Blueberry Farmhouse ale?

I've done blueberries. And I've done fruited saisons. But not in the same beer. If nothing else, here's a recipe for a raspberry grisette...
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/raspberry-grisette-ag.192357/

As for blueberries, in my experience they are a fruit which takes more pounds per gallon of beer than average to get a strong blueberry flavor. IMO, they also tend to add a little astringency as well as tartness, so maybe back off the IBUs a little (more so than with other fruits).

 

Funny this should be posted today as I was just about to search the forums for input on a Farmhouse saison 5 gallon batch split into two. Half fermented with raspberries and the other half with blueberries. Might opt out on the blueberries after reading Vikemans post and change it up to peaches. Question I had was how have others added fruit? My thought and I did read on another blog about adding to the secondary for 4 to 7 days. Racking on top of frozen fruit? Any input would be nice help I suppose for myself and 60watts. Thanks

 

I use frozen-then-thawed fruit. Rack on top of it in a secondary. Secondary time varies, but the idea is to make sure the sugars from the fruit have fermented out.

 

Well put, just what I was looking for. I plan on checking gravity, but I have also heard the fruit turns white? Is this a sign that fermentable sugars have been expended from the fruits?

 

I had a peach saison at a beerfest before that was at the regional homebrewers table. It might have been one of the best beers I've ever had. Good luck.

 

Fruit does tend to turn whitish. But I don't think I'd rely on color alone to decide fermentation is done, especially since it's not the sugars that cause the fruit colors in the first place.

 

Sounds good I appreciate the advice and if all goes well and I enjoy it I may send out a couple for taste testing! Should be brewing this weekend and depending on how many weeks the 3711 decides to tick away hopefully I'll be looking at a nice Michigan Spring beer mid to late April!!

 

Harvest a bunch of those wild blueberries everyone seems to have on their property "up north", freeze them before adding at secondary, let the beer finish before bottling, and send it over to me. I'm your huckleberry.

 

I did a saison last year with 3711 and WLP644 "Trois". Bottled half and racked the other half on top of blueberries. I don't have my notes with me to recall how much. I used frozen blueberries from Costco, thawed out. Leave plenty of room for a re-fermentation. I had my 3-gal carboy in the bath tub and it made a huge mess.

 

So it has been a week since I have brewed the Saison and just checked the gravity this morning to see where I'm sitting. I was shooting for a lower abv spring beer... so much for that with the 3711. As stated I'm 1 week in and the beer had an og of 1.053, sitting a 1.006 as of this morning and then racking half on raspberries and half on peaches in 1 to 2 weeks depending on gravity. Already above 6%?? Guess I will have to cut back fermentables next time I brew this one if I want a lower ABV beer! Cant wait until it is ready anyhow, should be pretty good despite being a possible 7%er

 

This yeast has quite a rep for being voracious. The only time I used it, I was trying for a mid-gravity saison but I happened to simultaneously see an unexplained spike in expected original gravity. 8% higher mash efficiency than normal? Better crush? Optimum mash chemistry? Grain weighing error? The Perfect Storm? I ended up with a 1.065 beer that fermented down to 1.001. Est. ABV=8.5%? It was borderline rocket fuel. I have not been tempted to try it again.

 

I'd think that if you had access to fresh berries and heated them in a baking dish prior to pitching them you would maximize the flavor potential. Maybe to 145-155 degrees like a mash, which should kill off most of the hitchhikers that would like to spoil your beer. Boiling and freezing both seem like they would harm the qualities of the fruit.

That said, the Black Forest Lager I brewed a few months ago using three pounds of frozen dark sweet cherries turned out well. If I had it to do over I would use four or five pounds to increase the flavor.

 

You could always add distilled water at bottling to lower the ABV (and increase yield).

 

How would you do this without adding dissolved O2 along with the water?

 

Pour it in an hour or so before adding the priming sugar.

 

Even if you let it sit all day, the water would contain a lot of dissolved O2. More than I would want in finished beer.

 

You could brew a lighter batch and blend them if that 7% figure bothers you.

 

I'm all good with the 7% figure, just was truly shooting for a 5% or a little more. That's what my brew calculator stated it would be, but it also estimated fg @ 1.014 or something.

Was wondering if I added RO water when I split the batch to run in secondary if that would be a bad thing to up yield and reduce gravity slightly? I was planning on splitting the 5 gallons dead even. Wondering what a 1/4 to 1/2 gallon would do in each secondary on top of the fruit?

 

I wouldn't recommend this. You'd be adding O2 to your beer, which would not be a good thing at this point.