Wild Blackberries (in homebrew)?

Yes.
No.

Wild blackberries are bland as bland can be.
Q: How bland are they?
A: 10# / G bland.

 

Just bottled a wild blackberry lambic that I had sitting on wild blackberries for over 2 years. Still sample was amazing.

 

Not as tart and flavorful as raspberry or cherry, in my limited experience.

 

Those look more like mulberries to me. Is it a gnarly looking hardwood tree with branches hanging down or is a cane-like bush? Blackberries grow on bushes, mulberries grow on trees. Mulberries are rather bland, I prefer the white variety myself, but I eat the hell of them around here and I'll be brewing a beer with a heap of them here in the next month.

 

I agree that those are mulberries. I remember hearing of one beer that contained this type of berry, but I can't recall what it was, even whether it might have been a homebrew mentioned in this forum, or possibly a commercial beer. Birds love 'em to the point that you never want to park your car under a mulberry tree.

 

Make a starter from them and pitch it into a lightly hopped pale beer. Thank me later

 

Before I say anything else, I say give it a try and find our yourself.

As stated above, blackberries grow in brambles, mulberries grow on trees. Where I grew up, we had a lot of wild black raspberries, which we called blackberries, because they were black and berries and back then the only fruit you bought was citrus or tropical fruit so you didn't know the difference. Blackberries break off at the stem, there is a bit of a core that pulls out with raspberries. Sorry I can't explain it better, I'm not a botanist/horticulturist.
Mulberries suck. They're just sweet with a bit of generic berry flavor.
Blackberries are ok, never had wild, so I don't know how great they'd be in a beer. They tend to be fairly mild in flavor, but I like the little bit of flavor they have. If wild blackberries are like other wild berries, they'll probaby be a bit more dynamic than what you can buy.
Black raspberries are awesome. Wild black raspberries are super awesome. I used to go out with my grandma and pick them, and then just eat them in a bowl with milk. I fully recommend using them in beer.

 

Our wild blackberries are very flavoursome, I always pick loads and make wine from them as well as use them in crumbles, make jam etc. I've never used them in beer though. I'd like to try them this year. They won't be ready for another couple of months though

Never tried mulberries

 

I agree those aren't blackberries. Blackberries do grow in bushes and don't have those large diameter branches like you are showing there.

Wild Blackberries are insanely delicious. Much more so than store bought in my experience.

*edit* after reading @MrOH 's comment perhaps wild blackberries as I knew them were black raspberries. Either way insanely delicious.

 

The core you refer to is known as the receptacle, in botanical circles. It's the part of the stem tissue that is adjacent to the flower. For some some plants, it swells up as the seed develops, and it is what you eat (apple, strawberry). For others, it doesn't swell up, and you don't eat it. For raspberries, it creates that core, but it is not what you eat; the bit you eat is a drupelet. That, and a lecture about the life cycle of the fern*, will get you 2 semester part time gig teaching botany.

*Or, plan b, change the lecture to one on the grain endosperm and radicle development, add a bit about the malting process, and you can slip a post about plants past the moderators of a beer forum.

 

I would have to agree with @HerbMeowing on this. I've contemplated making a beer with these, because there are a few bushes of them in our backyard. But even the blackest, ripest of the berries don't have much flavor. I would find a blackberry farm and pick them there. Although those can vary as well from sweet, to mouth puckering. But maybe that's what you're wanting.

 

I'd agree, those don't look like blackberries. Blackberries grow on bramble and have tons of spikes like a rose bush. They will tear you up if you get in them. We have tons of blackberries and marionberries growing wild right next to where we live. I've used 1#/gal with them and gotten some nice berry flavor, and a deep redviolet color. Not as fruity as De Garde's blackberry Imp Bu, but then again, if I wanted straight blackberry jam with sour beer, I would make the jam with the beer.

 

We have both. Besides the fruit, you can tell them apart by the color of the cane (dark green vs. a pale whiter color). You can also buy domesticated Blackberry plants that are thorn-less.

This link has some good pictures http://identifythatplant.com/blackberry-or-black-raspberry/