Fruit Beer Blueberry Summer Ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

azscoob

Brewpub coming soon!
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
7,446
Reaction score
313
Location
Lake in the Hills, IL
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Safale S-05
Yeast Starter
nope
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.047
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
18.3
Color
5.8 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 days @ 60°F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
5 days on fruit @ 60°F
Additional Fermentation
crash cool and keg
Tasting Notes
Fantastic light summer refresher, the blueberries are subtle.
Yeast Name: Safale
Manufacturer: Fermentis
Product ID: US-05
Type: Ale
Flocculation: Medium
Attenuation: 75-79%
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium
Temperature Range: 59–75°F
Amount: 12 gr

Grains:
7.00 pounds American Pale Malt (2-Row)
71.8% of grist
2.00 pounds American Vienna Malt
20.5% of grist
0.25 pounds Honey Malt
2.6% of grist
0.25 pounds Crystal Malt 40L
2.6% of grist
0.25 pounds American Wheat Malt
2.6% of grist
9.75 pounds Total Grain Weight

Target Final Boil Volume: 5.5 gallons
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 gallons per hour
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Runoff Volume Needed: 7.2 gallons 5.5 gallons (final boil volume) ÷ 0.96 (cooling) + 1.5 gallons (boil evaporation)
Grain Amount: 9.8 pounds
Grain Absorbtion: 2.1 gallons
Total Water Needed: 10.3 gallons 7.2 gallons (runoff) + 2.1 gallons (grain absorbtion) + 1 gallons (equip. loss)
Mash Water Needed: 3.2 gallons based on 1.33 quarts per pound of grain
Sparge Water Needed: 7.1 gallons, 10.3 gallons (total water) – 3.2 gallons (mash water)

Miscellaneous Ingredients:

5.0 LB of fresh picked, frozen blueberries for secondary fermentation.

1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 minutes

Hops:

1.00 ounces Centennial 8.6% Leaf @ FWH

0.50 ounces Sorachi Ace 11.1% Leaf @ 30 minutes

0.25 ounces Sorachi Ace 11.1% Leaf @ 15 minutes

0.25 ounces Sorachi Ace 11.1% Leaf @ 0 minutes


Mash at 155°F for 60 minutes.
Batch sparge method used, single sparge on this batch.
2 gallons of mashout water was 212°F.
Sparge water temp was 170°F

actual OG was 1.056
FG pre-blueberry addition 1.012
FG post blueberry addition 1.012

I washed 5 lbs of fresh picked blueberries and froze them in an unsealed vacuum bag, after freezing they were vacuumed and stored until needed, thawing while under vacuum crushed the berries nicely, dumped into secondary fermenter and racked beer onto them. mild fermentation picked up for 3 days, on day 5, I crash cooled for 3 more days and kegged, I let this one carb up and age for about a month before serving.

This beer was very well recieved at the local homebrew club meeting. In the Sleepy Dog Homebrew comp it recieved a BJCB score of 32/50 due mostly to being entered mistakenly as an American ale base instead of a light hybred. (dont fill out your entry forms while a few sheets gone I guess) The judges comments indicated it would have scored higher if it had a better base catagory listed.

The blueberry flavor is quite subdued, noted mainly in the aroma, the honey malt pairs nicely with the lemon flavors from the Sorachi Ace hops, and there is a slight peachy note from the S-05 due to the low fermentation temp. Overall this is a nice, well balanced, refreshing summer ale. enjoyed by several people who have an aversion to fruit beers since the blueberries are so mellow.
 
It is pretty fantastic, I am making 5 gallons of this for a good friend as a gift, I may bump it up to 10 gallons so I can enjoy some too.
 
IM going to do this as my second brew, and first by myself. Pretty excited! it sounds good! I ve got a question about the blueberries. When you add the blueberries to the secondary, do you want them completely mashed up? or just broken open? also I assume you add the blueberries first to the secondary and then the add the wort? after you do this should I stir the mixture around a little bit? Thanks.!
 
I smush them a fair bit, but they are still recognizable as blueberries. I put them into the secondary, then rack the beer on top of them, no stirring at all, in fact you want to avoid any splashing when racking onto the blueberries
 
Ok thanks I appreciate it. Also like I said I am very new to thebrewing process. I coulnd’t find the specific wheat malt and Vienna Malt. I found a crisp light crystal malt, Breiss Wheat malt, Franco Belges Vienna malt, and Granbinus Honey Malt. I honestly have no idea how substitutable these malts are for the ones you used?

also I am a little confused on what FWH means when it comes to the Centennial hops?

I appreciate all the replies, like I said I'm very knew to this and very intrigued haha
 
I ferment in a temp controlled fridge, so once fermentation is complete I drop the temp of the carboy from 60 to 34 degrees for a few days to help clear the beer up. if you have room in the fridge I would just put the fermenter in there for a few days, same thing without needing a special fermentation fridge..
 
FInnaly got around to brewing this! I ordered all of the ingredients not knowing that some of grains needed to be mashed. Well after 6 or so brews this was my first attempt at partial mashing. it went very well and it is quitely bubbling away for 3 days.

My question is how much blueberry flavor came out,taste wise? and how long did it last in the bottle, based on carbonation length?


also how would you describe this beer's style? Pale Ale?

thanks
 
The blueberry comes through in spades aroma-wise, it is notable subtly in the overall finish of the beer, as for the question of how long it lasts, honestly I haven't had this last very long. I keg so once it is flowing it goes pretty fast.

I carb this beer to 2.4-2.5 volumes, and the head retention is good enough that there is a bit of head still through the end of the pint.

Now about the style, I would put it closer to a light hybrid base, it doesn't have the hops bitterness to classify it as a pale or an amber ale.
 
Ok I have had it on top of 6 lbs. of blueberry peree for 6 days now and I was planning on bottling tommorow night. However i have been reading up on adding fruit and a lot of people say they leave it on top for weeks. I am trying to get a decent amount of blueberry flavor but nothing overpowering the beer. I wasnt it to be in the background but still be able to notice it if that makes sens haha. Do you recommend keeping it longer on the fruit?
 
Sure! it's your beer afterall, try pulling a hydro sample to take a reading, then drink the sample to see if there is enough blueberry for you.
 
Sure! it's your beer afterall, try pulling a hydro sample to take a reading, then drink the sample to see if there is enough blueberry for you.

haha thats what I am going to do. ive never used fruit before so I want it to be perfect. I think I am going to go ahead and bottle it tommorow night only becasue I want it to be ready come finals week. And then I will revamp the time nexty time i brew this. I am going to be making my own blueberry chocolate stout so this will be a good precursor to help me develop how much blueberry/time to use in my stout.
 
Have you had any problems with the lack of sanitation of the berries? I've read that the berries need to be boiled a bit before adding - thanks!, sounds like a great recipe!
 
I have always frozen them first, but never boiled, I imagine you would set the pectin by boiling so the addition of pectic enzime would be needed

I havent had sanitation issues yet but I could just be lucky.
 
Hey when adding fruit to a recipe would soaking the frozen berries in whisky not sanitize them just to be safe ? And how many months would you say a fruit beer would keep before it went bad after bottling/kegging ?

Ty in advance for your reply cheers
 
I would use vodka over whiskey, so when drained and thrown into the carboy you don't get the flavor from the whiskey.

As for how long it lasts, blueberry is a subtle flavor and starts to fade after a couple months. I tend to drink this one fairly young to keep the flavors bright.
 
i'll be brewing this brew on good friday. it will be my first fruit beer i have ever brewed. ill let u know how it turns out.
 
It went very well thanks for asking. Although my brewday turned into a brew night, on thursday and into early friday morning. cant wait to get the berries in there in.
 
motleybrews said:
when i plug the hop schedule into beersmith 2, i get close to 50 ibus. might be doing something wrong. any advice?

Did you have the centennial addition set as first wort hop? Also have you adjusted the AA%?
 
azscoob said:
Did you have the centennial addition set as first wort hop? Also have you adjusted the AA%?

Figured it out. I had a box checked that shouldn't have been. Brewed this up today. It's gonna sit in primary for 2 weeks before I put it on the berries. Never used sorachi ace before, or FWH, or whole leaf so it was a beer of firsts. My LHBS only had pellet sorachi, but did use whole leaf centennial.

Also, I've got it in Blonde Ale category (light hybrid). Is that pretty accurate? All the numbers were perfect for Blonde Ale. Never brewed a fruit beer before, and this is the lightest SRM beer I've brewed also.
 
motleybrews said:
Figured it out. I had a box checked that shouldn't have been. Brewed this up today. It's gonna sit in primary for 2 weeks before I put it on the berries. Never used sorachi ace before, or FWH, or whole leaf so it was a beer of firsts. My LHBS only had pellet sorachi, but did use whole leaf centennial.

Also, I've got it in Blonde Ale category (light hybrid). Is that pretty accurate? All the numbers were perfect for Blonde Ale. Never brewed a fruit beer before, and this is the lightest SRM beer I've brewed also.

Yes, light hybrid is a correct base category for this beer.

Hope you enjoy this beer as much as I do!
 
by all accounts so far, it looks like it is going to be great. fermentation started within 3-4 hours of pitching the yeast (used Safale as in the original). Didn't rehydrate or make a starter, so it is doing very well.

During the boil, after I added the first addition of Sorachi Ace, i SWEAR i smelled hints of blueberries. And it happened each time I threw in more Sorachi. could be my mind playing tricks on me, but I'm super stoked.

Like I said, due to going out of town this weekend, and having a few beers ready to be transferred to different vessels when I get back, I'm going to let it sit for 2 weeks in primary. Maybe even longer. I always hate to take a beer off the yeast. This will be my first TRUE secondary. I've moved things to secondary to free up space before, but never racked onto fruit or anything.
 
motleybrews said:
by all accounts so far, it looks like it is going to be great. fermentation started within 3-4 hours of pitching the yeast (used Safale as in the original). Didn't rehydrate or make a starter, so it is doing very well.

During the boil, after I added the first addition of Sorachi Ace, i SWEAR i smelled hints of blueberries. And it happened each time I threw in more Sorachi. could be my mind playing tricks on me, but I'm super stoked.

Like I said, due to going out of town this weekend, and having a few beers ready to be transferred to different vessels when I get back, I'm going to let it sit for 2 weeks in primary. Maybe even longer. I always hate to take a beer off the yeast. This will be my first TRUE secondary. I've moved things to secondary to free up space before, but never racked onto fruit or anything.

There is a nice tropical fruit note to it, as well as the lemon. Sorachi ace is a favorite hop in the summer months for just that reason
 
anyone have a picture of a finished pint?

I ended up transferring to secondary tonight. i basically pureed the fruit, but left quite a bit in tact as well. i heated the mixture to about 180 stirring the whole time. it was a long process, but didn't want to risk it. figured 180 was enough to kill any natural yeasties, but not cook or bring out the pectin.

now to decide which keg i want to finish. porter or vanilla oatmeal stout......
 
motleybrews said:
anyone have a picture of a finished pint?

I ended up transferring to secondary tonight. i basically pureed the fruit, but left quite a bit in tact as well. i heated the mixture to about 180 stirring the whole time. it was a long process, but didn't want to risk it. figured 180 was enough to kill any natural yeasties, but not cook or bring out the pectin.

now to decide which keg i want to finish. porter or vanilla oatmeal stout......

180 I believe is hot enough to set the pectin, not positive though.
 
that 180 number was given to me by the LHBS owner. he uses fruit all the time in meads and beers. he and a few other investors are opening up a brewery/taproom here and one of the first beers is going to involve blueberries, so I figured I'd try it his way.

interested to see how this turns out. Like I said, I've never used fruit, and this seemed like a beer that non beer drinkers would like, and non fruit beer drinkers (me) would like as well.

any pics?
 
i just kegged this recipe but with different fermentaion times. It was very hard racking into the keg even with a sterilized panty hose banded to my siphoner to help filter. with that being said the beer was very good flat. Not the most blueberry taste in the world but it is there and is balanced pretty well with nothing overwhelming the other. I also lost a gallon or so of beer due to berry absorbtion. im happy with the outcome thanks for the recipe. this beer will go very fast. This was my first fruit so didnt know what to expect.
 
Tomorrow marks 2 weeks on the berries. Going to taste it for the first time (tasted the base beer when I was racking onto the berries...turned out wonderful) and either leave it on the berries, or move it to a third vessel.

Have to bottle some beers for a competition, so should have keg space soon
 
GGGsPorter said:
That's a great idea! :mug: I'm thinking of brewing this next week. How much did you pour into 5 gallons? How was the flavor? Did it turn the beer blue at all?

5 pounds of puréed blueberries came out to a half gallon of chunky blueberry soup, so I'd say you'd need half gallon.
 
Back
Top