BlackBerry Wheat Beer

I thought I would try a BlackBerry Wheat. So I got all the stuff brewed it up(all grain) anyway its in the secondary and I bought one of those small bottles of BlackBerry Flavor or Concentrate which I was gonna add at bottleing time with the priming sugar. Has anyone used the Flavor Concentrates and had good luck? I am a little reluctant to use the stuff I just dont want to ruin a good 5 gallon batch of wheat? So I was thinking....I would flavor 2.5Gal and just leave the other 2.5Gal alone. I would just split the 3/4 cup priming sugar for the 2.5Gal batches I guess? So before I do all the splitting and priming and bottling I was wondering if anyone likes the Flavor concentrates?

Are there any sugars in the concentrate??

I tasted of it, it does not taste sweet....The name of it is Crosby and Baker Blackberry Beer Flavoring.....Also the ingredients say water and propGlycol which I think is a preservative.

While I would rather use "Real" fruit, early in the secondary; your flavoring can go into the bottling bucket.

I don't know if the flavor needs to "condition" or if it will be harsh.

Best of luck!!

I did a Cherry Wheat a couple months ago. The LHBS said that I would
need 3 to 4 bottles of the concentrate. So considering cost about the
same I used a 42oz can of cherry puree.

I have had a couple and the flavors are just starting to blend.

A little more carbonation than I would like, but it's more like a
wine cooler. The gals will probably enjoy it this summer.

I also have a recipe for a black cherry ale that calls for 3qts.
of BlackCherry juice at flameout. May try that next.

I've used fruit flavor concentrates a couple times. Never again!

But since you're ready, bottle half, then add the concentrate to the bucket and bottle the rest.

I agree with david. I just started a thread not a too long ago about my blueberry wheat. I, also, did the same thing you did, its a good idea to split the batch. If you don't want to use the actual fruit then your best bet is to go with the following procedure IMHO:

Rack your wheat to secondary as normal. After your 2 weeks in there bottle half of your batch as a normal wheat. At the same time add some boiled blackberry puree to the secondary. This will restart another furious ferment for a couple days. Let sit in the secondary for a while until activity has died out. Bottle this batch as normal using a little less then 1/2 cup priming sugar.

Thats just what I would do, using extract flavoring has yielded poor responses from all the guys on here who have tried. At least since i've been on here.

But who am I to tell you what to do, just do what you think is right. Howmbrewing is just as much about the experiences as it is making and drinking beer.

Just my two cents.

Is this a PDA brew? I have an old Palm if that would help.

My $.02: I have never brewed a fruit beer, but I've tasted a few that friends brewed.

The ones made with extract were all mediocre, at best, IMHO.

If fresh fruit is out of the question, I would use the Oregon canned Puree.