fruit after carbonation

[slim chillingsworth]

i just pulled a carbonated sample from a keg of blonde ale that ended up with terrible efficiency on brewday. the flavor is immensely bland, probably due to the low gravity. i'm thinking about throwing in a can of raspberry puree to at least make it worth putting on tap. i can't see any downside to adding fruit to an already-carbonated beer, can anyone else?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

If you're just putting it into the keg and keeping it cold, it shouldn't be a problem. If you're letting it warm up, then you're going to increase the gravity of your beer and it will ferment again.

This is why I keep my "randall the enamel animal" clone around. If I get an experimental beer that turns out subpar, then I hook that bad boy up and pump the beer through 4oz. of fresh leaf hops.

 

[Oldsock]

If you want the residual sugars I would just add juice unless you have a good way to keep the chunky bits of the puree from clogging up the keg and/or coming out the tap. I like my fruit beers pretty dry, so I would warm the keg up and let the yeast ferment the fruit sugars out.

 

[slim chillingsworth]

i plan on racking off the fruit before serving to avoid clogging anything. i don't mind it drying out, i just want another flavor note in there because it's not far from seltzer water at this point.

since you responded mike, i will mention that i'm also considering adding fruit and bugs, but i don't think the fruit will add enough sugar to such a small beer (it's at 1.004) to get much character.

 

[david_42]

It will work fine. Many a beer has been rescued by adding some fruit. I'd recommend de-gassing before adding the fruit. Or use a really big fermenter.

 

[Oldsock]

It is amazing how much character you can get with bugs without much gravity change. I did a split dark saison that ended at 1.004 clean, and 1.003 with bottle dregs added. The funky half had loads of earthy (mushroom) complexity, but not a lot of sourness. The fruit should help to jump start the bugs, and you could always add ~1/2 lb of maltodextrin to feed them if you wanted.