# Blueberry Wit?



## winkle (29/8/08)

I'm contemplating the next bit of fruity stupidity to brew for the spring and thought that a blueberry wit should 1) look impressive, 2) taste should work ok, 3) annoy the crap out of my bogan-beer drinking mates.

*Bluewit*

23 litre batch
2kg BB Ale malt
1.5kg BB Wheat malt
1kg flaked wheat
0.5 kg instant oat flakes

30gm EKG 60 minutes

500gm blueberrys at day 3 .

Question for anyone who has dabbled with blueberrys in the past - is 500gm enough + are the IBUs sufficent?


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## newguy (29/8/08)

I've never used blueberries but a friend has. He used 4lbs (~1.8kg) in a brown porter and the balance was about right. If you use that much fruit the body thins out a lot, so mash at a higher temp to compensate. I don't think that 500g would be enough for a normal sized batch.


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## jojai (29/8/08)

It should look fantastic! Sorry nothing else to say, but I'm a fan of blueberry and have everything for a wit already, so I hope something good comes out of this


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## Tanga (29/8/08)

winkle said:


> I'm contemplating the next bit of fruity stupidity to brew for the spring and thought that a blueberry wit should 1) look impressive, 2) taste should work ok, 3) annoy the crap out of my bogan-beer drinking mates.
> 
> *Bluewit*
> 
> ...



Afraid I can't help with answers, but please let us know how it turned out. Got a big mulberry tree in the backyard here and would love to experiment later in the season.

Now this is based soley on what I've read, but the hops look like they're just for bittering? Would you consider adding some later in the boil to get the aromatics going?

Damn, looks like it could be good. Are they all pale malts - it'd be cool if the colour came out. Though you'd possibly need more fruit. Can't wait to see how it goes. 

PS would I be able to do something like this with extracts?


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## Interloper (29/8/08)

newguy said:


> I've never used blueberries but a friend has. He used 4lbs (~1.8kg) in a brown porter and the balance was about right. If you use that much fruit the body thins out a lot, so mash at a higher temp to compensate. I don't think that 500g would be enough for a normal sized batch.



Agreed that this is not enough fruit. It will add colour but you should consider triple or quadruple that amount to impart flavour. I did a raspberry cider with 500gms as a puree. Smelt and looked awesome for a while in the ferment But after a week in primary there was almost no colour left and little flavour.

I did a cherry/berry ale with over a kilo of fruit racked in secondary and that came out much better with good colour and flavour.


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## jojai (29/8/08)

Tanga, wits only generally have bittering hops as the spices and fruits provide the aroma and flavor components. I think the hop usage looks good, other than that probably more blueberrys and it'll turn out great, I reckon the grain is spot on.

Also, an extract brew would consist of 50/50 light malt extract (dry or syrup) and wheat malt extract (I think only syrup is readily available), if you are able to do a mini mash also steep some oats at 40C for 15 mins, pitch good wit yeast (available from Beerbelly which is pretty close to you), and put the blueberrys in there in secondary as winkle says.


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## Katherine (29/8/08)

Tanga sure you could do it with extracts. Theres lots of previous posts on making beer with fruit.

I could be wrong but Im thinking another AHB user by the name of Belconney makes quite alot of fruit beer (successfully). I think could be wrong but think his a partial man.


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## Tanga (29/8/08)

Wow - thanks for those replys. Sorry about hijacking your thread Winkle.

A recipe! Also good to know about the only hops being bittering hops, and not too many of those. No wonder I like the wit beers. I'll look up Belconnie - thanks Katie .

With blueberries I'd consider adding some sticks of cinnamon too, but that might be too much.


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## Fourstar (29/8/08)

As im not a fan of blueberries i dont think i'd tend to this, however if it was blackberries or raspberries it would sound quite pleasing. It always turns out that when i get some blueberries they are always so leathery and lacking in flavour. almost got to the point of swearing off them completly.

let us know how it goes. +pic's of the result as SWMBO would be interested in this.


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## jojai (29/8/08)

I know what you mean fourstar, I've never enjoyed bought blueberries, but my nanna's garden yields tasty ones


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## Tyred (29/8/08)

Perry,

It will depend a lot on what you are after in your beer. The later you (e.g. racking onto fruit in secondary) the more fruit flavour and colour you will get in your brew. At least that's what I've found with my meads. The ones where I added fruit in primary tend to be a little more winey and lacking the aroma and nice colour. Still very nice to drink tho.


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## TidalPete (29/8/08)

winkle said:


> I'm contemplating the next bit of fruity stupidity to brew for the spring and thought that a blueberry wit should 1) look impressive, 2) taste should work ok, 3) annoy the crap out of my bogan-beer drinking mates.
> 
> *Bluewit*
> 
> ...



G'day Perry,

Can't say that I have done the fruit Wit thing yet but I have a nice Belgian Pale fruit beer tasting nice after 4 months.  
Wanted to make a raspberry pale but Woolies were out of the McCain raspberries so I used their mixed fruit (Raspberries, blackberries, & blueberries) at the rate of 900g for 23 litres. 
Different weights for different fruits? I am interested in finding out too. 
I should say that individual tastes also come into the equation.
THBOMM Rossco has done a Blackberry Hefe which was quite nice so he might be able to give you more help?

TP :beer:


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## kook (29/8/08)

What are you looking for from the beer? A blue tinged wit with a very faint berry character? Thats what I think you'd achieve with 500g fruit.

I added 3kg raspberries to ~ 20L (might of been 23L, would have to check) of wit and I still felt it could do with a little more fruit character. The yeast will strip away a lot of the flavour you associate with the fruit. 

Most the fruit lambic brewers & blenders use 200-300g of fruit / litre of beer.


edit - I also used a 2.25kg tin of Belgian Sour cherries in around 12L of Flanders Red earlier this year. Had a taste for the first time the other night, and I haven't used enough fruit. It's damn tasty, but the fruit character hasn't come through as strong as I'd liked.


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## Snow (29/8/08)

I brewed an 8% Belgian Dubbel (23L) a few years ago and added one 400g jar of rasberries which I turned into a pulp before I tipped the whole lot into the secondary. I left it for 2 weeks then bottled. It was amazing. Nice light rasberry aroma blended well with the spicy Belgian yeast and malt qualities. The flavour was subdued but noticable with a lovely tartness. I had my last one about 2 months ago when the brew was 3 years old and it still smelled and tasted of rasberries. However, it was nowhere near the sort of lambic/ bellevue kriek flavour explosion you can get from some fruit beers. Having said this, as blueberries are nowhere as pungent and tart as rasberries, I would probably add three times this amount if I was doing a blueberry wit.

Cheers - Snow


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## AndrewQLD (29/8/08)

Winkle your mates will love you.

However Blueberries have a very subdued flavour, and as others have said the fermentation will strip the delicate flavour away.
I'd double the amount of Blueberries and add just before fermentation ends, say around S.G 1.015, you'll get a much more pronounced flavour.

Andrew


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## winkle (29/8/08)

Thanks for the imput guys - 1 kg at secondary hhmmm, day 4 from pitch is sounding good- all I need now is a decent supply of fresh berrys (my bushes died a while back  ).

Rosella wit coming soon as they are available as well  
Fun times........


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## InCider (29/8/08)

I've a keg of Blueberry Lager in CC. Nice. dumped 1.5 kg of Blueberries from Woollies in. (on special Tidal Pete at the new woolies at Clown Town)

I've done a Cherry Ale too - same amounts. Good fun to muck around with. The cherry beer was high in alc% and made me walk upside down. 

Edit: I'm drinking and it's all about me!


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## jayandcath (29/8/08)

Tanga said:


> Afraid I can't help with answers, but please let us know how it turned out. Got a big mulberry tree in the backyard here and would love to experiment later in the season.
> 
> Now this is based soley on what I've read, but the hops look like they're just for bittering? Would you consider adding some later in the boil to get the aromatics going?
> 
> ...



Mulberry beer, now that's a bloody great idea. Send me a post if you do that, I love Mulberries, and to be honest I never thought of using them.
Nice work Tanga, love ya work.

Jay 

PS - Incider, your pissed, go to bed


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## big_alk (29/8/08)

double the blueberries and add them to the secondary (or the end of primary)
the beer will end up pink, not blue


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## InCider (29/8/08)

jayandcath said:


> Mulberry beer, now that's a bloody great idea. Send me a post if you do that, I love Mulberries, and to be honest I never thought of using them.
> Nice work Tanga, love ya work.
> 
> Jay
> ...



I'm staying up now Cath! :lol:


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## winkle (29/8/08)

big_alk said:


> double the blueberries and add them to the secondary (or the end of primary)
> the beer will end up pink, not blue



God dammit I wanted blue!!

View attachment 20897


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## Muggus (30/8/08)

I made a blueberry Hefeweizen a while back.

Racked around 7.5L of beer onto 900g of those frozen blueberries you get from the supermarket. 
I made the mistake of adding sugar to prime it when bottling...carbonation turned out very high, gushers all over the shop...only make that mistake once!
The beer itself I'm quite happy with, colour is very nice purple/deep pink, pink head. The flavour itself is quite subtle though, slight berry with the sort of gritty tannic quality you get from blueberries. 
With the high carbonation it actually makes it a very girly beer! :wub:


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## winkle (30/8/08)

Ah, purple I can live with B) .
Come to think of it St Jozef (Bg) do a blueberry lambic called Bosbier which is purplish.


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## barls (31/8/08)

id say you need about 1.5kg from experience and i did 500g in 5L of mead and cant taste any of the flavour


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## bconnery (5/9/08)

Katie said:


> Tanga sure you could do it with extracts. Theres lots of previous posts on making beer with fruit.
> 
> I could be wrong but Im thinking another AHB user by the name of Belconney makes quite alot of fruit beer (successfully). I think could be wrong but think his a partial man.


A forum member by the name of bconnery makes fruit beer a fair bit, successfully in his tastes at least ....

I do AG now but used to do extract and partials all the time. 

Tanga, can you make a good wit from extract? Kind of, but the colour is always darker and it lacks something. 
Can you make a good fruit beer, and fruit wheat from extract? Yes!
I haven't made a mulberry beer yet but it is on the list. I grew up with about 4 large mulberry trees within easy access so my fingers used to be largely purple for a few months each year  
I think Petesbrew? Or someone, has definitely made a good one. 

My preferred fruit beer is just a wheat beer base, a kit or two tins of wheat extract will do fine, a little steeped crystal, a good noble hop such as tettnang or hallertau and a simple yeast like k97 or wb06 dry, even t58 depending on the beer. 
I don't want my yeast to interfere with the fruit character, but I like something under there. 

I always use fresh fruit, I freeze it first and then defrost in the microwave, and I always do it in secondary. Rack the beer on to the fruit and then after a week or two rack it again for bottling/kegging to leave behind all the bits...

The key is selecting the amount of fruit for your chosen fruit. Some have a stronger taste than others. My strawbeery has up 4.5kgs in a 22l batch, but my mixed berry wheat had only 1.3kgs, and it has a stronger fruit flavour...

If colour is important then the paler the base beer the better, but a wheat beer kit generally isn't too dark. 

A well made fruit beer can be enjoyed by beer drinkers and those who 'don't like beer much' alike...
My strawbeery gets made every year cause the whole family loves it...


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## reviled (5/9/08)

bconnery said:


> My strawbeery gets made every year cause the whole family loves it...



Recipe please??


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## bconnery (5/9/08)

reviled said:


> Recipe please??


Here's the latest strawbeery...
And the mixed berry...


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## reviled (5/9/08)

bconnery said:


> Here's the latest strawbeery...
> And the mixed berry...




Cheers mate, looks tasty!


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## winkle (29/12/08)

Was talking to Tidal Pete about this beer over Xmas, and it reminded me to post the results.
I took a keg of this to the QLD Xmas swap after giving it a week to condition, but that wasn't anywhere near enough - flat and the first few glasses looked like (ahem) man juice <_< .
After 3 more weeks it was in it's element, dark pink, well carbed, fluffy head, lite blueberry flavour that blended with the wit body well. I took the remains of the keg to my mates place and surprisingly they emptied it in no time and demanded I make another batch.

Bluwit 
Witbier 


Type: All Grain
Date: 11/11/08 
Batch Size: 22.00 L
Boil Size: 25.18 L 
Boil Time: 60 min 
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU 
2.00 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.00 % 
1.00 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (1.5 SRM) Grain 25.00 % 
1.00 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 25.00 % 
11.00 gm Sticklebract [13.50 %] (60 min) Hops 17.4 IBU 
12.00 gm Saaz [4.00 %] (15 min) Hops 2.8 IBU 
0.25 tsp Koppafloc (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 
850.00 gm Blueberries (Secondary 4.0 days) Misc 
1 Pkgs SafBrew Specialty Ale (DCL Yeast #T-58) Yeast-Ale 


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.041 SG 
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG 
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.06 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.68 % 
Bitterness: 20.2 IBU Calories: 373 cal/l 
Est Color: 3.0 SRM 

Notes : used 2 cans of blueberries, probably should have used 3, will probably up the torrified wheat next time. The T-58 needs a month minimum conditioning to drop.

Edit there is a photo over in "Whats in the glass"


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## Deebo (7/10/11)

Bringing this thread back from the dead.. poet and I didnt knowit.. anyway...

Woolies had frozen blueberries on special so thought I would grab a pack to chuck into a lager or maybe a light ale.

Couple of questions:
Do I need to worry about yeast/bacteria on the blueberries?
Should I mush them up before I add them?
How do people normally add them, I havent bothered with a secondary for years so was thinking I would mush them up and dump them in once fermentation is finished or almost finished, might end up blocking the tap when I try and get it out though.
Am I going to get any noticable flavour/colour from only 450g of frozen blueberries?
Last but not least how does this sound:
Recipe: BluebAler

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 32.80 l
Post Boil Volume: 29.12 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l 
Bottling Volume: 21.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 5.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 22.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.1 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU 
5.00 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) ( Grain 1 95.2 % 
0.25 kg Carafoam (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 4.8 % 
25.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 10.8 IBUs 
0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 4 - 
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 6 - 
25.00 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 11.9 IBUs 
450.00 g Frozen Blueberries (Primary 7.0 days) Other 7 - 


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 5.25 kg
----------------------------
Name Description  Step Temperat Step Time 
Saccharification Add 36.00 l of water at 69.9 C 66.7 C 75 min 
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min 


450 mushed up thawed blueberries into primary once fermentation slows/ends, leave for 3 days or so then into the keg?
Havent decided wether to use a lager or us-05 yeast.. leaning towards the us-05


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## malt_shovel (7/10/11)

Keen to hear more on this also.

I am planning a wit with mulberry's so should be similar.

Cheers
:beer:


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