Blueberry Wheat

[mgortel]

I didn't think I would like it but I just had a Sea Dog Blue Paw (blueberry wheat) and it is awesome.....very smooth with just a hint of blueberry...very good.

I would like to try a Blueberry Wheat sometime.....and I did a search and have found people split on using fresh fruit, blueberry extract, or pre pasteurized blueberry puree (like from Northern brewery).

Anyway, has anyone had good success and can you share your method/recipe. Again....i dont want an overpowering taste of blueberry...just a hint of it in the smell and taste......

Thanks!

 

[billvon]

Anyway, has anyone had good success and can you share your method/recipe. Again....i dont want an overpowering taste of blueberry...just a hint of it in the smell and taste......Thanks!

I can't speak to blueberry but I've done a few raspberry and apricot beers. I think in terms of fruit beers in general:

1) The earlier the fruit goes in the less it tastes like fruit at the end, and the drier it is. If you put it in during the boil you lose a lot of the flavor (although some beers, like McMenamins Ruby) do this. You can compensate by using more fruit. You also can get pectin haze from the heat.

2) Fruit extract since it doesn't contain much sugar doesn't get "fermented out." A lot of people add extract at bottling time.

3) Puree is sterile and may give more consistent results. Both whole fruit and puree contain sugar so it will either increase fermentation a bit (if added before fermentation) or restart it a little (if added after fermentation.)

4) It used to be standard to add the fruit in secondary; often people will put the fruit in first then pour the beer on top. Most of the time I put the fruit in primary and it works OK.

5) You may get a lot of floating stuff with puree or fresh fruit; one of my raspberry-in-primary beers ended up very junky by the time I bottled it.

Hope that helps, and good luck. You may want to try adding puree right after fermentation; you'll lose some flavor and it will be a bit dry (sugars will ferment away) but that sounds like what you want.

 

[archiefl98]

All I can say is that if you use the extract, use 1/4 to 1/2 of the bottle for 5 gallons (Into the bottling bucket before you rack the brew onto it). At least to me, if you put the whole bottle in then it's way to overpowering. My brother used to make a few fruit beers using the extract and that's the only source of information on this one I have.

My sister used to toss in about a pound of frozen blueberries into a secondary fermenter and let them sit in there for a week or two. Her beers always seemed to taste a bit better although she never pasteurized them so she'd have a layer of moldy whatnot on top of the beer in the carboy. (kind of disturbing)

Personally, I leave the fruit out of my beers now, although I was thinking about making a batch for SWMBO-N-Friends this summer.

I'd probably start with my honey wheat and add some fresh berries that I pasteurize in a sauce pan and then cool into a secondary fermenter:

75% efficiency:

4 lbs. Wheat Malt (2.2 SRM)
4 lbs. Pale Malt 2-row US (2.5 SRM)
1 lb. Dark Wheat Malt (7.3 SRM)

0.5 oz Cascade 5.4% @ 60 min
0.5 oz Cascade 5.4% @ 30 min
1.00 oz Cascade 5.4% @ 5 min

1.5 lbs. Honey at flameout

Some sort of yeast (I use S05, but some sort of American Wheat would probably be a better choice)

 

[mgortel]

You may want to try adding puree right after fermentation; you'll lose some flavor and it will be a bit dry (sugars will ferment away) but that sounds like what you want.

Do you mean to add the fruit at bottling time...or did you mean to add after putting wort into primary fermentation bucket?

Also, any idea how much puree to add? Those cans come in like 3.3 lbs....seems like a lot for 5 gal of beer

 

[timm747]

I just brewed a Hank's Hefeweizen kit and used 3 ounces of blueberry extract.

It is way overpowering. To the point where it might not be enjoyable. We'll see in a couple weeks though. I'm hoping the sourness subsides.

 

[david_42]

If you want a hint of blueberry, a pound of frozen berries would probably be enough. I used 3 pounds plus half a bottle of da Vinci blueberry syrup, but the person I made the beer for likes it sweet and up front. I like blueberry too, so no problem.

I find most raspberry beer recipes excessive.