raspberry ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bushmanj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Location
Michigan
i brewed up a raspberry ale 3 weeks ago and i plan to rack onto some fruit this weekend and let it hang out for a week or so. how much fruit should i use? i want this thing to be explosive. thanks
 
1/2 pound per gallon will give you some flavor, but I've always read/done 1 full pound per gallon. But when doing fruit beers, I want the fruit flavor to be forward of any other tastes. If you want something more subtle (think sam Adams cherry wheat - not neccessarily in terms of taste or style, but rather in flavor balance), than 1/2 pound should treat you well.
 
I use 4lbs grocery store frozen raspberries in 5 gallons for my raspberry pale ale.
steeped last few minutes of boil to sanitize, and add those berries to primary.

Gives a nice prominent raspberry. crowd favorite.
on deck for brewing an all grain version in june.

Can post my extract recipe when I get home.
 
the raspberry extract actually is pretty true to flavor. (unlike some other flavors) could try that if you dont want to use the fruit, might be cheaper.
 
here's my recipe

3.3lb can edme light liquid malt extract
3lb munton & fison light dry malt extract
1/2lb 20 lvb crystal malt crushed and steeped in grain bag until water comes to boil
1oz fuggles (4.5% aa) boil 60 min
1oz tettnang (3.8% aa) boil 60 min
Irish Moss Last 15min of boil
1/2 fuggles last 1 min of boil
4lbs frozen raspberries steeped last 15min (after fuggles) Boil -140° then chill to pitching temp. add steeped berries to fermenter.

Fermented with slurry from previous batch (Wyeast London ESB Yeast) ESB Yeast leaves a nice amount of malt to stand up next to raspberry tartness.

will be doing an all grain version this summer... june or july.
OG:1.052
FG:1.012

5.25% ABV
 
Extract is much cheaper and much easier, but it has an artificial taste to it. I just did a raspberry ale and I used 4 pounds of frozen raspberries. I pureed and then pasteurized the raspberries at 170 for 15 minutes. After that I dumped them into my secondary and then racked my ale. They have another week in the secondary and then 3 more weeks in the bottle before I'll know how I did.
 
I only use fresh/frozen or canned fruits never liked the extract fruit. I've sanitized 2 ways adding fruit to end of boil and steeping for 15min or by making a puree and adding campden tablets over night in fridge and adding to post fermentation (like secondary but in primary for a week to 10 days... haven't had a problem with either method.

did both on my strawberry wheat 5lbs steep 5lbs post fermentation.
 
thanks for your replies guys. i wouldnt imagine a sanitation issue if they were frozen right? also i was concidering a light dry hop with an ounce or so of cascades to give a fruity note
 
as long as berries hit 170° they are fine. either that or 1 crushed campden tablet per pound well mixed in raspberries overnight in the fridge (covered)

I usually pre-thaw the berries sometimes split half at end of boil and 1/2 as fermentation has slowed and let sit another week or 2.

I'd just go with last minute or two hop addition... lets the raspberries really come out in aroma... don't want to cover any off that up with a dry hopping.
 
Back
Top