Rasberry wheat changed to Blackberry wheat

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Tlylebrew

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Went with your standard wheat beer receipe and was going to add some raspberry extract, but during the primary phase I have had a bumper crop of blackberries ripen up. I have collected a little over 3.5# so far. Was wondering what anyones opinion was on the quantity of blackberries needed for a good blackberry wheat. I have done the obligitory search but haven't seen any recipes come up.

Also, my plan is to take my frozen blackberries and pasterize them at 170 degrees for about 15 minutes then add them to secondary. Two questions with this:

1. I am debating on whether to put them in a sack in the secondary or just dump them in.

2. How long should I let the beer sit on the fruit?
 
Just wanted to add that I have found some blackberry recipes, but most of them were to add the blackberries at the end of boil. Obviously I wasn't able to do this.
 
When I use real fruit I typically use 5# of fruit in a 5 gallon batch. This seems to give a nice hint of fruit without overpowering the beer. I rack the beer onto the fruit in the secondary and let it sit for 7-10 days. Make sure you have plenty of room in the secondary because fermentation will most definitely start up again. I made a cherry wheat and racked into a 5 gallon glass carboy. I had to attach a blow off tube within hours.
 
Thanks for the tips!! I have read about the beer starting fermentation again because of the sugars in the fruit. 5#'s though ehhh? Guess I better get picking more berries. I'll use one of my 7.5 gallon buckets for that. How did you go about making sure it was sanitized enough to put in the beer? I was just planning on putting them in a big pot and heating them to 170° for 15 minutes or so. Is this enough?
 
That should be plenty of time. I think I'm usually in the 165 degrees for around the 10-15 minute mark. The alcohol content in secondary is usually high enough that not much can survive in it. I've heard a lot of people worry about leaving the fruit on the heat for too long and setting the pectin in the fruit. This will cause the beer to be cloudy but, that's kind of what you're looking for in a wheat anyway :mug:
 
Well I now have around 4.8 # of blackberries sitting in the freezer. PLan on thawing, pasterurizing and tranfering to secondary tomorrow. Wish me luck!!
 
Added the berries in a bag to the bucket last night. Racked the beer on top and it looked like blood soup!! Yummy! Sampled a small taste and it was good already. I am assuming the color is going to change, hope the taste doesn't.
 
Amazing, the blackberries on my property just started blooming this week. The flavor will change as the fructose ferments, but it's good both ways.

A pound per gallon is good for beer or cider. 3-5 lbs per for wine. I had so many blackberries last year, I made wine (20 lbs), cider (7 lbs) and froze another 15 lbs. Made a cobbler last week.
 
I miss the fresh fruit growing wild back east, here I only have 2 key lime trees, and a big ole' fig tree. I hope your beer turns out great! gotta buy a few lbs of blackberries and freeze them, maybe make a blackberry/fig barleywine for christmas.
 
I don't have near that many plants on my small little piece of land, but just getting what I got I consider myself fortunate. The birds seem to like them as much as I do.
 
I had considered doing this with my wheat I just brewed...considering I picked about a pound of blackberries while on a trip to the TN mountains over the holiday weekend. I have a wheat batch 4 1/2 days into its primary fermentation. Initially I planned on making a blueberry wheat for the SWMBO - who got hooked on Sebago Brewery's (Portland, ME) Blueberry beer 2 months ago.

I'm still probably going to purchase 3# of blueberry puree from the LHBS and rack directly onto it this coming Sunday.
 
Cool let us know how it turns out. I'll be posting some taste test results once I get it out of secondary and into a keg..
 
i'd love to hear how this turns out. i think i have about a week left before my blackberry source starts up.
 
I'll definitely let you guys know - though I've been told that the secondary fermentation should last anywhere between 12-14 days. Then it'll be close to 2 1/2 weeks in the keg before it'll be ready to go.

To quote Inigo Montoya: "I hate waiting."

Though it will be nice to have a decent wheat beer to enjoy in the heat of August in Tallahassee, FL
 
Well after 10 days I racked it too a keg and sampled a little bit. The Fruit is way overpowering. When I was racking it, it looked like I was giving someone a blood transfussion it was so red.
I think I basically made a winecooler. The SWMBO loved it. So either way I know it will get drank. I am going to reserve judgement until it is carbed up. That should be in a week or two. I'll report back.
 
I think if I do this again I will go about 2.5# of fruit, and only have it in secondary for seven days instead of 10.
 
I just racked onto 3 lbs of blueberry puree I got from the LHBS last night. Prior to, the primary fermentation phase had stalled at 1.018 after an OG of 1.053. So it's currently sitting right around where I was hoping at 4.6% ABV (this is for the SWMBO) and the sample tasted great even without the blueberry additive.

When I woke this morning and checked on the secondary fermentation, a fresh layer of krauzen was starting to form. I don't know what to expect - so I left just a standard airlock on it...I'll be checking at lunch to see if I need a blowoff, but I don't think that'll be necessary. I'll keep you guys up to date.

As an FYI, here's the ingredients I used/brewing instructions:

7 lbs Wheat LME
1/2 lb Carapils, 1/2 lb Carahell (crystal 10) at 150 for 30 mins
.5 oz 8.9% Northern Brewer @ 35 min
.5 oz 8.9% Northern Brewer @ 5 min
WLP008 East Coast Ale yeast
Primary at 65 for 15 days
Secondary on top of 3lbs blueberry puree for 7 days

For aesthetic purposes, I'm planning on serving the SWMBO her first pour with 10-15 blueberries at the bottom of the glass.
 
When I made my blueberry blonde I bottled it and didn't actually get around to drinking it for a few months. The blueberry flavor was a lot stronger at bottling time than when I actually drank it from the bottle. Maybe if you give it some time in the keg the flavor will settle a little.
 
That is my hope, but it really is red. I've made two different fruit beers prior, both with extract, and while the fruit definately mellowed with age, I question this one.

With the others it still tasted like beer, just the fruit was a bit stronger then I liked. This one I can only taste fruit, and the fact it looks like koolaide doesn't help it either.

But as I said before I will wait till it carbs up to reserve complete judgement.
 
Update: After force carbing and letting it sit for a few days, I took a growler too a party to try it out. It still looks like wine, and the head looks like Pepto-bismol in color.

The taste is strong berry flavor, with barely a hint of beer on the end. Some sourness at the end too. I will say everyone who tried it at the party liked it, but it is really not my cup of tea, or beer for that matter. Next year when the blackberries come in I will probably do it again, but probably with a half pound of fruit per gallon and only let it sit on the fruit for seven days. We will see how that turns out.
 
Just an update on the below batch. I pulled a sample today and it dropped down from 1.018 to 1.014 in a matter of 4 1/2 days. No blowoff necessary for secondary fermentation, but there's still a thin layer of krauzen on top. Sample tasted great - not overpowering with the blueberry flavor. I'm still planning on kegging this sucker on Thursday - so I'm sampling each day to see if she's ready.

I tell ya, if you want to do a beer with fruit, blueberry may be the best fruit to use - the taste is so subtle and the puree I used wasn't completely loaded in sugar. Also, if you're not looking for a sour-beer, you won't really get it with blueberry.

I just racked onto 3 lbs of blueberry puree I got from the LHBS last night. Prior to, the primary fermentation phase had stalled at 1.018 after an OG of 1.053. So it's currently sitting right around where I was hoping at 4.6% ABV (this is for the SWMBO) and the sample tasted great even without the blueberry additive.

When I woke this morning and checked on the secondary fermentation, a fresh layer of krauzen was starting to form. I don't know what to expect - so I left just a standard airlock on it...I'll be checking at lunch to see if I need a blowoff, but I don't think that'll be necessary. I'll keep you guys up to date.

As an FYI, here's the ingredients I used/brewing instructions:

7 lbs Wheat LME
1/2 lb Carapils, 1/2 lb Carahell (crystal 10) at 150 for 30 mins
.5 oz 8.9% Northern Brewer @ 35 min
.5 oz 8.9% Northern Brewer @ 5 min
WLP008 East Coast Ale yeast
Primary at 65 for 15 days
Secondary on top of 3lbs blueberry puree for 7 days

For aesthetic purposes, I'm planning on serving the SWMBO her first pour with 10-15 blueberries at the bottom of the glass.
 
I used Safale US-05. For the record it was a good tasting wheat from the hydro sample I tasted.
 
Figure I would post the recipe for the wheat I made.. I would give credit, but can't remember where I found it, very possible on these same forums.

Three changes I made, were the Safale US-05, I did not add the irish moss, because in my opinion wheats should be cloudy, and I used real blackberries instead of raspberry extract.

9 oz. 40L Crystal Malt
3.75 lb. M&F Extra Light DME
1 lb. M&F Wheat DME
4 oz Malto Dextrin
¼ oz Northern Brewer (10%AA) (bittering)
1 oz Fuggles (Flavor)
1tsp. Irish Moss
½ oz Fuggles (Aroma)
Wyeast 1028 London Ale / 1056 American Ale
4 oz natural clear Raspberry Flavoring (clear maintains straw color)
 
The blueberry wheat update:

She's been hovering around 1.014 for a few days now - I'm giving her until tomorrow night and then I'm kegging. The sample tastes awesome - something completely different than what I've brewed in the past.
 
The strange thing I ecountered is that my FG was lower before I added the fruit. Must be all the sugars in the fruit did not ferment. My FG before fruit was 1.010, it ended up 1.012 after the fruit.
 
That is odd. Mine dropped 4 points after I added the blueberry puree. When did you rack to secondary? I did mine after 10 days and I made sure I got at least a little bit of the yeast slurry at the bottom into the secondary just in case there wasn't all that much in suspension.
 
It sat on the fruit for exactly 10 days. It definately restarted fermentation, but my guess is it either didn't ferment all the sugar, or the fact that the fruit added color, body, etc. . upped the gravity, but I really have no idea I am just guessing. Either that or my first reading was incorrect.
 
That might be the case...I know I've done it before. I couldn't wait until tomorrow so I kegged the blueberry wheat this evening. I'll post a picture of my pint whenever carbonation sets in. Probably about a week to a week and a half.
 
I was one who sampled it at the party. I really doesn't taste a bit like beer :) It reminded me a lot flavor wise of say a flavored water or something like that. Very faint fruit taste and not much else. No hops, no malt. It was actually pretty refreshing though. I wouldn't have realized I was drinking anything alcoholic if I hadn't already known. I think the wives will enjoy it.
 
No picture, but I will update the group. The blueberry wheat has actually been quite the crowd pleaser. 1 oz of Northern Brewer hops matched with 3 lbs of blueberry puree makes this a well-balanced wheat beer. Let me know if you want the (extract) recipe.
 
Now that I think about it Tlylebrew, I never did ask what your wheat recipe was, in particular, how many ounces or hops you were using. If you didn't use enough bittering hops to balance out the sweetness of the fruit you could definitely end up with a wine cooler. Although, it's not bad to have this on hand for the ladies. Sounds like it doesn't have a strong alcohol taste but I bet it's stronger than any wine cooler they've ever had:drunk:
 
I would say it has a bit of a kick, but I am definately used to drinking higher gravity brews, so this one is a sipper for me. I do think a bit more hops would of benefited this beer, and less fruit.
 
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