Blackberry Wheat beer

[biggtime]

Morning all,

I'm planning a brew day for tomorrow - a blackberry wheat beer. At the moment I'm looking at roughly equal quantities of pale malt and wheat malt, though may have to substitute some torrefied wheat if my homebrew order doesn't turn up in time. Perhaps just a small amount of oats too. Aiming for an ABV of 4.5%. Probably mash at 66 so it's not too sweet and not too dry.

60 min boil, lightly hopping with some Target first wort, some Pilgrim (if they turn up) at 20, and some Bramling Cross at flameout.

Then ferment, and put into secondary onto frozen then thawed blackerries (that I've had stored in the freezer since October).

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Cheers!

 

[BobbyP]

WOW! This sounds awesome. Nothing too useful from me re guidance but I hope it goes swimmingly and would love to hear/taste how this goes.

 

[tommidolcetto]

How much blackberry are you going to use?

 

[biggtime]

Not sure of exact weight at the moment. It's three smallish tubs. My thinking is that it's probably only enough for about 15 litres but I'll weigh them when I'm getting ready to defrost them, and get raspberries in to cover the short fall, in a split batch.

 

[BlackAddler]

I've brewed a few blackberry stouts.

I've found that giving the blackberries a whiz in the blender first, extracts more flavour. I then add the puree to the boil in the last minute, to kill off any wild yeast.

I didn't want the blackberries to be dominant, and have found that about 1 kilo in 50L brewlength is about right [for me]. I also pick the fattest/sweetest blackberries I can find. The sharp tasting ones I won't bother with.

You'll probably need to go fairly light on hops for a wheat beer.

 

[biggtime]

Cheers for the tips. Still thinking that I'll go with secondary with the blackberries but happy to be swayed by weight of opinion.

As for hops, I'm aiming for around 24 IBUs, with a largeish hit of Bramling X at flameout, on the basis that their aroma will complement the fruit.

 

[graysalchemy]

I have done elderberry stouts and always used 400g per gallon. I have always put them in in the last 10 mins of the boil after they have been mashed up. This way you get a fermented flavour more like a port than just the flavour of the berries. I have read in Ray Daniels Designing Great beers that robust fruit ie blackberry and elderberry should be fermented were as more delicate flavours ie raspberries should be added in the secondary. Elderberries in stout is definately a winner and fermenting them through adds a very nice subtle rounded flavour to the stout. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[boab42stout]

That sounds fabulous hop all goes well

 

[pittsy]

You might want to think about use wlp320 american wheat yeast , no banana and clove which would allow the fruit to shine .

 

[biggtime]

I have done elderberry stouts and always used 400g per gallon. I have always put them in in the last 10 mins of the boil after they have been mashed up. This way you get a fermented flavour more like a port than just the flavour of the berries. I have read in Ray Daniels Designing Great beers that robust fruit ie blackberry and elderberry should be fermented were as more delicate flavours ie raspberries should be added in the secondary. Elderberries in stout is definately a winner and fermenting them through adds a very nice subtle rounded flavour to the stout. :thumb: :thumb:

Must admit that my reading of Daniels was a little different - my impression was that he came out in favour of robust fruit in secondary, because heating the fruit gives them a different character and risks releasing pectins etc. Because it's a wheat beer, I think I'd like the real freshness of the berries coming through, which again seems to argue in favour of secondary.
This made for an interesting read for anyone considering making a fruit beer too: http://beersyndicate.com/learning_resou ... .asp?id=47

 

[graysalchemy]

It will give it a different character to the flavour but with robust flavours they need to be tempered a bit. You certainly wouldn't want raw elderberry flavour in a beer and personally I would find blackberries a bit harsh as well.But each to there own. :thumb:

 

[biggtime]

It will give it a different character to the flavour but with robust flavours they need to be tempered a bit. You certainly wouldn't want raw elderberry flavour in a beer and personally I would find blackberries a bit harsh as well.But each to there own. :thumb:

Agreed when it comes to elderberry. With blackberries in a wheat beer, I think I would want their freshness shining through - you want to know they're there if they're promised. We'll see how it works out though. We learn through our mistakes! :)

 

[graysalchemy]

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[biggtime]

So as it turns out, I've only got 750 grams of blackberries - probably enough for 2 gallons, just about, based on Daniels. So it seems the majority will, in fact, be raspberry wheat beer after all.

Used Saf-04 to ferment, at 20 degrees C, and it got down from 1.045 to 1.008 in 4.5 days. Must have been slightly more fermentable sugar in there than I expected. Anyway, it's ready to go on the berries, which are now thawing - the hopping was pretty light so it could definitely do with the berry flavour to pep it up a bit.

Once defrosted, would soaking them briefly in Saniclean make any sense, just to get rid of any possible bugs? Or should the freezing process, plus the alcohol in the beer, make it pretty safe regardless?

 

[graysalchemy]

Soak in some water with a campden tablet in would do the job. :thumb:

 

[biggtime]

Cheers! Will do!

 

[biggtime]

Soak in some water with a campden tablet in would do the job. :thumb:

Sorry, quick practical question on this... I assume that after the campden soak you throw the whole lot in? You wouldn't drain off the water (because it would contain lots of lovely juice) but am I right to assume the campden wouldn't do any harm to the beer itself at this stage? Cheers!

 

[graysalchemy]

If your blackberries have been frozen and are mushy then perhaps thaw out and put a little vodka in it that would sterilise them. :thumb:

 

[biggtime]

Oops, already poured on the campden water...

 

[biggtime]

Errr, the raspberries and their juice have now gone completely pale! Is that right? Effect of the campden tablets? Effect of the warm water? Wasn't expecting that!