Christmas gift for step son

[cruckin78]

So, my wife's son has never liked beer. On our last trip to Atlanta I talked him into goin to the Sweetwater Brewery with us, while there he fell in love with Sweetwater Blue.

Anyway, so I wanted to brew him a batch of a Blueberry style ale, or Sweetwater Blue clone for his Christmas gift.

Can any one help with a good Blueberry recipe?

 

[cruckin78]

anybody?

 

[foltster]

Some info here.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/blueberry-ale-recipe-65598/

 

[cruckin78]

All the links are dead from NB.

But I think I will go to my LHBS and find a lighter ale, and they have a blue berry additive to add to the bottling bucket....

I'll bottle him a 12 pack and keg the rest =)

 

[bknifefight]

A Wheat Ale would be a good base for blueberries, I think.

 

[cruckin78]

A Wheat Ale would be a good base for blueberries, I think.

guess that is what I am gonna do,

7lbs of Wheat LME
1oz of Hersbrucker (60min)
and German Wheat Yest (W3333)

With the Blueberry Extract at bottling.

Anything else I could add to improve on that? That is just the basic Raspberry Wheat from NB with exchanging Raspberry for Blueberry.

 

[foltster]

A wheat ale is the classic blueberry beer, but Sweetwater Blue seems to a lighter ale and likely contains either no wheat or only a small amount (less than 10% of grain bill).

I would probably do something like:
6-7 LB Light Extract (dry will get you lighter color beer, but liquid is fine too)
1oz of any noble hop @ 60 mins
Any American Ale yeast (S-05 for me)

with the blueberry extract at bottle time.

Be sure and add the majority of the extract late in the boil to keep it light.

 

[cruckin78]

A wheat ale is the classic blueberry beer, but Sweetwater Blue seems to a lighter ale and likely contains either no wheat or only a small amount (less than 10% of grain bill).

I would probably do something like:
6-7 LB Light Extract (dry will get you lighter color beer, but liquid is fine too)
1oz of any noble hop @ 60 mins
Any American Ale yeast (S-05 for me)

with the blueberry extract at bottle time.

Be sure and add the majority of the extract late in the boil to keep it light.

I like this idea better then the wheat...Thanks, would like 3lbs at the beginning and 4 lbs at 15 minutes left work?

 

[foltster]

I like this idea better then the wheat...Thanks, would like 3lbs at the beginning and 4 lbs at 15 minutes left work?

That would be a pretty decent split. Make sure to turn off the heat source when adding the late addition as the heat tends to scorch any extract that makes it to the bottom.

 

[cruckin78]

That would be a pretty decent split. Make sure to turn off the heat source when adding the late addition as the heat tends to scorch any extract that makes it to the bottom.

I always remove from the burner when adding....But thanks for the heads up....

Think i'm gonna go with
7lbs LME (3lbs 60 min) (4lbs at 15min) (My LHBS wants $14 for 3lbs of DME and only 17.50 for the 7lbs in LME)
1 oz of Tattnang
blueberry extract at bottle time.


Leaning towards W001 (Cali. Ale Yeast) or should I go with something different??

 

[cruckin78]

So in playing with this recipe at hopville last night i added another oz of Tettnang at 15 min which kicked my IBU to 18.9.

I dont want the beer to be overly hoppy, as he isn't an IPA fan or huge hop fan, but I would like it to have some aroma, I dont want to smell just the blueberry extract.

any thoughts or suggestions on this?

 

[foltster]

I would move the addition to 5 minutes to improve aroma. 15 minute additions typically don't add much aroma, mostly flavor.

 

[cruckin78]

i brewed it yesterday. It's ferminting away now. We shall see in a few weeks how it goes.

 

[Fletch78]

It's been ten days. Do you have any update for us?

 

[electric_beer]

Good call on the extract, I have had not much luck with real fruit. Let me know how this goes, my roommate really wants me to make something similar to Magic Hat #9.

 

[lumpher]

i brewed up a standard hefeweizen about 5 months ago, let it ferment for 2 weeks, then secondaried it with 36 oz of fresh blueberries. i soaked the blueberries in 175 degree water for about 20 minutes to sterilize them. i let it secondary for about 3 weeks, then bottled. been drinking a bottle every now and then. very tasty after a couple weeks in the bottle, but better now