blackberry ale problems

I am having an issue with a blackberry ale. I wanted to try something like sam adams blackberry wit. so I added 2 lbs of frozen (thawed and crushed) balckberries to an ale in the secondary about a week ago. I tasted it last night and got a little bit of a red wine flavor. could this be from the fruit or do I have another problem?
I am thinking of adding 2 oz of extract to help with the fruit flavor. is it ok to add extract to the keg or should it be in the secondary?
thanks.

Sounds like your blackberry's started fermenting....

it is not going to taste great out of the secondary, its still green. It needs to be carbed up and aged for a bit, then you will know the real flavor and taste.

Irie5447 said:

it is not going to taste great out of the secondary, its still green. It needs to be carbed up and aged for a bit, then you will know the real flavor and taste.

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hes right...give it some time. Blackberries are somewhat hard to work with because of a large amount of residual sourness...give it time.

I am doing a Blackberry Brown as we speak, it is in the fermenter. I waited until after high krausen and added them in. I too put in about 2 lbs hoping to get a Blackberry flavor and froze them prior to crushing and adding.

Never worked with fruit before, but a few months ago when Blackberries were in season my 21 year old son asked if I had ever made a beer with them before - it sounded good. I figured, what the heck. Made a sweet brown to offset the dryness the fruit will bring to it. ABV was around 4%, I figured the blackberries would boost it up to normal.

I agree with the others, I wouldn't even try to sample the brew until after aging a month or so. Probably best around 2 months old. I would not be opposed to adding extract, but I would not add much - in wit the flavor should be barely noticable. It is ok to add to either the secondary or keg.

That is what makes homebrewing so cool. Just think something up and try it out.

I'm just finishing off a batch of Blackberry Ale I made in early April.

I added about 3.5 lbs of fresh frozen, thawed, and pureed berries to the secondary. I allowed that to ferment out, about 10 days. I then racked to a tertiary, about 7 days, to aid in clarifying the brew.

When I racked to the bottling bucket and tasted a sample, I thought it may have become infected, it was very sour, maybe tart would be a better term. However, I will never throw a batch out, so I primed to about 2.8 volumes, and bottled.

The beer has definitely gotten much better over the last couple months. I would say it is in its prime right now around 8+ weeks in the bottle. I have gotten great positive reviews by people that have tried it. It has a great berry aroma, and just the right amount of blackberry flavor.

When using fresh berries, it can be hard to control the flavor due to their individual flavor, and ripeness. Don't be surprised if the beer tastes sour or tart at first it will take some time for the fresh berries to mellow.

Start tasting them in about a month, as they age they will become much, much better.