I racked a honey wheat onto 5lbs of blueberries I half-smooshed about 2-3 weeks ago. I figured it'd be ready when they drop to the bottom but that doesn't seem to be happening.... Has anyone done a fruit beer and how did you know when it was done?
How to tell when a fruit beer is done?
- Thread starter ericd
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I have done a Raspberry Blonde. I say take a reading. If it's at the FG you want and looks like it's not doing any thing then you should be good to bottle. The fruit will float for almost 2 months so I wouldn't use that as a gauge. When I get home I will see how long I had my beer on the fruit. The beer I made took 3rd in the Michigan Beer Cup.
mkling
Well-Known Member
Those floating berries are full of CO2. They likely won't drop in any reasonable time. I just bottled my blueberry wheat by raking under the berries. After I was done, I reached in and grabbed some of those berries -- they were full & round but were dry inside. It was all CO2 inside them.
2-3 weeks on fruit is plenty in my experience.
2-3 weeks on fruit is plenty in my experience.
jgln
Well-Known Member
After a year I still had blueberries and blackberries floating on the top of my Brett L., some had dropped but a 1" think layer of crushed berries still floated on top.
I know with Raspberries you can gauge slightly by color change. When I made my Raspberry Wheat after 2-3 weeks the berries had turned white and I racked from underneath I tasted one afterwards and the berries were very bitter after racking. Don't know if its the same with blueberries.
