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Mr. P

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Hi all,

I would like to make a beer with a distinct taste and color from berries.

My plan is to make a simple wheat beer with 50 % pilsner malt and 50 % wheat malt. Hop could be Tettnang, 10-15 IBU’s (no aroma hops).

I would then ad a mixture of forest berries (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry etc.) to secondary for a week, rake to tertiary to clear for at week and then bottle.

How many berries would be appropriate to ensure a distinct taste and color from the berries?
How much fermentable sugar would the berries ad?
Other comments?
 
Welcome to the forum Mr. P! It all depends on how much fruit flavor you want to come through. People have added anywhere from 50 grams of fruit puree to 4.5 kilos of cherries into their beer so it just varies according to taste. If you want just a hint of fruit flavor, half a kilo of berries would work fine.

Most people add them to the clearing tank to get more pronounced flavor. Also, if you boil the fruit it will set the pectin and make the beer hazy.
 
Thank you for the welcome (and the metric).

I want a lot of flavor and color to come through. I think I'll try with 2 kilos and see how that turns out.

Any idea how much fermentable sugar this will add?
 
The short answer is; I don't know.

The long answer is; It depends on the type of fruit, and how much of each type you use. I've seen the various values out there somewhere, but it's been ages.

And as for the metric, that's why you should post your location in your profile! Not every American is ugly, you know :p
 
Mr.P

Check out my CherrBerr recipe, in the fruit beer section. I brought a case of this, to a Memorial Day Grill out, and it was a big hit with everybody.
 
Any idea how much fermentable sugar this will add?
http://hbd.org/brewery/library/SugAcid.html

Sugar and Acid Content in Fruit
The following chart comes from The Curious Cook by Harold McGee. The data comes from a chapter on how to make fruit ices, but I think that the information could be of interest to zymologists of all persuasions, although it may be more appropriate for those looking for balance in sugar and acid content for mead or wine making.

Richard Webb ([email protected])
4/25/94

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fruit Sugar Content Acid Content
%of fresh weight %of fresh weight

Lime 1% 5.0%
Avocado 1 0.2
Lemon 2 5.0
Tomato 3 0.5
Cranberry 4 3.0
Red Currant 6 1.8
Grapefruit 6 2.0
Guava 7 0.4
Cantaloupe 7 0.2
Strawberry 7 1.6
Raspberry 7 1.6
Blackberry 8 1.5
Papaya 8 0.1
Apricot 9 1.7
Watermelon 9 0.2
Peach 9 0.4
Black Currant 10 3.2
Pear 10 0.1
Honeydew 10 0.2
Orange 11 1.2
Plum 11 0.6
Blueberry 11 0.3
Gooseberry 11 1.8
Passion Fruit 11 3.0
Prickly Pear 11 0.1
Mango 11 0.5
Pineapple 13 1.1
Pomegranate 13 1.2
Apple 13 0.8
Cherry 14 0.5
Kiwi 14 3.0
Persimmon 14 0.2
Fig 15 0.4
Grape 16 0.2
Banana 17 0.3
Litchi 17 0.3

So for example, 1 kilo of blueberries would contain ~110g of sugar. If you extracted all of that (you won't), you'd add about 2 gravity points to a 23L batch.
 
hi Mr. P,

I did some research into this earlier today, but couldn't post.

Of the recipes that I saw for different fruit beers, on average they used:

2.2kg of raspberries
or
2kg of blackberries
or
3.4kg of blueberries
or
4.4kg of strawberries

in order to get a beer that had a pronounced "berry" flavour (see here : http://beerrecipes.org/findrecipe.php?beerstyle=Fruit Beer) .

Since you're using a mix, and since 66% would in theory be of the type of fruit that might give less flavour (blueberries and strawberries), you may want to adjust to something inbetween the 2.2 and 4.4kg of fruit (how about 3.6kg ?)

You seem to be a pioneer in terms of the mixed berry beer, so please let us know how it comes out :) I'm interested to try this too as I can get frozen mixed berries for low cost locally (I'm in Europe too)..

Cheers,
Awfers
 
Thanks a lot for all the good answers!:D

I think I now have enough information to brew my beer with berries. It won’t be brewed before fall, but I will try to remember to give some feedback, when it is actually brewed.

Best regards
Poul
 
It won’t be brewed before fall, but I will try to remember to give some feedback, when it is actually brewed.

Hi everybody

Fall is long gone and it’s about time to give a little feedback:

I brewed the fruit beer at nov. 30. I ended up brewing a simple wheat beer and then added 3.0 kg / 6.62 lb of mixed berries to secondary for 7 days. The berries consisted of strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackcurrants and red currants (1/6 of each). The berries was frozen, but of course thawed before added to the beer.

The finish beer has a very pronounced smell and taste of the berries. It is hazy like a wheat beer, but has a nice red color. The beer has a lovely, fresh, acidic, complex taste of fruit and it was received very well at our last homebrew association meeting.

Thanks again for your advice!

RECIPE:
Batch size 20 l / 5.28 gal, brewhouse efficiency 70 %
OG / FG = 1047 / 1011
4.7 % ABV
Bitterness = 8.4 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 9.5 EBC / 4.8 SRM

Ingredients:
2.0 kg / 4.4 lb Pilsner (Weyermann)
2.0 kg / 4.4 lb Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann)
0.45 kg / 1.0 lb Carahell (Weyermann)
20 g / 0.71 oz Saaz [2.60 %] (60 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
12 g / 0.42 oz Saaz [2.60 %] (30 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
3.0 kg / 6.62 lb mixed berries (Secondary 7 days)
Hefeweizen IV Ale (White Labs #WLP380)

Boil time: 75 min
Mash profile: 60 min @ 66°C / 151°F, mash out 10 min @ 78°C / 172°F
Carbonated to 2.2 vol. of CO2

The 3 kg of fruit is equivalent to 180 grams of sugar according to http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/.

Best regards
Poul
 

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