Blueberry Additions - Sanitation Considerations

[stephelton]

I've got a fairly heavy (1.072 OG) wheat beer that I'm wanting to add about 8 lbs. of blueberries to for a week or two in secondary. The blueberries have been frozen for some time now. Some are in these plastic containers that have holes in them. I'm wondering what, if any, precautions I should take in regards to sanitation.

 

[c.n.budz]

Put them in a sauce pan with a little water and heat them up to about 160-165*F to pasteurize them for about 10 minutes and you'll be fine

 

[stephelton]

Thanks, good call. I also thought about steaming them (though 8 lbs would take quite a while.) Do you not think I'll lose a lot of flavor by soaking them in hot water?

 

[Clayton]

put the water in too just anuff to cover

 

[stephelton]

I would highly recommend doing this in small batches of about a pound each. I did all 6lb 12.9 oz at once and it was a painful process trying to strain the water out and get them into the carboy.

 

[NoisufnoC]

can you add berries/fruit to the end of your boil?

 

[stephelton]

Yeah, people do that. The sugars will be fermented and give you a different flavor though. "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels has some good information on adding fruit to beer.

 

[nealf]

can you add berries/fruit to the end of your boil?

You can do that but from what I understand it will make your beer cloudy due to the petcins in the fruit; not that it would matter for a wheat beer though...

 

[NoisufnoC]

interesting. thanks guys.