Please help me tweak this blueberry ale recipe

[anico4704]

5 gallon batch 74% efficiency. I am looking for a light, not very sweet, beer with a slight blueberry flavor and tartness.

6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 12.0 oz Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM)
7.2 oz Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM)
4.0 oz Caramel Malt - 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
0.70 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
0.20 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min

In secondary
8 lbs Fruit - Blueberry (0.0 SRM)

Mash 155 degrees
1.055 OG
13.5IBU
4.9 SRM
5.1%

I am thinking this will end around 1.011-1.012 after the fruit addition.

Suggestions, thoughts?

 

[bottlebomber]

Basically it looks really good, but I would pick one of either the honey malt or the C10 and ditch the other. 8 ounces of crystal is too much for such a beer. Personally I would use the honey, but I am partial to honey malt.

 

[anico4704]

I was going to go 4 and 4 so your saying go 8 oz of honey and thats it ?

 

[bottlebomber]

I was going to go 4 and 4 so your saying go 8 oz of honey and thats it ?

No, I would use only 4 ounces of honey malt and ditch the crystal. This recipe doesn't need 8 ounces of crystal malt, especially since you said you wanted it dry and crisp instead of sweet. If you wanted sweet I would go 8 ounces of honey.

 

[anico4704]

Sounds good do you think the 8lbs of berries will be enough? I was going to go alk the way up to 10. And lastly would us-05 be the choice yeast for this recipe?

 

[bottlebomber]

Sounds good do you think the 8lbs of berries will be enough? I was going to go alk the way up to 10. And lastly would us-05 be the choice yeast for this recipe?

8 lbs should be plenty, but if you really want it to pop you should use a 4oz bottle of blueberry extract as well, such as this, at bottling.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/blueberry-natural-extract.html
US-05 works well for fruit beers. It takes a little while to clear.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Sounds good do you think the 8lbs of berries will be enough? I was going to go alk the way up to 10. And lastly would us-05 be the choice yeast for this recipe?

8 lbs is a lot. For my blueberry wheat I've used between 3-5 lbs. For me, 5 gave almost too heavy of a sweetness and tartness. 3 was very subtle.

US05 is a great choice and what I use for almost all my beers.

 

[TriageStat]

I used 6 pounds for a 5 gallon batch, gave it a great color and a mild blueberry taste that people seemed to enjoy.

 

[WileECoyote]

Hello, I would think about mashing at a bit lower temp for more fermentable's, since you said you want it to be light and not very sweet.

Cheers

 

[anico4704]

Ok i will go with 6lbs berries and use blueberry extract if i need more flavor. US-05 it is. I was thinking a fg of 1.011 would be dry enough should i go lower? I really dont want a sweet beer but its for the SWMBO so it wouldnt hurt. I just dont want anything like berry wiess gross

 

[WileECoyote]

Ok i will go with 6lbs berries and use blueberry extract if i need more flavor. US-05 it is. I was thinking a fg of 1.011 would be dry enough should i go lower? I really dont want a sweet beer but its for the SWMBO so it wouldnt hurt. I just dont want anything like berry wiess gross

If its for SWMBO I would think what you are doing should be fine, I would think the taste/sweetness is going to be affected by the fruit quite a bit.

Cheers

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[anico4704]

If its for SWMBO I would think what you are doing should be fine, I would think the taste/sweetness is going to be affected by the fruit quite a bit.

Cheers

Let us know how it turns out.

will do! Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[anico4704]

Ok this beer is all carbed up and I drank my first one today. I went with 6LBs local frozen blueberries, let them de thaw and smashed them up real good.

The beer is an extremely dark purple with a tiny tiny bit of blueberry nose. The taste is completely nothing. The FG ended up a little lower than I would have liked but to myself and my Fiance we both thought the beer tasted like absolutely nothing. There is a tiny tartness to it but it doesn't even taste like beer, more like water than anything. Very strange. I went to NB and got some blueberry extract and added it and now I have blueberry beer which is pretty good though.

 

[Veedo]

Thought I remember reading somewhere that 2lbs per gallon was a good number to get any flavor out of the berries. Interested in doing this kind of brew this summer so this is interesting to me. Do you have a picture of the beer?

 

[anico4704]

Thought I remember reading somewhere that 2lbs per gallon was a good number to get any flavor out of the berries. Interested in doing this kind of brew this summer so this is interesting to me. Do you have a picture of the beer?

I also read in Radical Brewing that 2 lbs per gallon is the right amount. Blueberries get pretty expensive though thats the only thing. I can post a pic next time I pull a pint for sure. This probably turned out to be a bigger pain and expense than it was worth. I think Ill go Rasberries next time i make a fruit beer, though mixing this with some honey wiess wouldnt be bad.