My yard is full of potential blackberries!

Thanks to my complete lack of landscaping there are a couple acres here that are covered in briars and little white flowers that will be turning into blackberries soon.

SO... what beer should I put them in?
So far I'm thinking about a hefe and an american wheat...

any other ideas or recipes?

Wheat beer seems like a good choice but sort of "normal" for fruit. I've always wanted to try a tart berry holiday ale. Spice it up a bit with cinnamon and clove and I bet you could make a hell of a brew. If you've got enough berries why not experiment!

Definietly blackberry wheat!

Here's an extract recipe that I've used before - note that I used way less blackberrys since they cost around 3.99/half pint when I did the recipe.

Fermentables
6.6 lbs Wheat extract
.5 lbsAmber Dry Malt Extract
2 cupsCarapils
3.5 quartsFROZEN blackberries added at knockout

Hops
1.5 ozHallatter hops (bittering)
.5 Saazhops (finishing)
1 tspIrish moss
YeastWyeast #3056 and 1 quart starter

Bopper said:

Definietly blackberry wheat!

Here's an extract recipe that I've used before - note that I used way less blackberrys since they cost around 3.99/half pint when I did the recipe.

*snip*

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How did that recipe turn out?

dukeredhair said:

Wheat beer seems like a good choice but sort of "normal" for fruit. I've always wanted to try a tart berry holiday ale. Spice it up a bit with cinnamon and clove and I bet you could make a hell of a brew. If you've got enough berries why not experiment!

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that does sound interesting... I'm sure i'll end up with a freezer full of 'em so I might try that when i start putting together my winter brews

jacob1484 said:

How did that recipe turn out?

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Turned out very well. Definitely a crowd pleaser. I think using the recommended amount of blackberries would be too much. Suggest cutting the amount blackberries in half. Then agian, I like fruit beers more subtle.

Blackberry cider and blackberry wine.

How does adding fruit at knockout compare to adding the fruit into a secondary as far as amount of fruit needed and impact on taste?

jacob1484 said:

Thanks to my complete lack of landscaping there are a couple acres here that are covered in briars and little white flowers that will be turning into blackberries soon.

SO... what beer should I put them in?
So far I'm thinking about a hefe and an american wheat...

any other ideas or recipes?

Click to expand...

Blackberry mead. nom nom nom.

what about a blackberry stout?

I just brewed a blackberry wheat last weekend with berries from our bush. I got about 7# last year from one plant. I used just under a pound and a half at flame outfor 20 minutes and plan on adding 5-6.6# in the secondary, depending on the flavor while racking. This year i plan to plant some blueberry bushes in the back yard. I hope we have another good year.
tom

bosco_NJ said:

what about a blackberry stout?

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That was my first inclination.

+1 on the blackberry mead

I brewed a blackberry wheat recently and it was a huge hit. I used 3lbs frozen blackberries in a paint strainer bag and crushed them into the wort as it chilled and the berries thawed.

bosco_NJ said:

what about a blackberry stout?

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that sounds like a great idea... maybe even a porter...
mmmmmmmmm... if I brew everything I want to I'm going to end up with 30 gallons of blackberry beer...

I make blackberry jam every year and last year I added a jar of it to the secondary of a wheat. It was great, and of course the jam had a ton of granulated sugar and added pectin in it but it didnt affect a wheat. Remember that blackberries have a lot of natural pectins in them so if you boil them you will definitely not get a very clear beer. For a wit thats great but for anything else you might want to use campden tablets to sterilize. Also, make sure you use a hop bag to add the berries, there are a ton of seeds in them and wild berries are a bit more tart than store-bought blackberries. For me, I love the tartness of natural berries so thats no problem for me but you might not want that tartness in your beer. Also, I have found that if you add a little OJ or Lemon Juice to the crushed berries and leave them in the fridge overnight, you get more of a full and rounded flavor. The lower pH helps bring out some great flavors from the berries that everyone just loves in my jam and everyone loved how well rounded my blackberry wit flavor was.
Jam Recipe:
1cup of sugar per cup of blackberries
1-2 tbsp of table sugar
1/4 Cup of Orange juice

If you're worried about the pectin, just use some pectic enzyme like wine and mead makers do.

Three years in a row I've had plans to do something with blackberries and beer and I haven't.

I think a blackberry stout or porter would be the way to go.

Blackberry imperial stout or blackberry barleywine, and let it age a bit.

Has anyone experimented with various fruits in a saison? I know that's not exactly true to style.

Handle said:

Has anyone experimented with various fruits in a saison? I know that's not exactly true to style.

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yes.
It rocks. :rockin:

You could also infuse a vodka with the berries.