Blueberry Wheat

I'm looking to get back into brewing with a blueberry wheat, mostly this style because my roommate has expressed interest in it and I wouldn't mind some help. Anyway, I've been looking for a simple extract recipe and came across this It looks like what I'm after but I'm just curious if anyone see's any problems with it or would add any recommendations to it.

Additionally, I've been reading over on the extract board that a lot of people like to wait till the last 15 minutes of the boil to add the DME for a lighter color. Would this be a good idea here? I'm sure the blueberry flavoring probably darkens the beer some so is it worth it or not to try?

Thanks

I've done a couple blueberry beers for SWMBO and they turn out ok. I'm not much on fruit beer, but she likes it.
I didn't use as much hops as the recipe calls, I only used 1oz of Hallertau and no Cascade. The late addition of DME or LME is a great idea on a brew like this, it should help keep the color lighter.
The addition of the blueberry flavoring is the tricky part. The first time I added the full 2oz bottle on bottling day and the beer was VERY fruity. The second batch, I added 1oz at Secondary and the remaining oz at bottling. The blueberry was present, but didn't over power.

I think I used the recipe for one of my first blueberry wheat brews and added 2 oz at bottling, it recieved great reviews from my friends and disappeared very quickly.

I'm not big on fruit beer either, but when I told my new roommate I liked to homebrew he all but begged me to start a blueberry wheat. So, here we go. I'm hoping he'll get a kick out of it and buy one of his own kits so we have a constant supply of homebrew.

I think I'll take your advice on leaving out the cascade and I'll go ahead with the late addition of DME. In doing so, should I change the amount of Hallertau I use due to the different hop utilization without DME or stick with the 1oz for 60 min? I'm thinking I might lower it a bit--any recommendations? Would you add all of the DME in the last 15 minutes or just a portion of it?

I also think I'll go with a dry yeast to keep the costs down. Would a safbrew S-33 be an appropriate substitute?

I don't have my notes with me and will try to post up tonight once I get home, on what I used for hops. The first time I made the brew it was very good, then being the homebrewer I am tweaked it for the next batch and it wasn't as good. Definitely go light on the hops so it doesn't taste like bitter blueberry and if you want the light color add a small portion of DME at the start for the hop utilization and then the rest at 15 min.

There's a brewery down the street from my house called The Chicago Brewing Company. They have a Blueberry Vanilla Wheat that is awesome! The Blueberry is somewhat faint, and there isn't a lot of hop character.

I don't know if they would be of any help, though. I emailed them a couple of times...once about some yeast, and once about their IPA....and never recieved a reply.

Can you get frozen bags of blueberries instead of flavoring extract?
I've made blueberry wheats in the past with fresh blueberries (2-4 lbs), and those were some good beers.
You don't boil the fruit, but instead steep them after the boil and dump the fruit into the primary.
Also with fresh/frozen fruit, after primary fermentation is done, you'll want to rack the beer off the fruit into a secondary.

kinison_fan said:

Can you get frozen bags of blueberries instead of flavoring extract?

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Not for very cheap here. I'll look around a little more but I think that might be cost prohibitive.

I've done a blueberry wheat for a friend...all I can say is go way, way light on the BB extract. I think I used like 1/4oz in 5gal at bottling, and it still tasted too blueberry-ee for my liking.

derwood said:

Not for very cheap here. I'll look around a little more but I think that might be cost prohibitive.

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Yeah, I was't sure how much they would be. I got mine in season from a pick-your-own farm, so they were really cheap (1-2 bucks a pound, if I remember right).

kinison_fan said:

Can you get frozen bags of blueberries instead of flavoring extract?
I've made blueberry wheats in the past with fresh blueberries (2-4 lbs), and those were some good beers.
You don't boil the fruit, but instead steep them after the boil and dump the fruit into the primary.
Also with fresh/frozen fruit, after primary fermentation is done, you'll want to rack the beer off the fruit into a secondary.

Click to expand...

I did just the opposite - I crushed 2#s of fresh blueberries in a 2 qt pot and pasteurized them. Then cooled them down. It made a nice jam. I then poored the blueberry jam into the secondary fermenter and siphoned on top of them for 2 weeks. The brew came out mauve in color with nice white to pink head. The 2#s offered a slight blueberry taste agains a strong wheat backbone. It was rated 37 out of 50 in a comp.

Tis not the season however right now for fresh blueberries. I never used fruit extracts. Heard mixed reviews. Oregon makes a great puree.

- WW

hey just what I was looking for, my Brother actually wants to get in and do a Blueberry Wheat. Figured I'd use extract to save a few bucks on the fresh fruit.

Just use a standard Wheat style beer?

I just wanted to clarify, when doing a late extract addition, you STILL add some of the DME or LME at the start of the boil. Pure water won't extract hop bitterness. Add 20-25% of your malt extract at the start of the boil. Add the remainder at 15 minutes for the late addition method.
its not just for color, but also hop utilization.

steve123 said:

hey just what I was looking for, my Brother actually wants to get in and do a Blueberry Wheat. Figured I'd use extract to save a few bucks on the fresh fruit.

Just use a standard Wheat style beer?

Click to expand...

I used a standard american wheat style brew @ 50/50 with Rahr 2 row. You might want to use Marris Otter.

Used Wyeast 1010 in a 1000ml starter. Ensure you have a blow off tube. It explodes.

- WW

My girlfriend asked me to make a blueberry flavored beer so last weekend I picked up some supplies at my local homebrew store to make a blueberry wheat. I was originally planning on using extract, but the store owner recommended I avoid using the extract he sells because, as he described it, the extract tastes more like the artificial flavoring in blueberry chewing gum (Its rare to be persuaded AGAINST buying something by a store owner, his honesty is why I get all my supplies from him...$100+ that day). He let me smell some and I agreed that it didn't smell like real blueberries. He said I should instead add 1-3 lbs of fresh blueberries into the secondary. This weekend I'm going to start the batch. When it comes time to add the blueberries, is a quick rinse sufficient or do I need to boil them for a bit to avoid contamination? Right now I'm leaning towards boiling them to be safe, but I don't want to destroy/cook off any flavors unneccesarily (I am buying berries in the off season afterall). Or maybe I should just buy frozen berries and add those, there shouldn't be much risk of contamination that way. Any recommendations? Thanks.

Alright, I've continued reading previous threads and I think I have a game plan now. I'm going to make the wheat beer and leave it in the primary for a week. Usually I use my plastic bucket for my primary, but from what I've read it sounds like using one of my glass carboys is better. After a week in the primary, I'll pasteurize the fruit (I'm thinking 3 lbs should be good) at 160 degree for about 20 minutes. Then I'll pour the blueberry mixture into the primary and let it sit for another week. Then I'll transfer to a secondary for a couple weeks. Rack and bottle as usual. It seems like everyone has different techniques, so I guess this is as good as any. I'll post again in a couple months to let you all know how it came out.

Can anyone comment on this for just flavoring the beer with just a hint of blueberries:

Put 2-3 lbs of blueberry's in Muslin Bag and boil in wort for the last 15 miniutes of the boil.....to pasteurize and to flavor the beer.....toss the blueberries (i.e. dont put in fermenters) and cool the wort and move onto fermentation without putting blueberries in the fermenters.