Brewing with Blueberry syrup

UnDeadly · 02-14-2011, 05:50 PM

I have seen several threads on using actual blueberries, but limited results for blueberry syrup.

I want to brew a blueberry/lavender stout, and put it on the back burner when I saw the prices of blueberries out of season (was planning on using 6-10 lbs for a 5 gallon). I then came into 36 oz. of blueberry syrup, which seems organic enough (no strange ingredients) and decided it was still game on.

The stuff looks to me to be pretty fermantable...ingredients are corn syrup, blueberries, cane sugar, lemon juice concentrate, and "natural flavor," whatever the hell that is.

Anyone used blueberry syrup before? I am thinking it should go in the secondary to maximize blueberry-ness.

Also, any thoughts on residual sweetness? If this stuff mostly ferments out, then I think I will want to make sure I have enough Crystal to have some sweet backing, but if this stuff isn't very fermentable, then I need to lay off the sweet malts.

Thanks!

Stinkeye · 02-14-2011, 08:18 PM

The (natural flavor) is MSG. I don't mind eating it once in a while, never thought of adding it to beer.

BigEd · 02-14-2011, 11:08 PM

Syrups are mostly sugar and water. What fruit is in there has been cooked. It is going to cost more for real fruit but the flavor will be much better. Have you tried looking for frozen blueberries at some of the big club stores? You can also supplement real fruit with a small dose of essence/extract available from most HBS.