Blueberry Vanilla Porter turned Wine

[ArmyATCBrewer]

So, I've been brewing for a little while now (5th batch) and so far it's all turned out pretty well. I typically don't buy recipe kits, but I decided to go with on this time. I purchased a Vanilla Porter kit and wanted to add blueberries in the secondary. So, I calculated how many pounds of the fruit I'd need using this (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/beer-fruit-amount.html). So I used 9# as opposed to the 10# recommended in the link (mostly because the blueberries came in 3# bags and I don't know what I would do with an additional 2#).
Since I put the berries in the secondary frozen, my temp dropped way down (around 45*F), but after more than 24 hours with no activity, I opened the fermenter to stir up the yeast, thinking maybe I had stuck fermentation. I also took a small sample and realized that I basically have blueberry wine-porter. It's obviously beyond being the porter I'd hoped for at this point, but is there something I can do with/to what I have to make the best of a bad situation? It'll be drank either way, but I just want to hopefully use this as an opportunity to do something creative. Thanks!

 

[GrogNerd]

let it ride.

whatever it is now will surely change once the yeast get through with the additional sugars & conditioning will change it some more

plus I'm not sure any "fix" would be worth the effort

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I did my first blueberry wheat beer using frozen berries in primary at 2 weeks. Came out tasting like grapefruit with a pink color!!! The grapefruit came from the hops not the berries. Next time I'm going to defrost the berries and crush them first to release more flavor.

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

I'm considering brewing another 5 gal batch of porter, letting it ferment out and then mixing "wine" and porter 50/50. Thoughts?

 

[EVILsteve]

+1 on let it ride.

You most likely slowed or halted fermentation with that temp drop. it will pick back up with all that amount of new sugars you just introduced. This could be very interesting blueberry wine dries out tasting nothing like youd expect a blueberry should but leaves that characteristic fragrance. Id be very interested what the end result would be with a porter yeast. you might be pleasantly surprised if you give it enough time.

 

[amcclai7]

Let it ride. A blueberry vanilla porter sounds awesome. Probably tastes like wine b/c of all the sugar from the berries. The yeast will eventually eat all of that and you should be left with something awesome. Ever had Smashed Blueberry by Shipyard. Its Awesome!

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

Then let it ride it is! I appreciate everyone's input. I'm still quite the noob. I haven't tried that. I'm in South Korea so it's hard to get stuff like that. But I'll be back in the US next summer. And of all places, CO. The land of milk, honey and copious amounts of great beer! I'll post a follow up later.

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

I transferred to a different fermenter to try and kick up the yeast and jump start it about a week ago. Although it did breathe a little life back into the yeast, there wasn't much further fermentation.

I was planning to go along for the ride, but I sampled a few days ago and it's still very wine-like. I'm in the military and stationed in Korea, so it's quite expensive for me to get ingredients. I'm going to gamble and try something else in an effort not to waste money, but still end up with a half-way decent beer.

I've ordered ingredients for an additional 5 gallons of vanilla porter base. Once primary fermentation is complete, I plan to racked half of the new batch onto half of the original batch, a 50/50 mix in two fermenters, in the secondary.

My hope is that the yeast from the new batch will be enough to ferment out a good deal of the remaining fermentable sugars from the original.

I also put 1# of oak chips on bourbon yesterday that I'll split between the two secondaries for a bourbon barrel-aged effect.

But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I may end up with 10 gallons of greatness or 10 gallons of something awful. Either way, I'll drink it and/or generously give it to friends to get rid of it quicker.

 

[rocketsan]

If you think there is an excess amount of sugar in your original batch (which may or may not be the case), why not just pitch more yeast?

 

[MaltedBayerl]

Bourbon or oak would probably overpower the blueberry. I think you should pitch more yeast and/or forget about it for a month.

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

Do you think so? I think as much blueberry flavor as I have now, it should balance out pretty well. Then again, this is my first time playing around with oak or bourbon for a brew.

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

Bourbon or oak would probably overpower the blueberry. I think you should pitch more yeast and/or forget about it for a month.

Do you think it will? I think as much blueberry flavor as I have now, it should balance out pretty well. Then again, this is my first time playing around with oak or bourbon for a brew. On pitching more yeast, I considered it, but I feel like it will raise the ABV more than I want it to.

 

[campbellmike]

If there is a lot of sugar it will change significantly when it's consumed by the yeast. Just think about the difference between sweet wort and beer. Have you measured the gravity at any stage?

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

Yeah, OG was 1.054 and it's at 1.010 now, putting it just a tad over 6%. I sampled again today and it's still super sugary. I'm pretty sure it's fermented as much as it's going to without adding more yeast, but I'll check it again in a couple days to be sure. I'm not opposed to high ABV beers, but I want this one to be on the lower side.
I've been brewing for about a year now, but not NEARLY as frequently as I'd like to because of limited access to ingredients, so I'm still pretty new at this. Do you think adding more yeast could ferment the remaining sugars without putting the ABV through the roof?

 

[gregjohnston]

ABV is entirely a function of how much of the sugar has been eaten by the yeast. The more it attenuates relative to a particular OG, the higher the ABV.

1.010 is a pretty normal final gravity, though, and shouldn't taste super-sweet. Are you sure that's accurate?

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

Yeah, I checked it three times and came out with 1.010 each time.

 

[campbellmike]

Any chance your hydrometer is not reading correctly? Try it in water.

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

I guess it's a possibility. It's brand new. I'll try it in water this weekend. I'm sure this is a dumb noob question, but what should it read in water?

 

[scarekrow]

0.00

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

That's what I thought, but better to ask and look dumb. Thanks!

 

[fuelish]

0.00

@60 degrees F, is the norm for any hydrometer I've ever owned/broken

 

[cinderbike]

You could always pitch some brett and/or lacto.

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

I verified that my hydrometer isn't the problem and went back to get a new reading and found mold on the surface. So...I guess that's that. Thank you all for your advice and input!
Cheers!

 

[GrogNerd]

transferred it and checked gravity 3 times

found mold on the surface.

I'm not surprised

 

[ArmyATCBrewer]

Yeah, I know. But it was a good learning experience if nothing else.

 

[rocketsan]

What did you learn?

 

[MaltedBayerl]

Strain the mold out and bottle it.