Hey guys and gals, I am brewing a blueberry wheat for my wife (extract recipe) and the kit came with a 4oz "blueberry flavoring" bottle that is to be added 1 day before bottling. I'm assuming it is so the yeast doesn't eat up all the sugar. My wife had the idea (in addition to the flavoring provided) of using frozen blueberries to make a liquid blueberry reduction and add that as well. Any problems with that? Would that add too much sugar and overcarbonate? Add it earlier? It has been in the fermenter for 1 day. Thanks for any input! Cheers!
It sounds like the kit supplier has calculated the amount of sugar that would be left after one day of the yeast chewing on the sugar from that flavoring, and that sounds like it would be mildly risky to use the remaining sugar as priming sugar. But if the kit did not have priming sugar, that seems to be the kit makers intent, and you can't mess with that. For you to add more sugar by adding blueberry reduction would be upsetting that fine calculation of the sugar amount from the first flavoring that was added. Knowing how much extra flavor will result from your addition of flavor can't be predicted, so only after the beer is done and carbonated will you be able to determine if it is too much. I'd like to think the designer of the recipe thinks the flavor from the first bottle is adequate, but you may be blueberry lovers and would like the extra kick of flavor. So if you add your reduction, you are forced to allow all of the sugar to ferment out, and then use priming sugar for bottling. After you think there has been ample time for all of the sugar to be consumed, take a couple hydrometer readings that are two days apart to confirm that the fermentation is done. Then add the priming sugar and proceed to bottle the beer.
Is there actually sugar in the extract? Sometimes it's more of a fruit "essence" that plays on the residual sweetness left in the fermented beer rather than being sweet on its own.
If I decided to up the blueberry, I'd consider adding that reduction towards the end of primary fermentation or else transfer it and the beer to a secondary fermenter. The reason I would add towards the end of primary or secondary is that there will be less vigorous fermentation activity which could help retain aromatics. Of course, since you are cooking the fruit, some of the delicate aromatics will be lost. People seem to more frequently use fresh fruit in brewing, but I like cooked berries, too, so I think that wouldn't necessarily be a problem. I would not add at bottling due to uncertainty in the sugar content messing up carbonation. Too much guess work.
