Blueberry Wheat bear gone wrong

I am new to homebrewing and I have made two batches from extract and I wanted to try something a little different. So I got a wheat bear kit and changed it up a bit by pureeing blueberries in the blender and adding them to the boil. That was the only thing that I changed from the directions but my wort never really reached high krausen as there was never any violent bubbling from the airlock. Aside from adding the blueberries, the only thing that I could think that might have gone wrong was that my wort was still too hot when I added the yeast. Is it possible that adding the blueberries was too much or was it more likely the wort was still to hot? Any suggestions on creating a fruity ale or wheat beer from a kit would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What was the OG and what is the SG now? How long has it been?

+ 1 on the last post, hydrometer readings are key here - high krausen and bubbles mean nothing (wait for Revvy to chime in...)

Also, it is my understanding that usually fruit flavours are added in a secondary - by adding it to the boil all the flavours will likely be much less prominent in the beer.

Either way sounds like you have a good brew going and it will probably taste wonderful.

pH...possibly. I would check it with some pH paper and if its too acidic(with blueberries, it most likely is) you can add a few tablets of tums (calcium carbonate) to raise the pH. It works, trust me.

Welcome to HBT, TwoButtonJimmy !

What was temp of wort when pitching yeast? - very important...
80F - too warm, but 105F = dead yeast

temps, gravity readings help us determine your problem - please post if possible.

+1 to everything that's been said thusfar. I currently have a brew from this weekend that still hasn't given me any airlock activity (after about 36 hours) but I'm not fretting. I've heard Revvy far too many time preaching the wonders of patience and gravity readings to worry about my airlock.

As for tips on Fruit Beers, check out this Internet Radio show by Jamil, it has tons of great information on Fruit Beers : The Brewing Network.com - :

The original gravity was 1.48 and the temp was probably about 85. This was just over a week ago. I was going to bottle it this coming weekend and see how it turned out. Thanks a lot for all of the tips!

You know you're on a hobbyist forum when no one points out a typo in the subject of a post; I couldn't bear to ignore it, however.

+1 to the stuff said about. These guys are good and know what they're talking about.

Also, beware the bear. it can be pretty fierce, regardless of the gravity.

Trying to put blueberries in a bear is really difficult and dangerous. First, make sure the bear is really sleepy, better if he's drunk. Next, choose your route of entry. One side is more dangerous, but less likely to piss off the bear. Lastly, insert berries.

Way too soon to bottle.

beerkrump said:

Trying to put blueberries in a bear is really difficult and dangerous. First, make sure the bear is really sleepy, better if he's drunk. Next, choose your route of entry. One side is more dangerous, but less likely to piss off the bear. Lastly, insert berries.

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I love this place!

as mentioned, but not highlighted at the end, you need to take your current gravity. you may have had a stuck fermentation, and i will tell you from experience, it will be far too sweet and not taste good LOL

I'm absolutely NOT an expert on beer brewing yet. However, I just brewed a blueberry wheat yesterday that came in an ingredient kit put together by my local brew shop. Other than the standard ingredients, the recipe called for and came with 1 can of blueberry pie filling which was warmed and added to the fermenter (i.e. not actually brewed). The wort has been in the fermenter for less than 12 hours and is bubbling away through the airlock. The kit also comes with a bottle of that flavoring stuff. It says to only use half of that during racking. Maybe this is helpful. Maybe not.


( : Cheers

corvax13 said:

Also, it is my understanding that usually fruit flavours are added in a secondary - by adding it to the boil all the flavours will likely be much less prominent in the beer.

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+1 also fruit (or any kind of simple sugar) usually are added after primary is complete because the yeast eat up the easily consumable sugars first and then become, well, lazy. so they more complex sugars don't get converted. should still be fine though. take your readings and if you think you need to, you can always add more yeast.