Looking for suggestions with wheat extract kit

Okay, so I have this NB American Wheat extract kit lying around and one of my fermenters is about to get freed up so its time to start planning the next brew. Last time I made this kit it was quite good, but this time I'd like to add a little something extra. I have heard this is a great kit to use as a base for fruit or honey additions. Lo and behold as I was digging through my freezer last night looking for something to eat I found a big ziploc bag full (about 2.5 lbs.) of blueberries someone picked and gave to me last year. So now I'm thinking I will add them to this NB American Wheat kit (and free up some space in my freezer).

I've never done a fruit addition before so I'm looking for some advice. I'm thinking of preparing the kit per the instructions, but instead of a 2-week primary-only fermentation I'm planning to ferment for 5-6 days in primary (until the most vigorous fermentation is complete) and then rack to a secondary on top of the blueberries for a couple of weeks and then bottle. Agree/disagree?

Is 2.5 lbs of blueberries enough for this 5-gallon kit? Anyone have any better ideas for this kit?

That sounds good, I would crush the blueberries before racking onto them. You could also use a specific wheat beer yeast to get that flavor profile. I have used fermentis wb-06. It's a dry yeast and I think gives a nice flavor, I used it on my last American wheat kit instead of the us-05 ale yeast.

So, I brewed the wheat beer kit and allowed to ferment in the primary for a few days. Had a pretty vigorous initial fermentation with kraussen making its way from the fermenter, through the blow-off tube, and into the bucket of water (nasty looking stuff). After four and a half days, fermentation activity has slowed way down and the kraussen was nearly completely receded back into the beer. Was still getting small bubbles every few minutes.

So after nearly 5 days I decided it was time to add the blueberries. I followed some advice in some of the other threads and attempted to pasteurize the blueberries by thawing them out, putting them in a pot with a little water, and slowly heating them to 150-160 degrees F for a few minutes. Then dumped the pot (berries, water, and all) into my secondary fermenter and allowed them to cool before racking the wheat beer on top of them from the primary. I used a full-size secondary because the berry/water mixture took up some space at the bottom of the carboy.

The beer was cloudy as you would expect from a wheat beer, and it took on an interesting shade of pink/purple from the blueberries. I'm curious to see if this color will fade any as the fermentation process proceeds. It's been 12 hours and I just checked on my little experiment and I see signs of increased fermentation. Some of the berries have floated to the top and a thin layer of dark purple kraussen is beginning to form. Gas is burping away from the blow-off tube.

My plan is to allow this secondary to ferment for about two weeks. I don't see a need to rack to a tertiary for clearing since this style of beer is supposed to be cloudy.....unless someone thinks racking to a tertiary would help the color situation. (Would appreciate ya'll's thoughts on this next step).

Then bottle for a couple weeks then drink. I'll post updates to this thread to let everyone know how it turned out.

Got any updates?

Tag for pics of the beer.

MTB said:

Got any updates?

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Actually, I just got around to bottling it this past Saturday. I had to let the beer sit an extra week in the secondary because I just didn't have time in my schedule to bottle after only two weeks....so the berries sat in the beer for a total of three weeks.

As for color, when all five gallons were in the carboy, it looked pretty dark and purplish. I'm sure the sheer volume of beer coupled with the 2.5 pounds of blueberries floating on the top propbably contributed to that. But when bottling, I usually use at least one clear bottle so I can get a good look at the color and clarity of the beer as it conditions in the bottle. And when I filled a clear bottle and was able to see a single 12 oz. sample on its own, the color turned out to not be as bad as I thought. It is a little darker than a typical wheat beer with a very slight reddish tint...almost like a red ale.

I tasted a sample prior to adding the priming sugar and the blueberry taste and arroma were not as prominent as I had hoped. But the true test will be when I am able to taste it after a few weeks of bottle conditioning when all of the flavors have had a chance to blend a little better. Then I can also do a side by side comparison with one of my standard wheat beers.

More updates to follow in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

AR-Josh said:

Tag for pics of the beer.

Click to expand...

Too bad I didn't think to take any photos of the beer in the fermenter so you could see just how dark purple it was looking. I will try to get a photo or two of the beer in the clear bottle and also in a pint glass when I pour the first one in a couple weeks.

Did you ever get any pics of this beer? How did it turn out? I am planning on doing something just like you did, but want to learn from what you have done so far.

Trailerhook said:

So, I brewed the wheat beer kit and allowed to ferment in the primary for a few days. Had a pretty vigorous initial fermentation with kraussen making its way from the fermenter, through the blow-off tube, and into the bucket of water (nasty looking stuff). After four and a half days, fermentation activity has slowed way down and the kraussen was nearly completely receded back into the beer. Was still getting small bubbles every few minutes.

So after nearly 5 days I decided it was time to add the blueberries. I followed some advice in some of the other threads and attempted to pasteurize the blueberries by thawing them out, putting them in a pot with a little water, and slowly heating them to 150-160 degrees F for a few minutes. Then dumped the pot (berries, water, and all) into my secondary fermenter and allowed them to cool before racking the wheat beer on top of them from the primary. I used a full-size secondary because the berry/water mixture took up some space at the bottom of the carboy.

The beer was cloudy as you would expect from a wheat beer, and it took on an interesting shade of pink/purple from the blueberries. I'm curious to see if this color will fade any as the fermentation process proceeds. It's been 12 hours and I just checked on my little experiment and I see signs of increased fermentation. Some of the berries have floated to the top and a thin layer of dark purple kraussen is beginning to form. Gas is burping away from the blow-off tube.

My plan is to allow this secondary to ferment for about two weeks. I don't see a need to rack to a tertiary for clearing since this style of beer is supposed to be cloudy.....unless someone thinks racking to a tertiary would help the color situation. (Would appreciate ya'll's thoughts on this next step).

Then bottle for a couple weeks then drink. I'll post updates to this thread to let everyone know how it turned out.

Click to expand...

That sounds delicious. I'm about to order a Belgian Witbier from Midwest Supplies that closely resembles a Blue Moon. I would love to do something like this. For the water that you used to heat the blueberries, was it RO or spring water, or did you boil it first to make sure it was sanitary?

keep us updated please

cjdj said:

Did you ever get any pics of this beer? How did it turn out? I am planning on doing something just like you did, but want to learn from what you have done so far.

Click to expand...

Not yet. Been out of town since my last post. I'll try to post some soon.

kyle6286 said:

For the water that you used to heat the blueberries, was it RO or spring water, or did you boil it first to make sure it was sanitary?

Click to expand...

I used RO distilled water straight from the jug. I did not see any need to boil it first because I was adding non-pasteurized fruit to it anyway. I just assumed the RO distilled water would be pure enough for my purposes and was hoping that the pasteurization process would take care of any remaining nasties in the water or fruit. I'm sure it turned out fine. I snuck a taste of the uncarbonated beer as I was bottling and detected no off-flavors that I would associate with infection.

Just for everyone's info, here's the pasteurization process that I followed:
* I removed the ziploc bag of frozen blueberries from the freezer and let it sit on the kitchen counter for a couple hours to thaw.
* Then I emptied all of the berries into a sauce pot and poured just enough distilled water into the pot so that the water level just reached the top of the berries.
* Placed pot on stove over low heat and stuck a food-safe thermometer in the water/berry solution so I could monitor temp.
* Allowed the temp to slowly rise to 150 degrees.
* Once it reached 150 degrees, I started a timer for 10 minutes and began manipulating the burner control trying to maintain a constant temp range between 150-160 degrees.
* After maintaining that temp range for 10 minutes, I removed the pot from the heat and dumped the berries and water into my sanitized secondary fermenter and allowed them to cool in there before racking my beer on top of them.

edie said:

keep us updated please

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Will do! Should be ready to pour first bottle this weekend, so by next week I should have more to report.

I want to know how it turns out too because i'd like to try this one as well

Okay, finally got around to snapping a photo of the blueberry wheat experiment using Northern Brewer's American Wheat kit. Like I said in a previous post, when bottling beer I like to use at least one clear bottle per batch so I can observe color and clarity during the bottle conditioning process. In the photo below you will see two bottles. Both are from NB's American Wheat extract kit. The one on the left is the standard beer with no additives. The one on the right is from the blueberry batch. As you can see, the beer fermented with the blueberries has taken on a much deeper reddish color. The blueberry beer has been conditioning for two weeks now and should be ready to drink as of this writing. I have just put a couple in the fridge to chill. I'll take more photos and post a review of the blueberry experiment once I've had a chance to pour and taste. Stay tuned.....

Wow that's really red. Looks good though!

And?????

Interesting. I love this kit as is and I'm not sure why. I guess cause it's so easy drinkin'. I too wanted to change it up a bit but unlike you, I went with a hop change instead of fruit. I subbed out the 15 minute Cascade for 10 minute Citra. I named it 394 Wheat after Citra's lab number 394. Needless to say, that keg emptied faster than any other keg to date. I hope you're experiment turns out great!

Sorry, gang. I've been on the road every week for the past six weeks. Very little home time lately. I did finally get around to drinking a blueberry wheat last week when I was home for a night. I even took some photos of the two beers side by side in the pint glasses, but they are not downloaded from the camera yet so I'll have to post them at a later date. I really need to drink a couple more before forming a real opion, but my first impression of the blueberry wheat was slightly disappointing. Here's my comments regarding the first sampling (going from memory so bear with me).....

I decided that I really like the reddish color of the blueberry wheat beer. The color of the beer is very deep and it really reinforces the "blueberry" theme I guess. When poured, the head foam had a slight purply/pink hue. Very cool looking actually. I believe that drinking a beer is as much a visual experience as anything else, and everything about the appearance of this beer screams blueberries.

First thing I noticed (besides color) was that the head retention on this first beer was lack luster, but then again most of my beers so far have turned out that way. I guess I'm still struggling with finding just the right amount of priming sugars to use when bottling. I have never had a "flat" beer....they have all been sufficiently carbonated for drinking purposes, but what little head is formed upon pouring is soon gone after a minute in the glass. I had high hopes for this batch of blueberry beer because I used Munton's Kreamy X for the first time with this batch, having heard good things about it. But, alas, as I was bringing the Munton's priming solution to a boil I turned my back for a split second and the dreaded boil-over happened. I don't know exactly how much of the Munton's priming solution I lost to the boilover, but instead of dumping it out and starting over with a batch of standard priming sugar (which is what I should have done), I got lazy and just went ahead with what was left of the Munton's because it didn't really look like I had lost that much. Perhaps this contributed to the underperforming head. I am hoping that as this batch continues to condition, the head formation and retention will continue to improve with time as it has with some of my other batches.

There is a slightly different aroma to this blueberry batch compared to the standard wheat. I can't necessarily call it a distinct "blueberry" aroma, but it does have a "nosier" aroma if that makes sense. It is stronger and more complex than the aroma from the standard wheat. But if I blindfolded you and handed you one, you wouldn't take a whiff of it and say "That's definitely a blueberry beer". Again, I am hoping that as this batch continues to condition, the aroma will settle down and smooth out over time.

Now for the taste. This is where I was really disappointed. This beer doesn't have a strong blueberry flavor profile. There is a very slight hint of fruity sweetness on the front end of each sip and on the finish of each sip. My wife swears she can taste a slight blueberry flavor, but to me it is just a slight sweetness but no distinct blueberry flavor. Other than that it just tastes like a stronger version of the standard wheat to me. Again, if you took a blind taste test with this beer I don't think you would necessarily label it as a blueberry beer.

I have several theories as to why I didn't get the blueberry flavor profile I wanted. For one, I think I could stand to use more blueberries, perhaps 2.5 pounds isn't quite enough. Also, I think I added the blueberries too soon and allowed them to ferment too long in the beer which allowed the yeast to really work on them and break them down which may have minimized their ultimate contribution to the flavor and aroma profiles. I would really like to hear others' opinions on this.

Bottom line is that this turned out to be a very good and very drinkable beer, but not exactly what I wanted. My wife loved it and said it was her favorite batch so far so I will definitely have to make this again just to keep her happy. But the next time I make this, I will make some tweeks:

1. Use more blueberries....probably bump up to 3.5 pounds.
2. Wait a full week (maybe two) for the primary fermentation to fully take place before adding the blueberries. This time I only waited 5 days.
3. Limit secondary fermentation with the blueberries to only a week (maybe two). This time I went a full three weeks before I could find the time to bottle, and I think that allowed too much time for the yeast to work on the berries. I have heard (or read or imagined) that the more you want your additive to contribute to the flavor/aroma profile of the beer, then the later in the process it needs to be added. Not sure if this holds true for fruit or berries, but it sort of makes sense to me.
4. Instead of adding the blueberries whole like I did this time, I think next time I will crush them during the pasteurization process to release more of the juice and pulp into the beer. This may result in a much more purple colored beer, but I am thinking the combination of crushing the berries and adding them later in the fermentation process will help the beer retain more of their flavor and aroma.
5. Don't turn your back on the Munton's while it's coming to a boil!

In summary, this is a very drinkable beer and my wife really likes it. I will definitely make this again, but I want to see how this batch continues to improve (or not) over the next couple of months. I have not drank any more of this beer since opening the first one last week. So, like I said at the beginning of this post, I really need to drink a few more before I can really form a lasting opinion. I will continue to post updates as this beer continues to condition. In the meantime, I would appreciate any suggestions from the more experienced brewers out there on how I might be able to improve this beer on the next go round.

Hi Trailerhook,

Some fruits come through in the final beer better than others. Good examples of fruit that have pronounced flavor are raspberries and cherries. Where other fruits like strawberry are more subtle. Lambic brewers tend to add lots and lots of fruit over a long period of time to get the natural fruit flavor they want.

Since you don't have years to wait, here are a couple suggestions. For me, I've had the best success with adding much more fruit than you might think. 3.5 pounds is fine but I'd even throw in 4+. Additionally, I seem to get real good results with tweaking it with fruit extract. The problem with all extract is that you get that crappy bud light lime fake taste. But when you use lots of natural flavors and accent it with extract, you can really dial in the aroma and taste to your liking.

Kegs are easy, since you just add fruit extract, mix and taste. With bottles, I used to create a test batch and add a set amount of extract in the bottles (6 bottles with 3 drops, 6 bottles with 5 drops, etc.). Then I would share with friends and watch their responses. If they said "interesting", I'd rule that beer out. Once I found the one most people liked, I'd scale it to 5 gallons and add it to my final recipe.

Here's a chart with drop to oz conversions I found some time ago:

1 oz = 2 Tbsp = 600 drops
1/2 oz = 1 Tbsp = 300 drops
1/4 oz = 1/2 Tbsp = 150 drops
1 tsp = 100 drops
1/2 tsp = 50 drops
1/4 tsp = 25 drops

Anyway, my two cents

thanks for the update. sounds like a nice summer beer!