Blackberry Wheat Beer

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Mon Apr 14, 2014 8:02 am

Made up a batch of Coopers Wheat Beer at the weekend. Just a straight kit, made up to 20L with 1kg dextrose.

In the end, I decided I won't try anything too fancy this time - partly because the Berliner yeast requires long maturation to develop the characteristic sourness, and I want this one ready for summer drinking. If it turns out ok, I'll do it again over winter with this year's crop.

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 11:03 pm

This morning I racked the wheat beer from primary into a secondary FV with 1.8kg of blackberries - I would have used more but that's all we had left in the freezer. SG was down to 1004 (from OG 1040).

Stupidly, I forgot to take the blackberries out of the freezer and then didn't have time to let them defrost fully. Hopefully the cold won't kill off the yeast - there seems to be airlock activity this evening though.

Anyway, I've put the FV in the water bath at 22C and I'm now just going to leave it to do its thing for a week or so.

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:11 pm

Just had a look to check progress - it seems to be fermenting away nicely. And it smells amazing! The fruit is floating so I squashed it down a bit. Presumably it will sink again when it finishes fermenting...

WalesAles · Post by **WalesAles** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:58 am

Widders,
Why didn`t you put the Berries in a blender then put them in the FV?
WA

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 3:43 pm

Good question!

Looking back at my original post, I can see it was my intention when I started thinking about this to pulp the fruit before adding it. However, at some point I changed my mind. I'm not sure why.

I think it's partly because the fruit was frozen, and blackberries naturally break down and release their juices as they defrost anyway. And the fermentation process should break them down further too.

Also it's because I'm lazy and it was less work to just chuck them in whole. I was going to treat them with metabisulfite as well but decided not to bother for the same reason - I don't think it's necessary, based on the article I read (linked above).

I may do things differently next time though, including pulping the fruit first.

In any case, it seems to be fermenting away nicely and smells glorious!

WalesAles · Post by **WalesAles** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:41 pm

Good for you Widders,
If you`re Happy, then I`m Happy Too!

Now leave it alone for 2 weeks!
Keep us posted on results!
WA

Post by **Jim** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:42 pm

Reminds me of a cheesecake!

WalesAles · Post by **WalesAles** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:46 pm

Jim wrote:Reminds me of a cheesecake!

Mmmmmmm! Beer Flavoured Cheesecake! MrsAles is up for the challenge!
WA

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Thu May 01, 2014 6:58 pm

Now you mention it, Jim, it does look a bit like a cheesecake. Hoping it doesn't turn out tasting like one though!

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Sun May 18, 2014 6:32 pm

Bottled it this afternoon. It's been sitting on the fruit at 22C for three weeks now so should have had a decent chance to extract the sugar.

This is the beer racked into the bottling bucket - reasonably happy with the colour, though I'd have liked it a little darker:

This is the fruit left in the FV - still mostly intact but a lot if the colour has been leached out, and a taste test reveals that so has most of the sugar. I'll definitely pulp it a bit next time though:

Primed it at 7g/L and got 22x 500ml bottles, and 20x 330ml bottles:

Pretty pleased with how it's turning out. The blackberry flavour is pronounced but not overpowering. And it's very dry. Which is good. Looking forward to finding out what it's like after a few weeks conditioning.

Drained the dregs into a glass to enjoy later:

6470zzy · Post by **6470zzy** » Sun May 18, 2014 9:08 pm

Looks like a good Summer brew

Make certain to give us the taste test results

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:05 am

Cracked one open last night. Barely two weeks in the bottle but it's already quite drinkable. The colour and aroma are perhaps more reminiscent of strawberries but there's definitely a lingering blackberry flavour in the aftertaste. Body is light but mouthfeel is enhanced by the fairly high level of carbonation. It's crisp and refreshing, exactly as I hoped it would be, and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out...

I'll definitely do this again, and I'll use more fruit next time. I was hoping to use 2.5kg blackberries but it turned out we only had 1.8kg in the freezer. I think a little more of the fruit flavour would be good. And I should pulp the fruit too to extract more colour and flavour.

Other modifications to the recipe...

Malt: I like the fact that it's very dry but maybe a very small amount of black malt would give it a nice hint of sweetness and colour.

Yeast: Definitely keen to try a different yeast next time as well - still tempted to try the Berliner Weisse idea, or maybe a saison yeast.

Hops: I don't think it needs any hop additions.

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:19 pm

Drinking very nicely indeed now. Beautifully clear, crisp and refreshing. A good light summer drink...

(Slight haze is actually condensation on the glass)

tazzymutt · Post by **tazzymutt** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 9:19 am

What I want to know is whether you tried the fruit at the end. Was a beer and blackberry crumble an option? (I hate waste

)

Hoppy brewing,

Ian.

widdersbel · Post by **widdersbel** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 6:58 am

I did try the fruit. It wasn't great. Tasting it did at least confirm that all/most of the sugar in it had fermented out. And most of the flavour too.

Don't worry, it didn't go to waste - it went on the compost heap.

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