Brewing Bad: Blueberry Blonde Ale

[estricklin]

Not sure how many blueberries I have until I get a chance to weight them, I'm thinking about 7-10 lbs though. The main question I have for this recipe is about the bitterness. I'm looking for a firm bitterness, but I don't want to brew something that isn't really drinkable. The IBUs aren't that high obviously, but I'm not sure that even with the small amount of C40 and Munich, that the Maris Otter has enough backbone to stand behind that much bitterness. Also worried the blueberries could add some type of bitterness as well.

For 10 gallons
15 lbs of Maris Otter
5 lbs of Munich 10L
8 oz C40
1 oz of Citra for 60 min
1 oz of Northern Brewer for 60 min
42 IBUs,
6.4%ABV (without blueberries factored in)
OG 1.058
7.3 SRM

I will most likely use safale US-05 but do have Irish Ale on hand if need be.

I don't have a lot of other specialty grains laying around, just some C120, Victory, English Brown, nothing that would go good in this beer it would seem.

Appreciate the advice!

 

[badlee]

If you are adding the berries to secondary and looking for flavour/aroma,then I would reduce your IBUs to about 32-33.

 

[estricklin]

If you are adding the berries to secondary and looking for flavour/aroma,then I would reduce your IBUs to about 32-33.

I'm going to add the blueberries at flameout just to be on the safe side with wild yeast, I plan to bottle condition a good portion of this batch and would like it to be shelf stable for a long time.