Fruity ales

[TW1Kell]

A microbrewery in South Florida always makes a Blueberry Ale that I simply loved! Now that my oldest son no longer lives down there, I have no reason (other than that Ale) to go down there (14 hours, each way, driving for that!). Now, for my point: How can I brew a Blueberry Ale? I know there has to be more than simply putting 3-4 blueberries in the finished product. 3 vats brewed and I'm getting brave! haha Any help offered will be appreciated.

 

[TopherM]

You brew like you would a normal batch (Hefe, Wheat, Blonde, Cream Ale are all good styles for fruit), ferment it out in primary, then rack on top of blueberry puree (about 6 lbs worth) in a secondary fermenter and let that ferment out.

Keg/bottle, carb, condition, DRINK!

BTW, is the Blueberry Ale you like from the Florida Avenue brewery? They are right up the road from me!

 

[TW1Kell]

Nope, Big Bear in Coral Springs. I loved that ale.

I'm using a Cooper's kit, and go straight from the vat to the bottle...what would I do in that situation? I guess that I should have stated that at the start. I don't actually do a 2nd fermentation...I don't even know what "racking" is. I've tried to find a post about terms that was recommended to me, but no luck.

 

[hwilshusen]

Racking is moving the beer from one container to another. Siphon not pour.

 

[TopherM]

Yup, you are going to need a 2nd "vat." Once your initial fermentation is complete, you would then put about 6lbs of blueberry puree into the 2nd vat, move the fermented beer into the 2nd vat, then it would ferment all over again, using the sugars from the fruit and imparting the flavor along the way. Then you bottle.

Also, before you put the blueberry puree into the secondary vessel, you need to boil them in a bit of water for about 4-5 minutes to sanatize. Fresh fruit is notorious for hosting wild yeast that will sour your beer if you don't kill them off.

 

[Captainfester]

in theory you could do the following...

take 6 lbs of blueberrys. put them in a pot on the stove and warm them slowly / mash them and bring them up to 170 degrees for about 15 minutes.

sanitize a muslin bag / grain bag or whatever your mesh bag of choice is.

cool the blueberry slush.

pour it into the sanitized bag. tie off the bag and drop it into the primary fermentation "vat"

it will work. you will get some more fermentation due to the sugars. i would let it sit a week or more.

then bottle as normal

 

[TW1Kell]

Cool, thanks for the advice, gang. I have 2 of the brewing vats from Cooper's. I guess I'll just have to use the one, then siphon it over, then start my next batch after sanitizing the 1st one. hehe I knew it was a good idea to have 2 of 'em. Not just being beer greedy! haha

 

[TW1Kell]

So, I either rack into my 2nd vat on top of the puree, leaving the puree to become turb in the bottom of THAT vat? Or do I put the puree in the bag like CPTFester said in re-fermenting in the 1st vat? Does it need to go in a bag, either way? I am thinking that this is going to be my next brew, either blueberry or raspberry. Do I add any yeast, or anything other than the puree?

 

[TW1Kell]

Hmmm...maybe I was too stupid on that last post? What's hanging me up is that I don't know whether or not I need to siphon out that yeast and stuff from the bottom of the primary vat. I think that I read that it's called "Turb"? Does that need to go into the secondary, or do I just dump that out? I'm about to mix the beer for the primary, so I am only a few weeks away from adding the puree for secondary.

I will attempt it by making the puree, as described above, then I'll bag it an put it in #2. Unless y'all tell me otherwsie, I'm going to pitch the "turb"(?) in, as well. I hope that I'm not messin' up here. haha! Wish me luck!

 

[mpenn35]

You won't need to transfer the trub to your secondary. There should be enough yeast still in suspension to take care of the fruit.

 

[TW1Kell]

Trub! Ok, cool. Thank you, very much. Now, I have a few days to get fruit, then...experimentation time! YAY!

 

[Bprisk]

Would that be 6 pounds of Buleberries per 5 gallons o if I was doing a 10 gallon batch I would need 12 pounds of blueberries?

 

[TW1Kell]

I assume so. That's what I would do.

 

[Boek]

You brew like you would a normal batch (Hefe, Wheat, Blonde, Cream Ale are all good styles for fruit), ferment it out in primary, then rack on top of blueberry puree (about 6 lbs worth) in a secondary fermenter and let that ferment out.

Keg/bottle, carb, condition, DRINK!

I've been wondering...since the fruit ferments down does the finished product contain any fruit sweetness or flavor? Seems like it would end up quite dry and tart. If I was looking to make a fruity girlie beer how could I do it? Mash at a high temp? Lots of crystal? Lactose?

 

[mpenn35]

I've been wondering...since the fruit ferments down does the finished product contain any fruit sweetness or flavor? Seems like it would end up quite dry and tart. If I was looking to make a fruity girlie beer how could I do it? Mash at a high temp? Lots of crystal? Lactose?

I just pulled a small sample of a Belgian Blonde that I racked onto six pounds of strawberries. It's tart, but pretty good already. I did add some lactose when I racked to offset some of the tartness.

I think you could rack onto fruit, give it 5-7 days, then sample it at bottling and add lactose (boiled in water and cooled first) until you get the sweetness (or lack of tartness) that you want and then bottling. That's what I plan on doing.

 

[TW1Kell]

From what I've been told in this thread, you simply rack it onto the puree of the fruit. The Blueberry Ale that I drank, every Spring, at Big Bear, was ale with a subtle blueberry flavor. It wasn't tart, it was simply blueberry flavor in the ale. Does that even make sense the way I said it?