adding fruit

I am going to brew my first wheat beer soon. I have around five #s of fresh blueberries and I was going to add them to the brew. I dont know if I should add them to the primary or secondary or maybe a little of both. I heard some where that 1 pound per gallon was a decent ratio. If anyone has any suggestions I would be greatful.

i would first pasteurize them. soaking in 170+F water for 15 - 20 minutes or so should do it. then put them in a sanitized hop bag. they can get mushy after a few days and can be a pain to clean up. also add some Pectic enzyme to your brew. this will maximize the usage of your berries and prevent haze caused by the fruit.

Try some in both primary and secondary, But for primary give it a go without a hop bag, just let the wort sit on-top of the pasteurized fruit, use a bag for the secondary as as a fore mentioned yeah it will get messy and best to keep them contained for your final racking purposes. What recipe are you using for your wheat? Are you going to give any other fruit a crack? orange peal or coriander in the boil?

I was not planning on adding any corriander or orange peal. I found a recipe for american wheat and thought about tweaking it a little. Do you think It would mesh better with a belgian style wit.

(p.s. my neighbor accidenly been using my account lol) he'll be back on soon, maybe under his own account

I would go with only adding them to the secondary, and I would also suggest using a campden tablet in water to sanitze them, or forgoe the sanitization and wash them really well. If you choose to pasturize the berries @ 170º you will have pectin haze issues, so if you want a clear beer you will have to use pectin enzyme to remove the haze.

If you are adding them to the secondary there is a good chance that an infection will not occur due to the alcohol already produced during primary fermentation, and you will have a true secondary fermentation from the sugars in the fruit so the yeasties will normally out-compete any nasties that may be in there, however, there is always a possibility of infection.

No matter what you decide be sure to freeze your fruit and thaw it at least once, this will help to break the cell walls in the fruit allowing the yeast easier access to the natural sugars available.

FWIW, I brewed a blackberry ale a couple of months ago, and it turned out spectacular. I did not bother with sanitizing the fruit, I rinsed the berries very well under cool running water in a collander, I allowed them to completely dry, I than placed them into ziploc freezer bags and placed them into the freezer. I thawed them (I only thawed them once, but I want to try and freeze/thaw twice next time), I then pureed the berries in the Cuisinart before adding them to the secondary on racking day.

This beer turned out to be a hit among friends, I would also plan on allowing the beer to condition about twice as long as usual ~6weeks, fresh fruit adds a little sour flavor until it begins to meld and mellow a bit.

Brew on, Brew strong