Blue Berry Wheat Bottled

I finally bottled my blueberry wheat beer last night. The color is close to this color . It is somewhat cloudy but will clear a bit once in the bottle for 3 weeks or so. It tasted fantastic.

What facinated me was that the 2#s of blueberries dropped the SG level another 4 points. I went from 4.8 to 5.2 abv. I posted the recipe below. It still taste a bit green but the flavors are there and should get better with age.

Since I never bottled b4 I have a few questions:

The process (using 12oz bottles) took me almost 3.5 hours - is this normal or will it get quicker with time?

I produced a50 bottle yield - is this usual for 5 gals?

I think that my tubing was too long from the bottling bucket to the filler. How long should the tube usually be?

Danegeld - Am. Blueberry Wheat
American Wheat Ale


Type: All Grain

Date: 5/25/2007
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.09 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Notes: Danegeld was what the English paid the Vikings between the 9th and 11th centuries.

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 50%
5.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 50 %
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.90%] (60 min) Hops 14.8 IBU
0.75 oz Northern Brewer [8.90%] (15 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
2.00 lb Fresh Blueberries (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.002 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.2 %
Bitterness: 25.8 IBU
Calories: 179 cal/pint

Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 10 lb
Sparge Water: 4.26 gal
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Mash PH: 5.2 PH
Mash In Add 14 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min

Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Volumes of CO2: 2.5
Pressure/Weight: 5.0 oz
Carbonation Used: Sucrose
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 72.0 F
Age for: 21.0 days
Storage Temperature: 62.0 F

Notes

Mash with 3.5 Gallons of Water to the 10 lbs of grain.
Sparge with 4.5 Gallons of Water to the 10 lbs of grain.
Place berries in secondary at 7 days. Rack on top. Let sit on berries for 21 days, bottle and let age for additional 21 days.
Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.



- WW

Since I never bottled b4 I have a few questionsThe process (using 12oz bottles) took me almost 3.5 hours - is this normal or will it get quicker with time

Click to expand...

Depends on my mood and wether or not I have any help. This is a bit long, but not unreasonable.


50 bottles is excellent yield for a 5 gallon batch.

I

think that my tubing was too long from the bottling bucket to the filler. How long should the tube usually be?

Click to expand...

I attach the bottle wand directly to the spigot, so no tubing at all.


Sounds like everything went well, enjoy.

Flyin' Lion said:

Depends on my mood and wether or not I have any help. This is a bit long, but not unreasonable.

Code:

I produced a50 bottle yield - is this usual for 5 gals?

50 bottles is excellent yield for a 5 gallon batch.

I I attach the bottle wand directly to the spigot, so no tubing at all.


Sounds like everything went well, enjoy.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I thought of doing that but was not sure if ti would work. I assume that you then just work the bottle not the wand. I will have to give it a go next time.

Thanks for the advice!

- WW

first, that sounds like an interesting beer!

I can prep, bottle, and clean up afterwards, in like 90 minutes tops. My wife does help by handing me bottles and then capping them after I fill.
Using a good no-rinse sanitizer for the bottles, and having a bottle tree for draining the bottles are both key to easy bottling.

My bottling hose is also my siphon hose. I think I have 5-6 feet. Make sure you have a bottling wand too...I prefer the ones that aren't spring loaded valves.

make sure your bottling bucket is up on a high counter, and you can move away from it a little so the hose stays un-coiled, or do what I do and run it behind your neck and over your shoulder (only works well if someone else is handing you bottles). also the spigot on the bucket BARELY needs to be open to let more than enough flow-thru. when I crank mine open fully, the bottles fill with a lot of splashing...not what you want.

all in all though, I think 3.5 hours for a first time bottling is reasonable. the more you do it, the more 'routine' it becomes which'll speed up the process.

do you normally keg? all your recipe info is so...precise and exact, you don't sound like a newbie brewer...yet you've never bottled til now either. most people bottle first, keg second. however now that i've started kegging, I'll rarely bottle again

I have been brewing for years and inherited some kegs from a family member which got me started in brewing. I am in the gas business so I was familiar with applications. So I kegged first, and second, and third.... and forever. Lately I remembered having my first homebrew. It was an expeirence I will never forget. The sound of the plain brown bottle opening.. "pssssssssst!" The smell of fresh hops and malt. The glug glug from the bottle into a tall glass. I missed that and thus I wanted to try to bottle. 15 years later and viola. I was intimidated by bottling and the bacteria that could get in the beer from syphoning from one to another etc... I ma annally clean with everything I do I think this is why it took me 3.5 hours too. I did not mind it was fun and was a new experience. I just scored 4 cases of 22oz bottles for 2 bucks this past weekend. My next batch is going to be bottled in those. I used 50 12 oz bottles last night.

Thanks for the tips. I will definately incorporate them into my design.

- WW

A little more advice, I clean and fill my primary fermentor with sanitizer after transferring to the bottling bucket. I then fill (from the spigot) the bottle with a little sanitizer, swish around and pour out, trying to coat the inside. This is my method to get the bottle sanitized quickly and then immediately filled with beer, and thereby avoiding contamination.

If the bulk of your time is spent cleaning, you might consider this option.