American Pale Ale question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

rs3902

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 30, 2011
Messages
52
Reaction score
4
Location
ocean city
Hey,
I'm pretty new to brewing, I've only made a few beers so far, but in my opinion they've turned out pretty good!
For my next brew I was thinking of making a blueberry pale ale. I couldn't really find a good, detailed recipe, so i was thinking of picking up the Brewers best American pale ale kit and just adding blueberries in a secondary fermentor.
Does this sound like something that would work or am I totally off base?
If it does sound good, how many blueberries should I use? I've heard 1-2 pounds per gallon, but I'm not sure.

Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks
 
I'd use only 2-3lbs of blueberries myself. I like the flavor on the back,& not real sweet. Tart fruit flavor comes out better to the taste. Sweet tends to bury the other flavors,imo.
 
Thanks for the tip, but do you mean 2-3 pounds total for the 5 gallon batch, or 2-3 pounds per gallon?
Other than that do you think just adding to the recipe from the kit will work?
And how about preparing the blueberries; washing crushing, etc?
Thanks again
 
Sorry, its my first post, I didn't know the etiquette. My question just seem to fit under all those categories
 
I'm betting the previous poster meant 2-3lbs for a 5-gallon batch. Typical fruit additions tend to be somewhere between .5-1lb per gallon, depending on the fruit. For blueberries, 3lbs seems reasonable to me. You'll definitely get a good blueberry hit. Are you planning on using fresh or frozen?
 
Thanks, I was planning on using fresh berries. Is there any special way I should prepare them?
 
You might want to consider frozen berries instead. I prefer those simply because they're less likely to carry infection, and sanitizing 4-5lbs of berries can be troublesome. That said, if you want to go ahead with fresh, I'd just lightly crush them before racking onto them to get the juices flowing a bit.
 
Back
Top