Blackberries in keg or primary?

I have 5 pounds of blackberries. Can I put them directly in the keg? I wonder what it will do to the final gravity. Should I put them in the primary to ferment some? Need advice...thx

I normally use a secondary when aging on fruit. I did a wheat last year on berries, aged half for 2 weeks and half for a month. The longer aging helped a lot. I would not put them in the keg unless you like clogged dip tunes.

What it will do is clog the tube. Put them in the primary and run the beer through a sanitized nylon into the keg. Those little fibers on the berries can form mats and clog the tube just as well as the seeds or skin. I have a keg with a screen on the tube that I use for berried beers or ciders.

somedudefromguam said:

I have 5 pounds of blackberries. Can I put them directly in the keg? I wonder what it will do to the final gravity. Should I put them in the primary to ferment some? Need advice...thx

Click to expand...

5# is alot of berries. I used three pounds in secondary and the flavor was overwhelming. Aging helped out quite a bit. Several months before it was palatable. How about some cobbler?

maddad said:

5# is alot of berries. I used three pounds in secondary and the flavor was overwhelming. Aging helped out quite a bit. Several months before it was palatable. How about some cobbler?

Click to expand...

in 5 gallons?

somedudefromguam said:

in 5 gallons?

Click to expand...

Yes, five gallons. It was a porter. I'll admit that after it aged for awhile, I was quite impressed. If you add 5# all at once, you are stuck with the results. I would advise transferring to secondary and add berries to taste. Shooting from the hip will mean either hit or miss. Most often times, I've missed.