how much blueberry?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

How many 15 oz cans of blueberries to add?

  • 1 can (15oz)

  • 1.5 cans (22.5oz)

  • 2 cans (30 oz)


Results are only viewable after voting.

Walker

I use secondaries. :p
HBT Supporter
Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
10,982
Reaction score
122
Location
Cary
I'm racking my blueberry wheat to the secondary tonight. The problem is, it's just a wheat beer right now. The blueberries are going to be added to the secondary.

the recipe:
6.6 lbs wheat malt extract (mix of 60% wheat, 40% barley)
1 lb 10L crystal
1/2 lb carapils
1 oz hallertauer @60 min
1/2 oz tettnanger @ 20 min
1056 - American Ale (dried, made starter)

I have purchased Oregon(R) Blueberries in Light Syrup ("BURSTING with NATURAL Antioxidants!") to use for my fruit. It's a quality canned product, so I am going to assume that it is suitably sanitary and just throw it into the fermenter as-is.

Here's where I need your help. I can't decide how much to add. I have two cans, 15oz each. I have been going back and forth all week trying to decide how much to throw win, and I give up. YOU can decide by voting.

I'm just getting ready to soak and clean my gear, so I've probably got one hour until it's GO TIME! I will check back in 1 hour and use whatever selection has the largest number of votes. I made it easy and only gave you a few options. :D

Thanks for contributing!
-walker
 
I've only got 1.875 lbs to work with anyway, so that should be easy. :)

Actually... according to the can, the weight of the BLUEBERRIES is 10oz/can (the other 5oz is blueberry flavored canning syrup - blueberry juice, water, and sucrose).

-walker
 
the blueberry wheat i made one time, i added the 3 lb. 10 oz can of the oregon fruit puree to the secondary. go for the gusto and add it all. at least i would....
 
i got one vote for each option. :)

but, hb99 says "not more than 3 lbs" and DeRoux says "got for it".

I gotta use it all.

-walker
 
Worst case, it will taste like blueberry wine. And if you don't like it, send it to me!
 
oh, I'm sure I'm going to like it. It smelled absolutely sinful while racking the beer onto the berries. I was nearly drooling on myself. I wish I had a third can of those berries... not for the beer, but I think I could sit and eat a full 15oz with a spoon.

I *did* have few issues with my siphon (note to self: never try to use the SHORT hose for racking) and I think I lost about close to a gallon of the beer. Whatever.... that will only intensify the blueberry taste.

-walker
 
how'd you lose a gallon? mine started fermnenting more too once i racked on top of the puree, so watch out.
 
not trying to bum walker out, but i didn't like mine. not because of too much blueberry (because some of it fermented out of the secondary, so it mellowed) but because i didn't like that Oregon fruit stuff. i shoulda used fresh blueberries. just my preference. i hope you like yours!
 
DeRoux's Broux said:
how'd you lose a gallon?

My hose was too short (only a foot or two long because I couldn't find my longer hose) and it ran between two hooked racking canes. Becase of the bend in the cane, this meant that I effectively lost some of the length of the hose, and I wasn't able to get the carboys separated enough vertically to finish the siphon.

I mucked around with it for a while to try and re-start the siphon to get that last bunch of brew, but I was trying to hold the carboy in my arms while doing this, and it was a disaster. The siphon kept stopping, and re-starting it caused some burping of air to go through the line, so I was starting to get fearful of getting too much air into the mix with the half dozen attempts to get the rest.

Plus.. I almost dropped the 6.5 gallon primary onto the floor a couple times during this (and I was in the garage on a concrete floor), so I just reluctantly faced the decision in front of me; add air to the batch and possibly break my primary, or just sacrifice the last few quarts of beer.

I opted for "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" and left the remainder of the beer in the primary.

It wasn't a TOTAL waste.... I ended up drinking some of it straight out of the carboy by sucking on the racking cane. It was like a gigantic bottle of beer that I was drinking through a straw. I probably drank a pint and a half like that before I got full. I wish I had a picture. It would have probably been pretty comical to an observer.

-walker
 
Truble said:
The ultimate Super Slurpy!

The large amount of jostling the carboy got during all of this left me drinking a pretty yeasty beverage. It wasn't all that great tasting, but I sure wasn't just going to toss it in the bushes!

-walker
 
nice save on the carboy! i think you'll like the brew. i may try another, but w/ fresh fruit. i bought my wife a sixer of Purple Haze today for a Christmas party, and we gotto talkin' about a fruity hefe. so, i'll give it another whirl!
 
DeRoux's Broux said:
nice save on the carboy! i think you'll like the brew. i may try another, but w/ fresh fruit. i bought my wife a sixer of Purple Haze today for a Christmas party, and we gotto talkin' about a fruity hefe. so, i'll give it another whirl!
Lucky dog! My wife loves that and I really dig the Turbo Dog, but we can't get any of the Abita brews in Oklahoma anymore. What do you think about the Blackened Voodoo?
 
bummer. i like the purple haze too, just can't drink too many. i dig the turbo dog. byo did a clone recipe and i want to try it soon.
 
Put a can and a half in there. Then use the other half on some ice cream. Ive had a few brews earlier and Im craving some fruity vanilla ice cream.
 
billybrew said:
Lucky dog! My wife loves that and I really dig the Turbo Dog, but we can't get any of the Abita brews in Oklahoma anymore. What do you think about the Blackened Voodoo?

man! i forgot about blackened voodoo. I don't think I've had one of those in probably 8 years! I wonder if I can find it around here.... can't really remember what it tastes like.

-walker
 
i may try another, but w/ fresh fruit.



That's what I've been thinking while reading this. I would have used frozen blueberrys instead of anything cooked and sweetened. You'll get the color and flavor without another voilent ferment from the addition of all that extra sugar. The flavors would be truer and I think more subtle.
 
I don't think there is very much additional sugar added (when you consider that it's going into a full batch of beer), so I am not really worried about that. As for violent fermentation... it ain't happening. There have been a few bubbles come through the airlock, but not really much more that I normally see after racking a brew, and there is no foaming on the suface in the carboy.

I would have loved to use fresh (not frozen or canned) berries, but I was not able to find any that looked particularly 'good'. As for frozen berries... I can't stand them. They always taste weird to me.

-walker
 
I get the urge a few times a year for a light, fruity beer. I'm not a fan of fruity dark beers (porters, stouts), but in a pale ale or wheat beer I find it very refreshing.

This is not the time of year that I would normally make such a concoction (best saved for summer), but I wanted to round out my Christmas gift 6-packs with a light and sweet option.\

-walker
 
Back
Top