Sweetwater Blue

[bufordtjones]

I recently moved out to Texas and can't get a hold of Sweetwater anymore! Does anyone have a recipe that is pretty close to Sweetwater Blue? Any suggestions?

 

[nicho157]

I recently moved from houston to atlanta, and I'm enjoying the hell out of some sweetwater blue. I stumbled across this thread looking for a recipe to clone it....I'll let you know if I find anything that works.

 

[Chello]

I'd say make Biermunchers Centennial Blonde and either secondary on fresh blueberries or add blueberry extract. You may also want to tone down the hops a bit also.

 

[benbradford]

any further progress on this beer? I like the idea fo the centennial blonde and adding the extract...I can definately taste the centennial in this beer, and the color would be close but a little light.

 

[benbradford]

I was thinking about this

ibu 39.9
color 11.3
og 1.052

12 gallon batch

11 maris otter
6.5 vienna
4.25 munich
1 crystal 20
1 crystal 60
1.75 cascade 60
1.25 cascade 30
1.75 centennial 10
.75 centennial 5
.5 centennial 0
2 safale us05
1 blueberry extract liquid

mash at 154 for 60

 

[theBFG]

Any luck with this?

 

[nicho157]

I've had success making biermuchers centenial blonde and racking it over blueberries in the secondary. Ive made this beer using anywhere from 6(moderate blueberry flavor) to 12 (holy jesus blueberries in your face) pounds. I preffered the lower end of the spectrum, but there were folks who tried all the different types who loved the almost wine-like 12 pound version. 6 is closer to real sweetwater blue. Its really your call

No matter what this doesn't come out exactly like sweetwater because it uses real blueberries where sweetwater doesnt, so it's more alcholic and gets a cool purple color with an almost pink head. So not the same, but the same idea. It's good stuff. It may be more like real sweetwater to just kill the fermentation with campden tablets and then add blueberry juice at kegging(if you keg), but i havent tried that.

One important note: use a blow off tube when you rack to the secondary-- the blueberries just go crazy immeadiately, and, trust me, its not fun to clean the purple goo of an exploded airlock off your ceiling.

 

[theBFG]

^ Thanks for the input. My gf loves this beer but I couldn't seem to find a good recipe. I've made the centennial blonde before, so perhaps I'll go with that one. In regards to racking on the blueberries - I have done this with strawberries with moderate success, but I think blue berries tend to have a tougher skin that I wouldn't think would be penetrated as well by just racking on top. How did you prepare the blueberries prior to racking? Thanks again -

 

[nicho157]

The ladies love the blueberry beer

Just freeze the berries. The ice will make thousands of little microtears in the skin to let the juice out.

 

[theBFG]

That they do!

Sounds good, that's just what I did for the strawberries, but wasn't sure it would work. Thanks again!