Fruit Beer Blueberry Oatmeal IPA

[Mateo123]

When can I add the blueberries?

And if I only have one fermentation bucket, can I just add them in there....or should I try getting another bucket for secondary fermentation?

 

[Mateo123]

@treacheroustexan @Jabob513
Also, to be clear. I let sit for 2 weeks then add blueberries. Then wait another 7 days. Then bottle?

What’s the best way to sanitize the blueberries? Sorry it’s my 2nd batch ever made!

 

[Mateo123]

I gotta brew this again soon to get it in a keg for football season!

Did you fermentation for 2 weeks then add blueberries and fermentate for another week?

 

[Jabob513]

That will work! I let the fermentation go till little/no activity was visible, then added a 5lbs frozen bag of blueberries that were pre-pasteurized from Gordon Food Service Store. The sugars in the blueberries caused fermentation to pick back up for a 2 or 3 days, so I let it sit for another week. Halfway through that week I added the Mosaic dry hop. After 3 days, I racked to another vessel and cold crashed/gelatin fined.

The beer was amazing for the first half month, but it has turned a little harsh/vegetal. If/when I make it again, I will likely do a bigger dry hop and keep the blueberries in the beer for less time before racking off to try and avoid the vegetal notes.

If you don't have a second container/bucket, don't worry racking it off into another container. You can still try gelatin fining or cold crashing but you're more likely to end up with some sediment from the yeast/berries in the beer, which isn't that big a deal as long as you don't mind it not being totally clear.

 

[Mateo123]

That will work! I let the fermentation go till little/no activity was visible, then added a 5lbs frozen bag of blueberries that were pre-pasteurized from Gordon Food Service Store. The sugars in the blueberries caused fermentation to pick back up for a 2 or 3 days, so I let it sit for another week. Halfway through that week I added the Mosaic dry hop. After 3 days, I racked to another vessel and cold crashed/gelatin fined.

The beer was amazing for the first half month, but it has turned a little harsh/vegetal. If/when I make it again, I will likely do a bigger dry hop and keep the blueberries in the beer for less time before racking off to try and avoid the vegetal notes.

If you don't have a second container/bucket, don't worry racking it off into another container. You can still try gelatin fining or cold crashing but you're more likely to end up with some sediment from the yeast/berries in the beer, which isn't that big a deal as long as you don't mind it not being totally clear.

Awesome! Thank you
But what is cold crashing...kinda new to this. Is that when you set the kegerator to a certain temp to stop fermentation?

 

[Jabob513]

Yeast flocculate (clump up rather than float around freely on their own) quicker at lower temperatures. If you pop the whole fermentation bucket into the fridge, most of the yeast will clump up and sink to the bottom of the vessel rather than floating in solution. This makes the beer appear more clear. I bottle, so I do this before bottling so that there is less crud in the bottom of each bottle. There will still be plenty of yeast dissolved in the beer to carbonate in the bottle once priming sugar is added.

Only caveat with cold crashing is that oxygen/CO2/whatever gas the container is exposed to will suck into the beer, which can oxygenate hoppy beers (generally bad) and means that when you add priming sugar, you have to adjust the amount of sugar down because there is already more gas in the beer. This calculator is a valuable tool for priming!

 

[Mateo123]

Yeast flocculate (clump up rather than float around freely on their own) quicker at lower temperatures. If you pop the whole fermentation bucket into the fridge, most of the yeast will clump up and sink to the bottom of the vessel rather than floating in solution. This makes the beer appear more clear. I bottle, so I do this before bottling so that there is less crud in the bottom of each bottle. There will still be plenty of yeast dissolved in the beer to carbonate in the bottle once priming sugar is added.

Only caveat with cold crashing is that oxygen/CO2/whatever gas the container is exposed to will suck into the beer, which can oxygenate hoppy beers (generally bad) and means that when you add priming sugar, you have to adjust the amount of sugar down because there is already more gas in the beer. This calculator is a valuable tool for priming!

Thank you so much! I’m going to bottle also, when’s a good time to stick it in the fridge to clear it out, 2 days prior to bottling? And what’s a good temp?

 

[Jabob513]

I usually try and give it 2 or 3 days in the fridge, I believe my fridge is at about 37 degrees but it shouldn't make much of a difference if it's different than that! Just make sure that you've allowed the sugars from the blueberries enough time to ferment before you bottle and that you use that calculator, otherwise you'll end up with more pressure in the bottles than you expect with potentially dangerous bottle bombs! I usually boil like half a cup of water and add my sugar to that, then pour it into the bottling bucket as I'm moving the beer into it, making sure that it's mixed in well. You can also add equal amounts of sugar to each bottle but it takes longer.

 

[Mateo123]

@Jabob513 how much sugar do you throw in for a 5 gallon batch ?

 

[Jabob513]

Sorry if I've missed your window, but check out that calculator I linked to above, it is very helpful and you can determine exactly how much of whatever sugar you've got you need to add. Should be plenty of info if you google "Priming sugar for bottling" or something like that as well! I believe I carbonated this to 2.5 volumes.