Blueberry Wheat Beer

[Nike_Eayrs]

I am working on a blueberry wheat beer recipe, and have seen some different opinions on the "blueberry" flavoring. Some people say that the blended berries ferment out and are left a little bitter. Others say that berry extract gives an off flavor. My plan was to brew a simple wheat recipe. Crush, strain, and reduce 1lb of blueberries and add them the last 5 min. At bottling add .5-1oz of extract to help carry the flavor. Any ideas on how to tweak this idea? Thanks!

 

[shoreman]

you will probably ned more that 1lb to get any flavor. As a rule 2-3lbs per gallon works. I like the idea of the extract at bottling though - its really hard to get that blueberry nose when you ferment it out. I recently put 5 lbs of blueberries and 1 jar of blueberry preserves in a 3 gallon batch - it's got some nose but not as much as I expected but its always that way with fruit beers.

 

[ziggy13]

Anyone ever try making a blueberry puree with their blender to add to a beer? I'm going to try here soon but I'm not sure how many lbs of blueberries I would need to use in the puree to taste anything.

 

[Nike_Eayrs]

Ziggy, I was planning on doing something like a puree. My thought was to put blueberries in a food processor, strain out the skin and stuff, then simmer it to cook off some of the water. Then add the concentrate at 5 min left in the boil. After seeing the first post, I'm thinking 5lbs of berries for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[MrOH]

Trader Joe's has a 100% Blueberry Juice that could probably work. If you're not doing full boils, use it to top up, and then you could also probably use it as a source of sugars to carbonate (you'll have to take the reading and do the math yourself).

I recently made a honey ale with blueberry honey that has a hint of blueberry in the back, but it may just be the power of suggestion on that one.

 

[zole2112]

I'm a little late to this thread but here is what I used for my Blueberry Wheat:

American Wheat beer recipe, take your pick, I went light on the hops.

Ferment in primary for 8 or 9 days.

7.5 lbs of frozen Michigan blueberries...Left them thaw and then I used a potato masher to crush them and release the juice.

Racked 5 gallons from the primary onto the blueberries in the secondary.

Left it on the blueberries for 3 weeks and bottled.

Tasted delicious , it was a big hit at my daughter's wedding. My wife wants a little more blueberry flavor (I thought it was a nice balance), so I'm about to rack the American Wheat I'm fermenting onto 10 lbs of frozen blueberries today.

 

[billf2112]

In secondary for sure, I used a gallon of blueberry juice for a 5 gallon batch, it needed more. Wish I added about 3 lbs of crushed blueberries on top of that.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

I use blueberry extract. Unlike cherry extract, which tends to taste like cherry cough drops, blueberry extract tastes like blueberries.

Kegged a batch Saturday. I try to ramp up the wheat flavor, so I get a beer that is a lot like a blueberry muffin.

:rockin:

 

[snyklez]

I've got the same idea. Just brewed a 3 gallon wheat Saturday, plan on making it a blueberry. My plan, get about a pound of frozen blueberries, purée and add to primary after a week (secondary's in use). I also bought extract at the homebrew store to add at bottling. I'm adding the actual fruit basically just to say there's real blueberry in it, but so many threads I read exclaimed how difficult it was to nail the flavor with fruit alone. So, that's where the extract comes in.