Infusing a dark beer with fruit?

[Thejiro]

I know that typically fruit is found in the lighter beers such as the wits and hefe's but Ive had this idea of making a chocolate stout and infusing it with blackberries the end of this summer or begininng of fall so that I can have a nice winter beer. Can anyone suggest a good way to go about infusing a beer this way with blackberries?

Ken

P.S. Im not looking for an over powering flavor/aroma of the berries just a slight hint at the end of the palate.

 

[Daparish]

What kind of stout are you looking to make? How much body/ABV/etc?

 

[billvon]

Can anyone suggest a good way to go about infusing a beer this way with blackberries?

By far the safest/simplest way is to wait for the first fermentation to complete, then add some Oregon blackberry puree. (It's sterile and ground up already.) Amount used depends on how strong a backbone the beer has. If it's a warm-mashed (i.e. lots of unfermentable sugars) stout with either chocolate or lots of chocolate malt, it's going to take a lot to be noticed, so 3 lbs (1 can) might be a good choice. I've used half a can for lighter rye/wheat fruit beers.

Or you can just add the fruit itself. I'd heat it up to at least 170-180F to kill off most of the wild yeasts. Or just toss it in if you're feeling adventurous and want to see what wild yeasts do to it. (One of the problems there is that you might get an amazing beer doing that, but you'll never be able to reproduce it.)

 

[Daparish]

By far the safest/simplest way is to wait for the first fermentation to complete, then add some Oregon blackberry puree. (It's sterile and ground up already.) Amount used depends on how strong a backbone the beer has. If it's a warm-mashed (i.e. lots of unfermentable sugars) stout with either chocolate or lots of chocolate malt, it's going to take a lot to be noticed, so 3 lbs (1 can) might be a good choice. I've used half a can for lighter rye/wheat fruit beers.

Or you can just add the fruit itself. I'd heat it up to at least 170-180F to kill off most of the wild yeasts. Or just toss it in if you're feeling adventurous and want to see what wild yeasts do to it. (One of the problems there is that you might get an amazing beer doing that, but you'll never be able to reproduce it.)

Isn't 10 minutes at 160 enough to pasteurize anything that's going into the wort?

 

[whatsleftofyou]

If it's a warm-mashed (i.e. lots of unfermentable sugars) stout with either chocolate or lots of chocolate malt, it's going to take a lot to be noticed, so 3 lbs (1 can) might be a good choice.

Not sure about the blackberry, but I used a full can of the raspberry in a sweet stout and it was definitely more than what I wanted.

 

[Thejiro]

I was planning on making an imperial chocolate stout with an abv in the 10-11% range. I will post my grain bill and schedule in a few once I have that finally hashed out.

 

[Thejiro]

So this is my recipie im planning on using.

23lbs pale 2 row british malt
1.25 lb chocolate malt 500L
1.25 lb crystal malt 150L
1.25 lb roasted rye 95L
1.00 lb special b malt 180L

mash at 154 for 60 mins
fly sparge
90 minute boil
6.5 oz of tomahawk hops 60 minutes

pitching a huge wyeast 1272 stater

estimated og 1.104
estimated srm 50.3
estimated ibu 111

going to be a 5 gallon batch

so my question is should I use between 1.5 and 2 cans of the oregon blackberry puree?

 

[billvon]

going to be a 5 gallon batch

so my question is should I use between 1.5 and 2 cans of the oregon blackberry puree?

I think I'd definitely start with 1 can or less! I've used 2 cans of fruit in a 5gal lambic and the fruit was almost all you could taste. I made a wheat beer with 1 can of blackberry and just 2oz of blackberry extract and it was pretty fruity.

 

[Thejiro]

Ok it seems like the consensus is to try one can. I will go with that. I was figuring that the high bitterness and maltiness of this stout would cover most of the fruit during the body of the beer and leave just a hint in the aftertaste which is really what Im looking for.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

You can always add more, but you can't take any away (unless you blend it)