Just wanted to mention my appreciation that you have the tasting portion in all your videos. That way I don't have to search for the separate tasting video. Cheers.
Love your videos! I watched this as I prepare to make an insanely strong fruited wheat ale and this looks quite similar to what I’m planning. Cheers! 🍻
Hope the build goes well! I definitely feel your pain with months-long dry spells. Plenty of time to think about what you want to work on next and maybe some upgrades? Cheers!
It looks great! Love the color. Not what you would expect from a typical wheat, but this isn’t typical! Looks exactly how I would expect a blueberry wheat to look. You did awesome, I would love to try some. Hello from a fellow engineer/home brewer!
I brewed this recipe but opted for 3lbs frozen blueberries, puréed with a food processor. Before adding blueberries I had 1.012sg. After adding purée It was 1.014sg. To calculate ABV I added 0.002 (1.014-1.012) to my OG (1.058) for OG*=1.060; at FG=1.008 it’s 7.1%ABV. Remember to adjust SG measurements for temperature, it has a significant impact.
I love wheat based fruit sours (I realise this wasn't entirely intentionally sour). I have one souring at the moment. If you want to get that stereotypical sweetness that a lot of commercial fruit beers have, adding a shot of simple syrup to your glass, stirring with a small amount of beer then topping up the glass, worked really well for me. Though honestly, once you get used to dry fruit beers, they're much nicer than their commercial counterparts in my opinion.
just finished a blueberry "belgian - cream ale", I used whole fruit that I cleaned and froze while the beer was fermenting, then racked it over the mostly thawed berries. Primary Ferm was open fermentation in my garage at about 85-90, and then the fruit fermentation was done at 70ish for a week. Turned out delicate purple/blue, super dry, highly carbonated, tart (i did use 6.33 lbs for a 5 gal batch), and the berry like esters from the hot ferment really accentuate the blueberry aroma and flavor. Two things I've found with fruit beer is to keep your color low (like 2-3 srm, almost white) on the wort so that the end color stays true to the fruit, and I keep the beer on the fruit/skins for about a week to extract flavor and color. yeast was Belle-Saison. Without a refractometer, its really hard to tell what the final abv was, but based on avg. sugar in blueberries, should end up close to 5%
Cheers and I hope it goes well for you! Just don't expect it to be super sweet. Regardless this is certainly an easy and fun one, best of luck, and thanks for the comment!
I've done a few fruit wheat beers, my favorite being a raspberry wheat. Same technique you used but with different fruit, and it turned the beer a nice red color; maybe something to consider for next summer. Cheers!
It is remarkably easy to make these and it would be a lot of fun to experiment with different kinds of fruits for sure. Cheers! Would definitely be great to get a unique color out of it.
Thanks Jesse, thats actually a fantastic idea that never even crossed my mind...I totally should have done that. Next time I'm going to try that out for a little bit of residual sweetness.
I'm drinking Minnesota's Forest Lake Blueberry Ale and I love it. They are naturally carbonating this blueberry ale. It's not sweet at all and that's how it should be.
At the beggining of the video, you were drinking a stout or something dark. By the minute 9:30, during boiling, you had a golden something in the background. Jaja. How did you finish that day?
New subscriber love the vids, hey you ever think about getting a Robobrew? I have one and love it!!! Brew right in my kitchen. Keep the vids coming 👍🏻👍🏻
Great vid.....was wondering your thoughts on skipping the puree and secondary and just throwing some blueberry flavor in the keg? I think this would produce a better color and maybe less tartness?
So I've definitely seen a lot of different techniques to making fruit beers, but I just wanted to work with pure fruit this time. I think sometimes (just my opinion), depending on where you get it from, flavorings and extracts can have a bit of an offputting flavor to them that I wanted to avoid. Definitely would not want to add puree to the keg though.
How much water did you use for your strike water? I know you said the pre-boil volume is 8 gallons but obviously grains trap some water. Did you use closer to 9-9.5 gallons?
Really enjoyed the video as ever and really interesting critique on the results. Keep up the good work! What’s up next after the streak of summer beers?
Thanks! Glad you are enjoying the videos. I actually just brewed a Belgian style Tripel the other day, but it had a lower OG than I was going for so I'm not 100% sure if I can still call it a Tripel. Gonna see if I can attenuate the hell out of it. After that I'm going to try playing with Kviek yeast in a brew with either Eukanot or Nelson Sauvin, maybe both. Cheers!
When you racked onto the purée, did you transfer the yeast as well? I’m racking a wheat ale onto guava purée this week and I’m wondering if I transfer the yeast as well. This is my first time doing a any sort of secondary fermentation
I think there was enough yeast in suspension that it had no issues getting that second fermentation started. I wouldn't worry about having enough yeast to do it as long as it's not too late in the fermentation.
I have been all grain brewing for 5 years roughly and have gone to brew in bag just to change things up the last couple years. Have you ever considered a jalapeno beer? Is something I've wanted to do for a while just haven't done it. I didn't think it would be appealing until I actually had one and I thought damn this is pretty good. Anyway I've also changed to fermenting in my keg and transferring keg to keg. Which is a pretty dope way to do things.
I'm thinking I may eventually try a chili stout or porter. I've definitely had some that I enjoyed. That's interesting that you're running an all-keg system for fermentation, I've heard good things. I'm gonna probably stick with standard carboys and buckets for a while, but who knows what the future holds!
Usually I'll start with around 8-9 gallons of strike water, but that number is going to change a bit depending on what your equipment efficiency is, boil off rates, length of boil etc. I usually aim to get around 5.5-6 gals at the end of fermentation, so I always have a full keg.
Just wanted to mention my appreciation that you have the tasting portion in all your videos. That way I don't have to search for the separate tasting video. Cheers.
Thanks! I really enjoy making them, and a lot of effort goes into the process. I'm glad you enjoy it too!
I absolutely echo this sentiment. One stop shop is very much appreciated!!
+1 for grain to glass videos!
+2 for g2g. I've been watching all the old vids to catch up. You've really improved with presentation etc. I don't know your name though.
Morgan.
Love your videos! I watched this as I prepare to make an insanely strong fruited wheat ale and this looks quite similar to what I’m planning. Cheers! 🍻
Want to brew a wild yeast cherry farmhouse ale and, lo and behold, my research led me to you brewing a fruit beer. Excellent! Thank you, Steve.
I'll be living vicariously through your channel and a few others over the 6 months my house is being built and my brewing stuff is in storage.
Hope the build goes well! I definitely feel your pain with months-long dry spells. Plenty of time to think about what you want to work on next and maybe some upgrades? Cheers!
So glad you did this, i loved the Sam Adams blackberry wheat but they cancelled it years ago. Definitely going to have to try this sometime!
It looks great! Love the color. Not what you would expect from a typical wheat, but this isn’t typical! Looks exactly how I would expect a blueberry wheat to look. You did awesome, I would love to try some. Hello from a fellow engineer/home brewer!
I brewed this recipe but opted for 3lbs frozen blueberries, puréed with a food processor. Before adding blueberries I had 1.012sg. After adding purée It was 1.014sg. To calculate ABV I added 0.002 (1.014-1.012) to my OG (1.058) for OG*=1.060; at FG=1.008 it’s 7.1%ABV. Remember to adjust SG measurements for temperature, it has a significant impact.
I love wheat based fruit sours (I realise this wasn't entirely intentionally sour). I have one souring at the moment.
If you want to get that stereotypical sweetness that a lot of commercial fruit beers have, adding a shot of simple syrup to your glass, stirring with a small amount of beer then topping up the glass, worked really well for me. Though honestly, once you get used to dry fruit beers, they're much nicer than their commercial counterparts in my opinion.
just finished a blueberry "belgian - cream ale", I used whole fruit that I cleaned and froze while the beer was fermenting, then racked it over the mostly thawed berries. Primary Ferm was open fermentation in my garage at about 85-90, and then the fruit fermentation was done at 70ish for a week. Turned out delicate purple/blue, super dry, highly carbonated, tart (i did use 6.33 lbs for a 5 gal batch), and the berry like esters from the hot ferment really accentuate the blueberry aroma and flavor. Two things I've found with fruit beer is to keep your color low (like 2-3 srm, almost white) on the wort so that the end color stays true to the fruit, and I keep the beer on the fruit/skins for about a week to extract flavor and color. yeast was Belle-Saison. Without a refractometer, its really hard to tell what the final abv was, but based on avg. sugar in blueberries, should end up close to 5%
Weinhard made an awesome blueberry. Actually tasted the blueberries!
Just watching this. Look at where you were at, and where you are now! Funny sh@t!🤣🤣
Ha! Yeah this channel sure took a turn for the better around 2021!
There’s blueberries everywhere!
Thank you for the video. I have been wanting to make a fruit beer for quite some time. I will follow your method for my first batch.
Cheers and I hope it goes well for you! Just don't expect it to be super sweet. Regardless this is certainly an easy and fun one, best of luck, and thanks for the comment!
Hope someday u get a job as a brew master for a brewery. U really know your stuff
Appreciate the kind words but I have a long way to go!
Sounds like a great beer! Cheers!
Thanks! Really had a lot of fun making this one. Keeps getting better!
I've done a few fruit wheat beers, my favorite being a raspberry wheat. Same technique you used but with different fruit, and it turned the beer a nice red color; maybe something to consider for next summer. Cheers!
It is remarkably easy to make these and it would be a lot of fun to experiment with different kinds of fruits for sure. Cheers! Would definitely be great to get a unique color out of it.
Great video as always! Personally love a tart wheat with fruit. The beer didn't look ugly to me at all either haha. Cheers man!
Thanks for the feedback! I was kinda hoping for the bright purple/red color but its not so bad I guess. Cheers!
Nice brew...... maybe add a vanilla bean or lactose to give a little sweeter note
Cheers Steve
Thanks Jesse, thats actually a fantastic idea that never even crossed my mind...I totally should have done that. Next time I'm going to try that out for a little bit of residual sweetness.
I'm drinking Minnesota's Forest Lake Blueberry Ale and I love it. They are naturally carbonating this blueberry ale. It's not sweet at all and that's how it should be.
At the beggining of the video, you were drinking a stout or something dark. By the minute 9:30, during boiling, you had a golden something in the background. Jaja.
How did you finish that day?
New subscriber love the vids, hey you ever think about getting a Robobrew? I have one and love it!!! Brew right in my kitchen.
Keep the vids coming 👍🏻👍🏻
I briefly considered it but I really do like to be involved in my beer as much as possible. Yes, its extra work but I really enjoy the work. Cheers!
Great vid.....was wondering your thoughts on skipping the puree and secondary and just throwing some blueberry flavor in the keg? I think this would produce a better color and maybe less tartness?
So I've definitely seen a lot of different techniques to making fruit beers, but I just wanted to work with pure fruit this time. I think sometimes (just my opinion), depending on where you get it from, flavorings and extracts can have a bit of an offputting flavor to them that I wanted to avoid. Definitely would not want to add puree to the keg though.
How much water did you use for your strike water? I know you said the pre-boil volume is 8 gallons but obviously grains trap some water. Did you use closer to 9-9.5 gallons?
Really enjoyed the video as ever and really interesting critique on the results. Keep up the good work! What’s up next after the streak of summer beers?
Thanks! Glad you are enjoying the videos. I actually just brewed a Belgian style Tripel the other day, but it had a lower OG than I was going for so I'm not 100% sure if I can still call it a Tripel. Gonna see if I can attenuate the hell out of it. After that I'm going to try playing with Kviek yeast in a brew with either Eukanot or Nelson Sauvin, maybe both. Cheers!
TheApartmentBrewer nice! Looking forward to the video of the dubb-and-a-half-el!
When you racked onto the purée, did you transfer the yeast as well? I’m racking a wheat ale onto guava purée this week and I’m wondering if I transfer the yeast as well. This is my first time doing a any sort of secondary fermentation
I think there was enough yeast in suspension that it had no issues getting that second fermentation started. I wouldn't worry about having enough yeast to do it as long as it's not too late in the fermentation.
Any thoughts on using potassium sorbate to stop the re-fermenting??
I have been all grain brewing for 5 years roughly and have gone to brew in bag just to change things up the last couple years. Have you ever considered a jalapeno beer? Is something I've wanted to do for a while just haven't done it. I didn't think it would be appealing until I actually had one and I thought damn this is pretty good. Anyway I've also changed to fermenting in my keg and transferring keg to keg. Which is a pretty dope way to do things.
I'm thinking I may eventually try a chili stout or porter. I've definitely had some that I enjoyed. That's interesting that you're running an all-keg system for fermentation, I've heard good things. I'm gonna probably stick with standard carboys and buckets for a while, but who knows what the future holds!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I got my keg and always looked to simplifying my process this year I made the adjustment. Well worth it imo
keep it 💯, glad you stayed away from artificial fruit.
Definitely gives the best flavor in my opinion. Cheers!
Would some crystal malt maybe help with some sweetness? Like a 60L? Or higher?
Did you have any problems with the puree staining the fermenter?
Nope, I remember the color cleaned out just fine.
Obviously you do a biab.....how much water did you start with.....what was your final batch volume? Cheers!
Usually I'll start with around 8-9 gallons of strike water, but that number is going to change a bit depending on what your equipment efficiency is, boil off rates, length of boil etc. I usually aim to get around 5.5-6 gals at the end of fermentation, so I always have a full keg.
A strawberry German wheat beer that has a bit of banana flavor sounds good.
Where did you buy the blueberries? Price? Link? Trying to brew something with puree
Its called vintners harvest, its around 20 bucks a can on Amazon. There are a variety of fruits they have purees for
If you don't have a Thermapen, it's time to get one.
I guess you have heard this alot but I go for it anyway:
I didn't know that Drew Stafford was a homebrewer.
Haha nope you're the first
Have you ever use Five Star 5.2 ph Stabilizer before
You can use 1 lb of lactose to tame the tartness.
That may be the approach next time I make a fruit beer!
Think this would work ok without any fruit?
Sure, you'd just have a basic American wheat beer, but it would still be nice!
@@TheApartmentBrewer great, gonna try it this week.
You beard really suits you. You should keep it
Am I allowed to say that if macgyver brewed beer this is how he would do it