Has anyone used canned blueberries in a brew

Moderators: BlackDuck, Beer-lord, LouieMacGoo, philm00x, gwcr

Post Reply
User avatar
Brewbirds
Brew Guru
Brew Guru
Posts: 2814
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:32 am
Location: A Tree Somewhere

Has anyone used canned blueberries in a brew

Post by Brewbirds »

We are considering adding some canned blueberries to our saison recipe for a Christmas present beer. I have a can of the Oregon brand in the pantry, it does not have preservatives and is in a light syrup. Just blueberries, water and sugar. 15 oz/425 grams. Sugars 22g

I don't want the Belle Saison yeast to tear through all the sugars and leave a sour or acidic flavor so I was wondering if I could add them as a dry hop type flavoring right before cold crashing.

But since there is sugar present I'm not sure how to figure out priming the beer.

Don't know so I turn to the :borg:
Sibling Brewers
User avatar
RickBeer
Brew Guru
Brew Guru
Posts: 3099
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 1:21 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan (Go Blue!)

Re: Has anyone used canned blueberries in a brew

Post by RickBeer »

Oregon fruit is what Mr. Beer sells for their brews. Add them a week before you bottle. Add .25 to your ABV. Add normal sugar to the bottles/priming process.
I have over 9,000 posts on "another forum", which means absolutely nothing. Mr. Beer January 2014 Brewer of the Month with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it...

Certificate in Brewing and Distillation Technology

Sites to find beer making supplies: Adventures in Homebrewing - Mr. Beer - MoreBeer
My Beer - click to reveal
Currently using 6 LBKs.

Beers I regularly brew:
Bell's Best Brown clone
Irish Hills Red - I call this "Ann Arbor Red"
Mackinac Island Red - I call this "Michigan Red"
Oatmeal Stout - I call this Not Fat, Stout - Oatmeal Stout

Bottled 5 gallons of Ann Arbor Red on 4/18/17. Bottled 5 gallons of Michigan Red on 5/8/17.

Brewed in 2017 - 22.13 gallons (19.91 in 2012, 48.06 in 2013, 61.39 in 2014, 84.26 in 2015,46.39 in 2016)
Brewed in lifetime - 282.14 gallons
Drinkable beer on hand -  13.58 cases, with 6.11 cases ready in May and early June.
Average cost per 12 pack through all beer brewed - $6.27(ingredients only)
User avatar
DaYooper
Braumeister
Braumeister
Posts: 919
Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:09 am
Location: Motownish, Michigan

Re: Has anyone used canned blueberries in a brew

Post by DaYooper »

My guess is if you add it right before cold crashing you will end up with bottle bombs unless you can calculate the sugar of the fruit to deduct from the priming sugar. I add at the end of primary fermentation when the yeast are a bit lazy so it leaves more fruit flavor behind and Im assuming more sugar.

Belle is a hungry bugger and have never tried with fruit so cant answer how she will behave but would be very interested in the results. Usually with a high attenuating yeast I tend to use an extract rather than real fruit.
Silverleaf Vineyard & Winery / Old Mission Hops Exchange / Porchside Vineyard / The North York Brewing Company
User avatar
Boe1971
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 5:57 pm

Re: Has anyone used canned blueberries in a brew

Post by Boe1971 »

I did a blueberry wheat a few years back and the way I went about it was to drain the syrup, rinse the berries then pureed them in a sanitized blender. I then added the berries straight into the fermenter. Note all of this was done 10 days into fermentation so initial fermentation was over. I let it go for another 7 days then bottled. My beer came out with a noticeable but not overpowering berry taste. If you want more berry flavor only leave them in for the last 4 or 5 days. And you will definitely want to cold crash if you do it the way I described. There will be a pretty good amount of particulates floating around in the beer if you don't. Let us know what happens...
User avatar
Brewbirds
Brew Guru
Brew Guru
Posts: 2814
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:32 am
Location: A Tree Somewhere

Re: Has anyone used canned blueberries in a brew

Post by Brewbirds »

Well they are still sitting in the pantry at the moment as we changed our minds on the Saison.

I'm sure they will find their way into a beer pretty soon though.

Thanks for all the info I'll still use it.

:cheers:
Sibling Brewers
Post Reply