Sour Blackberry Eclipse Blonde

Grains

5.1lbs 2 Row
2.25lb Unmalted Wheat
2.25lb White Wheat
1.75lb Vienna

Hops

.25oz East Kent Golding (5.6%AA) @60min

Yeast

Wyeast Northwest Ale (1332)
Wyeast Roeselare Blend (3763) pitched into secondary

5.6oz Priming Sugar

SG: 1.048
1wk: forgot to check before adding fruit
9wk: 1.010
7mo: 1.017
FG (10mo): 1.017

Dough-in with 3.5 gallons of 167F water. Mash temp @ 155F for 45min.
4 gallon batch sparge @ 170F with some recirculation.
6.25 gallons of wort pre-boil, 5.5 gallons post boil.

Picked 5lbs local blackberries. Washed several times. Grind up 1 Campden tablet and added to fruit. Put in ziploc bags and froze for 2 days. Thawed, added 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme 1 hour before racking beer onto fruit in secondary along with Roeselare yeast blend. Leave on blackberries for 3 weeks. Rack into tertiary & let rest for 10 months.

Fermentation: Very little pellicle formation. Early (~few months) taste tests revealed subtle bacterial & sour flavoring, some fruit, favorable & very present blackberry flavor. Later months revealed slightly more bacterial/sour flavoring, little fruit, and overall watered-down flavor. Not strong beer or fruit flavor when bottling and low to moderate sour character.

Tasting: At 2 weeks in bottles, beer improved, yet was similar to at bottling – little fruit flavor, watery, and very little carbonation.

At just over 1mo in bottles, beer has MASSIVELY improved. Very present fruit flavor with a potpourri of mixed bacterial complexity. Tastes of blackberry combined with bacteria is reminiscent of redcurrant. Gorgeous, glowing blackberry color akin to redcurrant) – a deep, light red with a tint of pink and hazy. Overall very balanced between bacteria, fruit, and sweetness. Bubbly carbonation that’s not overwhelming while small bubbles explode with berry and a slight acidity. Veeery slightly astringent like an old granny smith apple. A wonderful beer.