Adding Blackberries to Secondary

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HossTheGreat

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So I have a 5 gallon batch of Blonde Ale that I'm planning on kegging half as is, then taking the remaining half and adding blackberries. I'll rack half to keg and then rack the second half onto the blackberries in a secondary. I'll be using frozen blackberries, so my question is how much should I add? I have a 2lb bag. Is that too much too little?
 
Last batch of fruit beer I made used 3 lbs of fresh blackberries for 5 gallons, though drinking it now it could have used a little bit more. I think 2lb should work out well for 2.5 gallons. Just be sure they're properly thawed, crushed, and campdenized and whatnot...
 
I don't know if there is a recommended ratio for fruit lbs/gallon. I would say use more. I have done 1:1. If I did it again, I would try 2:1. Though, I don't know if how much more taste you would get.
 
I am conditioning a Blackberry Brown I did about a month and a half ago. I put about 1 1/2 lbs. of fresh blackberries straight into the primary after high krausen and let it sit for about two weeks - I do not use a secondary. My base was a sweet brown as I figured the added blackberries would jump the ABV and dry the finish out.

I popped the first bottle up last weeked to see how it was coming along - three weeks in the bottle. I thought it had a nice hint of blackberries in the aroma - but it tasted more like a wine than a beer :) I am hopeful aging will mellow that out a bit.

I would worry 2+ pounds would exacerbate this problem. But I would like a bit more blackberry taste. Maybe an extract?
 
I popped the first bottle up last weeked to see how it was coming along - three weeks in the bottle. I thought it had a nice hint of blackberries in the aroma - but it tasted more like a wine than a beer :) I am hopeful aging will mellow that out a bit.

I made a cherry wheat about 5 months back. Early on, it tasted like wine, but a couple months later it did mellow out and tasted fantastic! give it a little more time.
 
Allright, I just bottled my second Balckberry Ale tonight/this morning (About midnight). For my first attempt (April '09) I uesd fresh blackberies that I froze, thawed and then pureed and added to secondary. It was a hit with evryone that sampled it, I took great notes, however when it comes to fruit, of course, the fruit itself has a huge impact on flavor. The brew I bottled tonight was an Oregon Fruit (canned) experiment, to see what the flavor difference is. I can say that this new batch in particular (Oregon Fruit) had a much better color, more plum/raisin rather than brown-ish like the first batch, but it will be at least 2-3 months to have an accurate flavor deermination.

Tasting of the fresh fruit was much more tart than the canned. I think fresh is the way to go, but I am making an assumption as I have some time before I have the chance to taste the canned fruit version.

If you are interested in my "technique" PM me, I wll be more than happy to give you any info/advice I have.

Like I stated, I have been successful with my blackberry fruit attempts, and I must say I was very surprised and satisfied with my 1st attempt,as were others.
 
Well, last night I took tha bag of thawed frozen blackberries and smashed them up. I then dumped them straight into the secondary carboy. Taking the advice from many other posts around here, I didn't bother pasteruizing them. It ended up being about 2.75 gallons of beer racked onto 2lbs of blackberries.

Next question. How long would you all let it sit on the fruit? I was thinking a couple of weeks and then either transfer to a 3rd carboy to clear or just bottling it and let it bottle condition for several weeks. Any suggestions? Thanks for all of the input thus far.
 
Let it sit on the fruit for at least 10 days and either rack to tertiary or use some filtration device, I placed a hop bag over the end of the the siphon hose this past Saturday for my second fruit beer attempt and it worked out great.

I think that the fruit beers should definitley be conditioned for about 6 weeks, definitely try one at about 3 weeks, but I think that the fruit flavors really start to become apparent after about 6 weeks. I have a couple of 22 oz'ers that I am going to condition for a year before drinking, and compare the flavor to the last one I drank which was a little over 2 months in the bottle.

Good luck!:mug:
 
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