Blackberry Wheat

[Beezer94]

I'm brewing a blackberry wheat for my sister's wedding. I plan on mashing very high so the final beer isn't too dry. I was hoping to make it 5-5.5% ABV, but I'm not brewing a 5.5gal batch with 4-5lbs of malt. Unfortunately the can of blackberry puree says SG 1.036-1.057 so I may have a 6.5% ABV or a 8.5% ABV wheat. Also adding puree to secondary.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Blackberry Wheat
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Fruit Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.44 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.92 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 11.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 101.1 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 1 35.0 %
3 lbs Pale Ale (Bairds) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 30.0 %
4.0 oz Carastan (35.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.5 %
4.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.5 %
3 lbs Blackberry Puree (Vitners Harvest) (30.0 Sugar 5 30.0 %
0.25 oz Pacific Gem 2012 [13.80 %] - Boil 60.0 m Hop 6 10.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Pacific Gem 2012 [13.80 %] - Boil 15.0 m Hop 7 5.2 IBUs
0.82 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 -
0.82 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -
0.50 oz Pacific Gem 2012 [13.80 %] - Aroma Steep Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 11 -


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash Step Add 10.50 qt of water at 175.0 F 160.0 F 45 min
Mash Out Add 5.60 qt of water at 185.9 F 168.0 F 15 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 5.58gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
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Thoughts?

 

[Beezer94]

Well I will not be brewing it like above. From dozens of sites, in little excerpts of information, it appears as though there is only a small percent of sugars in most fruit. For being such a common addition to beers/wines there seems to be little information on fruits contributions to gravity (at least in one place). The SG on the can is 1.036-1.057, but this is not just the sugar content. The brix on the can is 9.0*-14.0*, which may be the relevant piece of information. The one post I found was to use the brix value as the % yield in beersmith. So using a value in the middle of the range 11.5% yield, equals 1.005ish potential gravity. The other 30-50 points of 'gravity' are the solids which will be left behind at the bottom of the secondary, so no real affect on the OG or FG.

Hopefully this information is correct now, and hopefully it helps someone else.

So basically the above recipe would yield a very low abv drink, so I am just going to use:
4.5lbs white wheat malt
4.5lbs uk pale malt
mash 152F for 60 minutes
0.25oz Pacific gem (13.8%) - 60 minutes
0.25oz Pacific gem (13.8%) - 15 minutes
0.5oz Sweet Orange Peel - 5 minutes
0.5oz Coriander - 5 minutes
0.25oz Pacific gem (13.8%) - Flameout
1packet SafAle US-05
3lbs Vintner's Harvest Blackberry Puree (single strength) to secondary

Est OG - 1.052, FG - 1.010, IBU's 16.0

Brewing today...

 

[sirmichael]

I'm interested in how this turns out. I'm planning on doing a blackberry wheat myself.

 

[Beezer94]

Brewed it on Aug. 8th. Will secondary on top of the blackberry puree around the 22nd. Planning roughly a week in the secondary, then crash cool it before transfer to keg.

 

[Beezer94]

Transferred onto the blackberry puree today. The puree was more liquidy than I would of thought, but tasted good. I had considered dumping into a sanitized bag so i could remove the solids, but basically so pureed that's not possible. The non fruited wheat had pretty good flavor (for mostly flat warm brew).

 

[Beezer94]

Transferred to keg. Was light purplish/yellow in siphon tube. Used a bag over end of tube to catch sediment. Good aroma on flat sample, flavor was decent, will wait for carb'd product for real judgement.

Final Gravity: 1.008
Final Refractometer reading: 6.0 brix
Est. OG with fruit: 1.050 (makes sense, was 1.049 OG before fruit and a decent amount of liquid added with fruit)

Will let you know in 10 days how it goes.

 

[Beezer94]

Well it was finished off quickly. It went very well. It was really easy drinking, no overpowering flavors. I really couldn't tell it was a wheat beer, but just crisp and refreshing.

Lots of comments from wedding guests (at least 20 people tried it):
I had two people that hate beer both say "I could actually drink this!"
Another who hates wheat beers, fruit beers, and almost any beer except Yuengling say "I hate wheat beers, but this is actually drinkable"
Another said "This is homebrew? It doesn't have that homebrew taste..."
"You made this? This was the first time you made it? Wow."

The bride liked it and the groom loved it. Either way it was a success. I used http://www.bottlemark.com/ to get custom caps with a picture of the couple which really turned out well.

PS> RECIPE I BREWED IS IN THE SECOND POST! Won't let me edit original...

 

[Bob]

Nicely done!

I've been thinking of a Carambola ("starfruit") Wheat myself. You've inspired me.

Bob

 

[IslandLizard]

... It was really easy drinking, no overpowering flavors. I really couldn't tell it was a wheat beer, but just crisp and refreshing....

Did it have any blackberry flavor, and how much?

 

[Beezer94]

Did it have any blackberry flavor, and how much?

The fruit flavor that came across was maybe more raspberry than blackberry. There is definitely fruit flavor at the front, it's just not fruit juice style overwhelming. The blackberry just seems like it belonged as a part of the overall beer, not an afterthought.