Fresh Blueberry Ale

[UncleRico]

I have a hopped down pale ale in my primary awaiting the addition of 5lbs of fresh picked to frozen blueberries. Three questions:

1) add blueberries thawed and lightly crushed to primary after primary fermentation is done or rack beer onto berries in a secondary - pros/cons? (I've read the new thinking is to minimize use of secondaries)

2) Has anyone ever had a spoiled brew due to not pasteurizing berries? I've used the 170ish degree x 15 minute trick in a taste comparison vs thawed, and the heat clearly takes away taste/aroma in my opinion. I know many people add thawed berries straight into secondary without adverse effects, but are these wild fresh picked and only gently rinsed berries or frozen from store where additional cleaning and/or pasteurizing has happened?

3) If i use the nylon bag for secondary fermentation (in primary bucket), will this help me keep a more normal beer color and better clarity (seems like more proteins would stay out of brew as well as tannins/color from skins).

Would love any suggestions / feedback!

 

[pimento]

1) Adding fruit in the primary vs secondary is more about additions before or after fermentation. Since your beer is already fermented out, it really doesn't make much difference except moving it off the yeast cake.

2) Fresh picked fruit can up your risk of infection, but there are ways to lessen the chance. you mentioned heating, but you can also soak the fruit overnight in a bit of water with campden tablets added just like making wine or cider.

3) I use a nylon bag because it makes cleanup simpler. I don't believe it helps with color/clarity, the proteins/tannins/color will soak out as the fruit breaks down just like the flavor and sugars.

 

[UncleRico]

I appreciate your feedback pimento. Do you think adding water is really necessary? After the berries thaw, there will be a lot of juice that will then mix with the water and dilute the berries/juice. Seems like this should be done prior to freezing typically?

 

[artyboy]

I would freeze them. It makes it easier to extract all of the juice when you crush them. I would also rinse the berries in a campden/water solution before crushing/pureeing them. You could add a little pectic enzyme to eat up the proteins. Usually, when I add puree to beer it just falls out. You're not going to be able to leave the flavor behind without affecting the color. Unless your beer has been in primary for months you'll probably restart fermentation by adding fruit. if you don't want to restart fermentation then you'll have to rack to secondary and add a campden tablet to kill all of the yeast before adding the fruit.

 

[UncleRico]

Thanks Arty. I've just picked a few more gallons of berries. I think I'm going to soak them in a campden/water solution first, then drain and freeze. Thaw then crush prior to adding after primary fermentation is complete. After they're frozen, the berries are really juicy, and I don't want to dilute/rinse off that fresh juice, so cleaning before freezing seems to be my best bet. I will allow the berry juice to ferment a bit because I plan on priming and bottling for carbonation, so I don't want to kill off all my yeast.