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I am relatively new to all grain brewing (4 brew days deep) but have decided to attempt a blueberry ale for the summer / wife. Wanted to share the recipe (already have the grains but would appreciate any comments for next time) and berry addition plan and seek some local knowledge (been reading a lot online… needless to say there is varying opinions!).

My plan is to brew as normal, put wort into primary for 2 weeks, then rack into a secondary which will have 5#’s of unpasteurized previously frozen but processed (in a food processor) berry’s on the bottom for an additional 2 weeks.

Any feedback?! Thanks in advance!!

Recipe #1 (~5% ABV)
3.5 kg (7.75 lbs) 2-row pale malt
100 gr (3.5 oz) 60L crystal
100 gr (3.5 oz) amber malt
500 gr (1.1 lb) wheat malt
150 gr (5.3 oz) flaked barley
25 gr (0.9 oz) 7.1% AA Willamette 60 min
20 gr (0.7 oz) 4.3% AA Goldings 2 min
US-05 American Ale Yeast

I make a Blueberry Ale and keep it pretty simple.....97% 2 row, 2% c-20, and 1% carapils. I use Saaz hops at 60 minutes to about 14IBUs and no other additions.

I've used BB in meads before. I'm not sure 5# will give you much flavour, might want to try 10#. Also, wild BBs have way more flavour than the cultivated ones. Costco sell wild ones frozen.

Good Luck!

Should i process the wild blueberries in a food processor or just add them? Will the beer turn blue/purple??

I've been told indirectly that Pumphouse does two boil additions of blueberries. One at about 10 minutes for color and another later (maybe at flame out?) for flavour, and then they add them again in secondary. I really have no way of knowing how true it is but it doesn't sound wrong.

evanisnor wrote:I've been told indirectly that Pumphouse does two boil additions of blueberries. One at about 10 minutes for color and another later (maybe at flame out?) for flavour, and then they add them again in secondary. I really have no way of knowing how true it is but it doesn't sound wrong.

Last time I had Pumphouse's blueberry ale it was golden. I was pretty sure they used extract.

Well that seems inauthentic. I guess that expensive Van Dyks blueberry juice stuff would work pretty well in secondary, though.

Pump House is extract only added to the finished beer.

Use store-bought frozen berries. They're IQF processed which kills any beer-harmful bacteria. Freezing your own at home will not kill beer-harmful bacteria. No need to process them either, the cell walls are completely compromised from the freezing process so you'll get full extraction during the secondary fermentation. And yes your beer will pick up the colour, depending how many you use. If you head towards 2 lbs per gallon which is generally reserved for Lambic-style fruit beers, you'll end up with an almost red wine appearance.

Also, there's no need to wait two weeks before adding the berries. Closer to one week would be better I'd think.

In case someone in the future stumbles across this post . . .the brewed the above but should have definitely use 2# / gallon… i used only one and the blueberry taste is very very light…. drinkable but definitely tastes very much like a normal ale. I will brew again, but this time with 2# berries and some sort of extract.

Looking at brewing a blueberry cream ale this week and want a good blueberry taste but not really a lambic style beer. I know 1 lb per gallon won't be strong enough so do I go with the 2lbs per gallon or with that be too much? Stick to just under 2 lbs a gallon ? Also bizarre question anyone ever get the trots from a blueberry style beer? Definitely don't want that.

Blueberries are very subtle, and I used 5 lbs per 5 gallons. The colour is a fairly deep purple colour and the blueberry taste comes through perfectly (or at least for my personal taste). IMHO, the blueberry flavour doesn't come through enough with only 2 pounds.

I just tried my Blueberry Vanilla Cream Ale. I used 1lb per gallon of berries and 1oz of vanilla in the secondary, the base beer is Dave's cream ale recipe. I think the balance is pretty good and the colour is amazing, the blueberry flavour comes out a bit more as it warms up

I love the color of blueberry beer

Shane, for a 5 gallon batch you only used 5 lbs of blueberries and are happy with the amount of flavour ? Also did you just add the blueberries to the secondary? And how long ?

Scott....yep, I always add 5lbs per 5 gal and it turns out exactly what I'm aiming for. You can easily tell it's a Blueberry Ale, but it's not overpowering and artificial like the commercial offerings I've had. And yep, I simply add the blueberries after fermentation is complete and leave it for about 7 days.

How do you sterilize the berries Shane?

I bought individually quick frozen berries. Saw that in another thread from Nash

mthibodeau wrote:I bought individually quick frozen berries. Saw that in another thread from Nash

This! For small batches.

We are just getting into blueberry season. Wasn't sure if they were IQF or fresh. I'm not doing a fruit beer myself yet (other than a pineapple IPA), but I figure I will sometime down the road.

Yeah I bought mine at Costco, they had iqf wild berries

LeafMan66_67 wrote:

mthibodeau wrote:I bought individually quick frozen berries. Saw that in another thread from Nash

This! For small batches.

This, for large batches too. 20 lb boxes x whatever you need.

Fyi I think all processing plants are IQF now, all that I've checked have been at least, even when not specified on the package. If in doubt, google the processing company listed on the package. Obviously that doesn't include small local producers...

Keith wrote:How do you sterilize the berries Shane?

This time of the year, I buy the IQF berries from Costco. Later in the season I switch to fresh berries and heat them up to no more than 150F so the pectin doesn't set.

Great to know thanks.

Brewing a blueberry beer tonight. One last question, should I thaw the frozen blueberries or is it ok to just put them in the fermenter frozen? Thanks

I defrosted before I put them into the secondary, but I didn't have a reason to do it, just thought I should