Our new blueberry bushes are starting to ripen more and more each day, so I may have an excess of berries at my disposal, and being that my Gose is merrily fermenting and early indications are that it's tasty, I'm thinking of doing the same recipe, ditching the salt/coriander, and adding blueberries. I've used citrus fruits a few times (boil, 15min) to good results, but not sure if that would cut it with the berries. What would be the best way to incorporate into the brew? Thanks and cheers!
Honestly I would keep the coriander and cut out the salt I think the orangy component of coriander and blueberries would be a killer combo for a "blueberliner" if you will. The best way would be to freeze them to help the cell walls break down and rack onto them, you can also mash some up in a tiny bit of water that you heat on the stove and allow to cool down and add that in for increased blueberry character
I would still use both the coriander and the salt, IME a tiny bit of salt helps to emphasize berry flavors (cherries too) Blueberries tend to be an extremely subtle fruit flavor, especially after fermentation, I know because Ive been disappointed several times. Now, Ive heard from others that cooking the blueberries holds on the flavor a bit more, but the down side is your stuck with a "cooked" fruit flavor.
The one fruit beer I have done was a raspberry Saison (4%ABV) using 3 bags of frozen raspberries (not sure size, bought at walmart) in secondary in a 6 gallon batch. I found it pleasantly tart from raspberry and 3724, but underwhelming berry taste and aroma. I added a drop or two (sorry, don't remember exactly) of raspberry extract (Bakto natural raspberry flavoring) to a pint and poured on top of it. WOW! Aroma fantastic which I think led to slight increase in flavor perception. If I did it again, I'd add one more bag of fruit and augment with extract. Since blueberries are much subtler, flavor wise, you could extrapolate to more fruit and play around per glass with extract. Oregon fruit puree would also be an option, as stated above.
I'm making my way through Radical Brewing and I have to agree with Randy on his fruit section that blueberries just don't hold up having a very soft flavor. I made a Belgium blueberry blonde and the color showed the blueberry, however for flavor it just didn't live up. Not to be the one to stifle creativity, if you're going with the plan add a huge amounts of blueberries, 4 lbs plus per gallon. Another tip freeze the blueberries to break down the cell wall.
I did a blueberry berliner with good results. I added 5 lbs of frozen berries that I first chopped in a food process (and pasteurized with some 160 degree water) and then put them right in the fermenter. Let it sit for about two weeks and not only got a delicious blueberry flavor, but an awesome purple/red/pinkish appearance.
