Blueberry Pale Ale?????

Has anyone ever infused a fruit with a pale ale? Im asking because most beers that Ive seen with fruit are wheat beers. Cherry Wheat, Sweetwater Blue for example. I dont like wheat beers so much, with the exception of Spotted Cow. APA's and IPA's are my favorite. I was thinking about brewing a simple APA recipe, and when I rack to secondary putting blueberries in while its in secondary. Would this be advisable?

Nope. I think you are the first person to ever think of that.





Seriously, yes. It's been done and can be quite tasty. Use LOTS of blueberries (I don't recall the recommended amount). Use a low hopping rate, preferably something fruity. In this time of hops shortages, I note that the French Strisselspalt is still available and it sounds like it might be a good option for a blueberry ale.

Cheers!

I have done a few blueberry wheat and they are the favorite of my friends. I have been using 2oz of blueberry extract at bottling and it gives just a hint a blueberry without over powering the beer. I would think it would be the same for a pale.

It can certainly be done. Keep the hopping and ABV at the low end of the style and use fruity hops. Bullion might be a good choice, it has a strong black currant aroma. Stay away from the citrus hops, they will overwhelm blueberry, even in small quantities. Don't dry hop, either.

The berries should go in the secondary. I'd start around a pound per gallon and frozen berries will produce the most flavor. Let them ferment out and check the flavor.

Don't be afraid of using extracts either, big time homebrewers like Mike McDole use it at bottling time, so they can dial in the amount of flavor they want. He usually makes his beers normally, all the way through fermentation, and then takes samples and bit by bit adds extract to see how much flavor he wants. If you use fresh berries its harder to tell how much flavor you'll have, and you run the risk of infecting your batch with a wild yeast that might be on the berry. They were talking about this on the last episode of the Brewing Network I think.

mike

Just did a blueberry pale ale with blueberry extract snd mosiac hops. Interesting combo. Soft blueberry up front with bitter hop finish. Actually a pretty good brew imo!

I was thinking o adding a little lemon zest to a blueberry ale. I've never made a blueberry ale before my wife loves em so I thought I would give one a try... When baking a blueberry pie I use a hint of lemon zest (not enough to notice it there but without it you would miss it) has anyone here made a blueberry ale with zest just curious