Huckleberry Beer is Tart

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.

bfeucht

Active Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
31
Reaction score
1
Location
Seattle, WA
I did a huckleberry beer late summer this year. I used northern brewers cream ale (extract) as a base and tossed in about 3 pints of macerated huckleberries into my secondary for during week two of fermentation. I kegged and bottled the beer after fermentation had stopped and let her age. I've popped open a bottle about once a month to check on it. At first it was just yeasty, but the last bottle I opened up last weekend (month 3) the yeast profile was gone.

What I was am currently sitting on is purple cream ale with a hint of huckleberry. The beer is fairly dry, however the tartness and acidity of the huckleberries is there in full force. There is also the possibility the tartness is from infection too.

So the question I have is what to do?

I don't have a problem with sitting on this baby for a few more months. I have a couple kegs to spare and a couple more taster bottles. My concern is the bottle I had last weekend gave everyone who tried it almost instant heartburn. If I tap the keg now it'll sit in the keggerator until it goes bad.

I ponder throwing in a camden tablet and then a frozen apple juice concentrate. I'm sure the girls and the girlish boys will love it, but that seems like almost giving up.

Anyone else try doing a wild huckleberry beer before?
 
I back sweetened a bottle in the glass this weekend and the beer got a thumbs up from swmbo. I have to say it was pretty damn good and I'm usually not the biggest fan of fruit beers.

I'm now trying to decide how to back sweeten my keg. Lactose isn't an option, so I've been reading lots of thread about the alternatives. I'm leaning towards either an artificial sweetener or corn sugar. I run my kreezer at 42 so additional fermentation worries me a little, but so does odd flavors from the artificials. I think the next step is to open another taster and do another taste test. Once I decide what another open another taster to figure out how much.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top