a 6 pack to try:) WVMJ
 

kudapucat

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 2, 2010
2,383
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Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
What is SAID on GM STAYS on GM. I dont want a bunch of purple toed people stomping around our place trying to force their grape wines on us as this is what they do whenever you tell them they got it much easier than mead makers and country wine makers who have to use some imagination in crafting their brews. I dont mind the beer guys dropping by, they always bring a 6 pack to try:) WVMJ

hahaha it was taken in good humour, afterall, he's my most likely convert.
 
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