Riberry-LillyPilly Beer

[Grok]

I have a few bushes (small trees really) that are dripping with beautiful ripe berrys and it seems a shame not to use them for something other than perhaps making a bit of jam.
I know there are a few old threads on this topic, but just wondering if there are any adventurous brewers who have recently tried using LillyPilly fruit in your beer making?

 

[shmick]

I use mine exclusively to coat the car and create slip hazards on the driveway.

Haven't tried any in beer but mine are quite tart and acidic with a mild berry type flavour which may work in some kind of sour?
If I don't cut the thing down before next fruit I might give it a go.

 

[booyablack]

I have a few bushes (small trees really) that are dripping with beautiful ripe berrys and it seems a shame not to use them for something other than perhaps making a bit of jam.
I know there are a few old threads on this topic, but just wondering if there are any adventurous brewers who have recently tried using LillyPilly fruit in your beer making?

Hi Grok

My home brewing hobby has actually led me to open a microbrewery with some mates in Newcastle. One of our most popular and certainly unique beers is our Lilly Pilly (Riberry) sour.

It started out with the same thought process as you. Tasting the riberry fruit from the Bunnings Lilly Pilly that I planted in front of my house led me to think that the interesting but tart flavour would do well in a sour. A couple of trial batches later and it’s now one of our most sought after (but only seasonal) beers.

We like using Philly sour yeast to create our sours as it ticks several boxes for us:

- Simple to use (i.e. use as per normal yeast)
- No need for the extra steps (and costs) required for a kettle sour
- Little risk of infection to other brews because Philly sour is easily overpowered by most other yeasts
- Only mildly sours the beer. Many would see this as a negative but we aren’t fans of many of the battery acid strength sours on the market and enjoy our mildly soured Philly sour beers

We create a simple light sour base with mostly Pilsner malt and ferment with Philly sour. We take our riberries out of the deep freezer and heat them in a pot until boiling and then blitz them with a stick blender. We then add them as a dry hop addition contained in a grain bag to the fermenter ensuring to also add all the juice from the blending as well.

Our head brewer likens the flavour of our Lilly Pilly sour to that of a lemon, lime and bitters and I tend to agree with him.

Here are some photos of our Lilly Pilly tree, harvesting, dry “hop” prep and final product.

Note - Riberries are the name of the fruit from a specific Lilly Pilly which is Syzygium Luehmannii. This is what we use. The fruit of all Lilly Pilly varieties are edible however most of them have no taste whatsoever.

 

[shmick]

Thanks for sharing booyablack
I'll definitely give it go then next season

We have quite a few trees around our neighbourhood but unsure of exact species.
A few, like ours, sprung up by themselves spread from birds or other wildlife most likely. They have a flavour which is pleasant though not real strong.
They do have large seeds in them though which might not be good for blending. Maybe a quick crush after boiling.

 

[Rastas]

I use mine exclusively to coat the car and create slip hazards on the driveway.

Haven't tried any in beer but mine are quite tart and acidic with a mild berry type flavour which may work in some kind of sour?
If I don't cut the thing down before next fruit I might give it a go.

Hi Shmick,

How do you coat your car with them ? also, what do you do to your driveway with them ?

I am simply curious as I have not heard of those uses before.

Not asking for a friend, (don't have any

Cheers,
Peter.

 

[shmick]

How do you coat your car with them ? also, what do you do to your driveway with them ?

The tree is 4 m tall and overhangs my driveway.
1000's of berries drop everywhere. Most roll off but a lot stick when they're ripe. Birds, bats and possums add to the mayhem while it's fruiting.
I've cut it back to shoulder height twice but every cut branch springs 5 new ones twice as long.
The potential to make beer from it is the only thing saving it right now.