Adding frozen raspberries; who much, when, how to sanitize

Hey everyone. so I have done a few searches on the items in the topic but got no definite answers on a few of them. I understand that when adding frozen raspberries to the secondary for a rasp. wheat it's all about experimentation and individual taste so I can live with that, but I will ask anyway, about how many lbs. of frozen rasp. should I add to 3 gallons to get a nicely flavored rasp. wheat? not over powering but enough to say "that's got's some rasp. in it"
Next, and most important, do I need to sanitize frozen rasp. before I add them to the secondary? I have read that you don't need to because the alcohol in the beer will kill the nasties but some say to pasteurize them. so which is it or does it really not matter?
And last, about how long should they stay in the secondary? obviously till any secondary fermentation is done but about how long after that?

Thanks for any and all input

I believe the raspberry wheat I brewed, had 2 lb of berries in a 10 gallon batch. I thought it was the perfect balance, but 3 BJCP judges commented that they would have liked more raspberry. One said that it was a nice wheat beer with raspberries, but not a raspberry wheat. Fruit flavor is really subjective to personal preference, I like it to be subtle, but noticeable.

edited after checking logs.

Just checked my log, I split ten gallons into 2 carboys and added a pound to each.
Also, the fermentation will pick back up when you add the berries, so be ready with a blow off tube, you may need it.

I went crazy with 4lbs of mixed berries in 5 gallons. I pasturized them first and I think it helped make them into a slury that fermented better. I also felt better knowing there would not be an infection. I dont know if you have to do this, but better safe than sorry.
I also read later that once you rack the beer onto the fruit you should try to cover all the fruit with liquid to avoid molding. I had fruit above the beer line and it didnt mold, but I have seen pictures of moldy fruit that was out of the liquid.

That said my beer was overpowering and too tart. Next time I will halve that to about 2 lbs for 5 gallons.

For sanitizing I have read to soak them (or possibly simmer) them in vodka, rinse, and dump. Could be wrong, so don't quote me on that.

Gman2 said:

Next time I will halve that to about 2 lbs for 5 gallons.

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Ya I guess 1 lb per five gallons wasn't quite enough, I think if I do it again I'll put 4 lbs in 10 gallons.

So from what i'm reading I think I will try adding 1.5 lbs. to my 3 gallon fermenter. I think I will let them ferment for about a week and a half. Sanitizing is still an issue. I guess I'll pasteurize just to be safe. thanks everyone

You can sanitize them in three ways that I know of...
1) bring em to a boil for a few minutes in a bit of water
2) soak em in vodka for a while
3) soak em in water and a crushed up campden tablet

I've heard from a prof brewer that campden tablets will sometimes add a hint of sulfer flavor to a beer but I've only heard that from one guy and I've never tasted any sulfer after using them.

Personally, I think a little bit of water, crushing them up and bringing them to a boil for a few minutes is the way to go.

I used 2.25 lbs of frozen raspberries for a 3 gal batch of 20 IBU wheat beer. I thought that was too much, but my friends really liked it. I wanted a beer with a taste of raspberry, but ended up with a raspberry drink with a taste of beer.

I didn't sanitize the raspberries. I was being a cheapskate because after thawing, there was a lot of raspberry juice in the bag that I didn't want to wash away. I figured that since the primary fermentation was done, it'd be hard to infect the beer. I just pureed the raspberries in a food processor and added to the secondary.

After a week, the pulp was still bobbing around in the carboy, but hydrometer readings confirmed that fermentation was done. I had to use a strainer to remove the pulp when I transferred it to the bottling bucket.

Aging definitely helped this beer. I started drinking it after 2 weeks in the bottle, but I thought it was best after 6 weeks. I gave a bottle to a friend who kept it for over 3 months. We opened it at a little tasting we were having and it was better than I remembered.

so you say you didn't sanitize the rasp. did you use frozen, fresh, etc.?

dotnetdotcom said:

I figured that since the primary fermentation was done, it'd be hard to infect the beer. I just pureed the raspberries in a food processor and added to the secondary.

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Is that true? I've always thought that anytime after your wort boil is complete infections are easy to get.

djinn88 said:

Is that true? I've always thought that anytime after your wort boil is complete infections are easy to get.

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You're correct. Fermentation being complete doesn't protect a beer in any way... unless you fermented to something like 40% ABV (like vodka)... and the alcohol alone keeps it sanitary.

I pureed and simmered mine for a minute or so.

I used 6 lbs for a 10 gallon batch of a sweet stout, the raspberry flavor was very pronounced, next time I would probably cut back a pound or so. Three days in the secondary, any long and I sometimes get some off flavors from the fruit. I use frozen raspberries, then I just bring them to a boil. Boiling them longer will destroy some of the delicate raspberry flavor and also activate the pectins in the fruit which could give you a hazy finished beer. It isn't necessary to bring to a boil to sanitize, but just getting it to boil is a safe bet to make sure that its hot enough. I have never had a problem with infection using this method.

I have always heard that soaking them in water at 170 is best to pasturize. I heard boiling them can cause off flavors. Frozen fruit is good because the membrain is broken already and they give off more flavor. Just make sure there are no perservitives in the berries you buy and you should be set.

My homebrew store said I could either drop them in the wort right at the end of the boil (which might decrease taste) or I could add them at the end of the fermentation before moving it to the secondary. I did both. I added 3lbs to the wort (5gal) and then 2lbs to the primary and things came out fine. My brewster said that the freezing kills off a lot of the bacteria at risk and that the high acidity and alcohol content from the beer reduces the risk of infection. This was with frozen berries.

I am currently doing the same fresh berries in the wort that I strained out and now I am going to add fresh-frozen berries at the end of my fermentation later today.