Fruit Beer Blueberry Summer Ale

[Carros]

I brewed up a batch of this two weeks ago, and added six pounds of puréed blueberries tonight. Those things turn the beer purple really fast. I'm really looking forward to trying this next month.

 

[azscoob]

I brewed up a batch of this two weeks ago, and added six pounds of puréed blueberries tonight. Those things turn the beer purple really fast. I'm really looking forward to trying this next month.

Last batch I made I used 5 lbs of a mixed berry blend from the frozen section of the grocery store, it was fantastic! And also a bit of a change up of my usual recipe

 

[Roughster]

Figured it out. I had a box checked that shouldn't have been. Brewed this up today. It's gonna sit in primary for 2 weeks before I put it on the berries. Never used sorachi ace before, or FWH, or whole leaf so it was a beer of firsts. My LHBS only had pellet sorachi, but did use whole leaf centennial.

Also, I've got it in Blonde Ale category (light hybrid). Is that pretty accurate? All the numbers were perfect for Blonde Ale. Never brewed a fruit beer before, and this is the lightest SRM beer I've brewed also.

I am having your same issue, can you let me know what you changed to get BeerSmith2 to be right?

 

[azscoob]

I have my beer in light hybrid in my notes, and when I have entered it in competitions I have used light hybrid as the base style with good results.

 

[jknapp12105]

Nice

 

[jasonduff84]

I was wondering could I substitute blueberry pie filling instead of fresh blueberries?

 

[azscoob]

I was wondering could I substitute blueberry pie filling instead of fresh blueberries?

I would opt for frozen blueberries as opposed to pie filling, it's still just fruit, without any of the pie filling goo added in.

 

[Hinezer]

Did you have the centennial addition set as first wort hop? Also have you adjusted the AA%?

I brewed up a version of this recipe and everyone has loved it! I'm also having the same problem with Beersmith giving a very high IBUs when I know it's not.

 

[gerg]

Sorry for reviving the old thread but does anyone know how to resolve the beersmith IBU issue? Do I just roll with the recipe as is? I'm showing almost 50 IBUs.

 

[azscoob]

Sorry for reviving the old thread but does anyone know how to resolve the beersmith IBU issue? Do I just roll with the recipe as is? I'm showing almost 50 IBUs.

I think it's the way beer smith calculates the first wort hopping addition that causes the issue, I never get complaints about over hoped flavor!

 

[gerg]

I think it's the way beer smith calculates the first wort hopping addition that causes the issue, I never get complaints about over hoped flavor!

I tried to change it to a 60 minute boil instead of FWH but it only moved it a few points...no where near the 18 IBUs listed in the recipe. Oh well, I'll give it a go and see what happens!

 

[Wooden]

Did this as my first AG beer about a couple weeks ago and thinking about the blueberry addition.

I have fresh-frozen wild blueberries that if picked and packed in a ziploc bag. They were hand-picked, some of them with a decent amount of debris (twigs, leaves from the blueberry bush) that wouldn't wash off easily. They have been in the freezer since.

Is contamination a concern here, or do I just crush, pitch, and hope for the best?

Ideally I would like to avoid boiling/using pectin enzyme because that would change the flavor a bit, or using chemicals but... Is the risk of contamination high? If it's a pretty low chance I guess I would just toss em in and be OK with risking it.

 

[azscoob]

I would try and thaw, then pick the debris out as best you can, the wee little blueberry stems shouldn't be an issue, it's the leaves and sticks I'd fret over

 

[Wooden]

So, tasted the beer before transferring to primary and racking onto the berries.

One thing was strange: the beer had this flavor and mouthfeel that I can only describe as "milky". It had this slightly flavor of milk and like creamy mouthfeel to it, towards the end of the taste.

Anyone experienced this?
I adjusted some of the hops down but that's about it.

Also, was my first AG beer, so probably some kinks to work out in the process.

Or is this a normal flavor that will go away/change when it carbs up?

-Used fresh yeast (S-05)
-sanitation was good,
-aeration of wort was good,
-temp control was ambient room temps but adjusted to stay within the range of the yeast. Mid 60's for most of the fermentation.

Process notes:
-good for initial temps but did one thing wrong, did not cover bottom of MT/hose braid with water.
-did not mash out (first AG)
-efficiency sucked, wort was like 1.044.
-Stirred every 15' of mash.
-Had some delay in going to the boil as we were deciding on how to adjust the hops additions.
-transfered to fermenter while it was light out but then put inside immediately...

Any ideas??

Cheers,
Wooden

 

[awilkes67]

This looks like a great recipe! I was wondering if it could be easily modified to be more of a wheat beer, using primarily 2-row and wheat malt and still use Sorachi Ace and Blueberries?

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Just put this on the blueberries.
I thought I had a small packet of sorachi ace but turned out only had half an oz. on brew day (was making 1 gallon test batches and used some)
But I had .75 oz of motuka and threw that in the boil at 60 mins.
this tastes so good before the berries.
Like better than most beers out of the primary.

I only used 3lbs cause these are expensive but have a bottle of blueberry juice for the keg so i'll have to figure out how much for taste.