When to add fruit.

[Trombly128]

When should I add dried elderberry to my batch? I have read a lot of negative things about elderberries in beer brewing. Any thoughts would be really helpful as i am dead set on using them.

 

[camelcarlson]

I've experimented with elderberries that I picked (fresh) and ended up putting them in with about 10 mins left in the boil. I didn't notice a huge flavor profile from them, but I only added 2 cups of fresh crushed berries. I'm interested in throwing some in my mash and boil and see what happens...

 

[JLem]

I have very little experience with brewing with fruit and no experience with elderberries, but my understanding is that it is best to add fruit post primary fermentation.

 

[JiltedEmu]

I've made a couple of strawberry blondes. In those brews, I let the beer ferment in the primary for a couple of weeks then racked the beer into a secondary with my strawberries. Adding the fruit in the secondary instead of the boil helps keep the flavor and aroma in the beer.

Someone mentioned that they used a couple cups in their beer and they didn't get much flavor or aroma from it. I've never actually tasted elderberries, but I'd imagine that a couple cups isn't nearly enough. For a point of reference, in my strawberry blondes I added about 7lbs of strawberries for a 5 gallon batch. So that should give you an idea of how much fruit you'll need.

 

[8Bit]

If it where me, I would rack the beer on top of them in the secondary. Since they are dried, I would also boil them to make sure they are nice and sanitary beforehand.

You could put them in to the primary with anywhere from 15-5 minutes left (or the whole time I guess when if you where so inclined) but all of the research I did for a blackberry american wheat I am working on seemed to lean twords putting fruit always in the secondary.

I don't know anything about elderberries and only slightly less then that about brewing so I couldn't comment on if it will taste good or not, but it never hurts to try. Maybe split the batch after the primary, rack half onto the berries and half not if you are either not sure you will like what it does, or not sure you have enough berries to make a difference. Good luck!