i'm not sure what to classify this as...

[pvtpublic]

I'm making something a bit different, with malt, blueberries and maple syrup. A 5g batch starting off with an unhopped malt wort with a s.g. ~1.055 and I will use oregon canned blueberries and maple syrup of equal parts until I reach s.g. of 1.115. However, I have 2 questions. First, is their anything I will need to add to the must to keep everything running fine (except nutrient). I'm going to treat this batch like a wine/mead, not a beer. Second is, what are your thoughts on something like this?

 

[biochemedic]

Well, off the cuff, it's not mead, as it has no honey....

It sounds interesting though...a "blueberry acer-ale". What yeast are you using? Are you using a malt extract, or are you mashing on your own? You will regardless end with some residual unfermentable sugars from the malt. I would imagine that there'll be a slight residual sweetness and body from this, which could be very complementary to the other flavors.

You may not need to add even nutrients, as there's usually plenty in barley-derived wort, but I don't think you could ever go wrong by adding more.

 

[Dunerunner]

Category 20 Fruit Beer http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style20.php.

 

[pvtpublic]

Well, I don't think I would call it a beer. I'm thinking of using D47, and treating it as a mead. I'll be backsweetening with 1 part blueberry, 2 parts maple syrup. I think I will shoot for a f.g. of about 1.010 and test it. That might get me right where I want it. This could be a very good drink to go alongside pancakes. As for malt, I'm still debating what to use. I might end up using wheat extract. I need a real nice malty flavor in it, but not over the top. Probably half of the flavor. What do you think?

 

[biochemedic]

Wheat extract is usually a mix of wheat and barley, and should give you a decent amount of non-fermentables, and probably pretty good head retention. You should need about 6 lbs DME, or about 7.5 lbs LME to get your 55 gravity points.

I also would hesitate to call this a 'beer,' and again it's definitely not a mead (no honey!)...it's more of a malted maple wine or something...perhaps a "maple braggot" (but again, braggot implies honey...) No matter...why do you even have to classify it? This is why we homebrew, right!? (So we can try these kinds of crazy experiments!)

I think the most interesting thing about this experiment is to see what will win out in the battle between the fully fermentable portions, vs the more beer-like additions...will it seem thin and dry, or will the mouthfeel and body be more beer like. You might have a hard time getting down to that desired FG (I've very rarely had an extract based beer get down to 1.010), but I think that will be OK...you may not even need to backsweeten.

BTW, if you are wanting prominent maple and blueberry flavors, you might consider saving out some of your blueberry and maple to add after the bulk of primary has finished...I do this with my beers that use sugars with flavor...ie, if I add molasses to my porter during the end of primary, its' flavor is much more prominent than if I had added at the end of the boil. I've considered doing an acerglyn (maple mead), and if I were to do so, I'd probably start with a honey only fermentation, then add the maple about 3/4 of the way through primary so it's flavor would stand out more...

 

[pvtpublic]

Ok, should I expect a krausen? I would assume so. I am going to use a dme. What would be the best extract for a really malty flavor? Like you said, i want to see what wins out. I'm kinda betting on either the malt or blueberries, but not the syrup. Once I get this up and going, i'll start posting everything in case anyone else wants to give it a try. Also, if I were to stagger this, like you did with your acer, how would I go about this? It seems a bit confusing, like, dme will go in first,but with how much water? Just enough to get it going? Then blueberries and syrup. I don't think a hydrometer reading would be of real help during this process, would it?

 

[biochemedic]

Yes you will likely get a krausen (I use a blow off tube for all my primaries until things have settled down.)
I'm not sure what extract will give you the 'best malty flavor'...I think you could use just about any DME, but many people recommend using lighter DME; ie, if you want color and/or more roasty malt flavor, use additional specialty grains (which you could just steep in hot water...no need to actually mash) Wheat has it's own distinctive flavor, so if you really want malt flavor, you might just want to go with regular light DME. If there's a particular kind of malt that you appreciate the flavor of, I'd think about steeping a pound or so to extract some flavor and color and then add the DME to this before boiling...do you have a LHBS where you could smell/taste some of the specialty malts?
With the later additions, I wait until the really aggressive early phases of primary are finished, then add the additional fermentables. In your case, I'd heat up water, add the DME, then boil for 10-15 min. After turning off the heat, I'd add perhaps 3/4 of the maple syrup and blueberries. After cooling to pitching temps, add your yeast and let it ride. Once things start to slow down, heat up a small amount of water, and add the remaining maple and blueberries, then dump into the primary. (You may want to give a good swirl to the primary to release as much CO2 as possible...sometimes adding things like this can cause volcano eruptions....) You may get some increased fermentation activity for a couple days, then once things slow down/stop, proceed as usual

 

[pvtpublic]

Ok, once I get this going, I'll post everything.