Reusing fruit?

[mgonbrewlab]

I am curious if anyone has tried reusing the fruit from their primary fermentation for other purposes. Specifically, removing the bag with sanitized tongs and putting it in a new sanitized primary vessel and then racking beer on top of it.

Would there be any flavor left to extract after 2-3 weeks sitting in the must? Are there any contamination concerns? I am going to start a batch of grapefruit wine this weekend and am thinking the fruit could add an interesting flavor profile to a pale ale.

 

[DoctorCAD]

I use mine as compost. Its pretty used up and stinks of dead yeast.

 

[mgonbrewlab]

That is a great idea. Thanks!

 

[siletzspey]

The first time I made raspberry wine, I strained the fermenting pulp about 10 days after crushing, and then ran some water thru the spent pulp to make some "second wine". The second wine was surprisingly good. Somewhere I read that historically (back to Roman times?), the upper class would obviously get the first pressing for wine, but there was a tradition of second wine for everyone else.

Since berry and plum wines require the addition of water, I now run that water thru the pulp to boost the flavor of the wine.

The upshot is... spent pulp can still have a lot of flavor in it, and I think it's worth recovering before tossing the remains on the compost pile.

--SiletzSpey

 

[vNmd]

I always wondered the same question but the fruit coming from secondary used for back sweetening. I did an apricot mead and backsweetned with a bunch of apricot halves. I can't tell you how much I wanted to put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a few of them. Unfortunately they were in a 3 gal plastic carboy and didn't want to come out. I assume the mead was fairly harsh at that point as well.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Save the seeds from wild plums or wild black berry and refrigerate for the summer and winter. When spring comes plant.

 

[AlbertaGuy]

Chokecherries make a really really good gallon of second wine. It seems to mature much much faster so is drinkable well before the initial batch is ready for bottling. Just add another gallon of water and 2 lbs of sugar on top of the pulp and it makes a great tasting wine.

 

[Yooper]

Second wines are pretty common. They come from 'strong' fruit like grapes or chokecherries, but not something mushy and delicate like strawberries.

One thing you said in your post was 'weeks' on the fruit, though. Most fruit wine (including grapes) is in primary, fermenting on the fruit for days (say, 5) and not weeks. i would definitely not use fruit that is mushy and gray and had been sitting in a vessel for 'weeks'.

 

[mgonbrewlab]

Second wines are pretty common. They come from 'strong' fruit like grapes or chokecherries, but not something mushy and delicate like strawberries.

One thing you said in your post was 'weeks' on the fruit, though. Most fruit wine (including grapes) is in primary, fermenting on the fruit for days (say, 5) and not weeks. i would definitely not use fruit that is mushy and gray and had been sitting in a vessel for 'weeks'.

So fruit wine is new to me. I have been going off of Terry Garey's book for recipes and process and she recommends 2-3 weeks for basic fruit wines. Good advice? Bad advice? I am about to bottle a strawberry banana wine that was on the fruit for 3 weeks and then secondaried. It is pretty full flavored dry.

 

[siletzspey]

... Terry Garey's book for recipes and process and she recommends 2-3 weeks for basic fruit wines.

Indeed, per p.49. But then on p.84, Terry talks about checking at 1 week, and if the PA is still greater than 3-4 percent, going another week.

I figure the primary in-a-bucket is about juice release and recovery, and the secondary and tertiary carboys with tight head-spaces about fermentation.

Due to travel, I went 10 days on berries and plums last time, but it seemed chancy. I had some cherries go 2+ weeks and they oxidized.

--SiletzSpey

 

[mgonbrewlab]

I guess it is a good thing I haven't made the plunge into trying a 5-gal batch, then. I will have to keep that in mind.

I have 3 small batches in topped up carboys that spent 10-14 days on the fruit - we will see how they fare down the road.

 

[Yooper]

Here are typical fruit wine recipes like I'd use, from Jack Keller's site:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request227.asp

check out the whole list for great recipes: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp
I'm like a kid in a candy store with wine recipes- they all sound great.

Every one of his recipes that I've done is a winner!

 

[mgonbrewlab]

I will definitely need to start reading Jack Keller.

I just bottled a strawberry banana wine that spent 12-14 days (I lost count) on the fruit. Tasted pretty good - I don't think I detected any oxidation, but I guess time will tell.