Fruit Beer Requiem Raspberry

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I will say that adding your raspberries to the secondary by wrapping the grain bag around the carboy neck and stuffing the berries inside with a funnel works great.

But, be sure to rack the beer normally into the secondary with little oxygen exposure, not on top of the raspberries. Mine still has a maturing raspberry flavor and I only have 2 bottles left. Don't want this batch to be gone.

This recipe highlights the raspberries. Frozen works fine also. Definitely will make again.

Good point...if you add the raspberries after the carboy is full, you won't be splashing your beer everywhere....then again it might be difficult to accurately gauge how much space is needed for them?

It's the bit about siphoning over the suspended berries I don't agree with.
 
Yeah, Ive done it both ways and it really does work well either way and have also used fresh and frozen berries, mixedberries also work well. I used to just dump the berries into the carboy but for ME putting the berries in the grain bag is just a better method, you get all the berry flavor with way easier cleanup and did I mention no seeds in your KEG :)
 
Just a random thought. I have cranberries sitting in my freezer. You think that replacing the rasberries with cranberries is a good idea? Maybe a bit bitter
 
maybe with a few sweeter malt additions it will balance out? Honey malt maybe?

Why would you assume that cranberries would require sweeter malts? Once the sugar from raspberries has been fermented out, the remaining compounds from the fruit are quite sour/acidic. I don't see the logic behind what you are suggesting. It would seem to me that cranberries are likely quite similar to raspberries in terms of the flavor they would lend after fermentation.

Furthermore, you would need unfermentable sugars to increase the sweetness of your beverage...it would be best to add maltodextrin after fermentation if you wanted to sweeten things up, allowing for greater control of sweetness. Again, I don't see why you would want to sweeten this recipe due to the use of cranberries.



There's only one way to find out...either way the unfermentable sugar content of raspberries is negligible. Other compounds such as acids would have more of an impact on flavor...

If you cant find #/gallon ratio guidelines for cranberries you'd have to do some experimenting.
 
OK I'm new to using beerSmith2 anyone know how to add fresh/frozen fruit (raspberry) as a ingredient? All I get is the extract
 
OK I'm new to using beerSmith2 anyone know how to add fresh/frozen fruit (raspberry) as a ingredient? All I get is the extract

Raspberries will not affect you ABV% to any significant degree, because of their Brix content.

In other words, they have some sugar, but they also have enough water, that it's not going to increase the strength of your beer. It's as if you are adding more sugar, and diluting, simultaneously. Just don't worry about it.

That being said I think you can add fruit somewhere in the program...check the beersmith forum, this is what I did. There's a simple way to download extra ingredients lists directly from the program itself. Not sure if raspberries are available as an ingredient...but again, it would not affect ABV%, and the color contribution couldn't be accurately gauged since this is highly variable between raspberries...so there is no point in bothering with it.
 
Thanks Mike, I will go back and see if I missed something.
OK, so I see it is pretty much in the secondary... it says to add an additional 40 oz to the secondary..... so do we do 40oz or 80oz of Rasp?
 
I did about 40 oz of a berry mix and it turned out great - gearing up to re-brew this one. Hardest part I had was getting the berry mix into the carboy without spilling them all over the place.
 
Time to take a step back & look at the Big Picture:

I brewed this recipe & learned alot about brewing with fruit. Using it as a benchmark is a great resource. There is ALOT of good information here.

Will I brew with fruit again?! Sure! And I already have. I took my favorite recipe & just added the raspberries to it. It was FANTASTIC! and it lasted 3 days in my keg.

Even the grain in this recipe is a great resource. Experience is quite a benefit.
 
I got my lhbs to arrange my ingredients for me and one of the employees there said I should cook the raspberries down in some sugar. This makes them turn into a jelly or jam type substance. I haven't had the time to read every post in the thread, but has anyone done it like this yet? I changed my recipe some, I used wyeast lambic style yeast, and some New Zealand Montezuma hops because they were out of cascade. The montezuma has a citrus and fruity flavor though and goes great with Belgians. So if anything I am very happy that they were out of cascade. Could be a happy accident. Be careful with boilovers on this one. Lots of DME = a frothy boil! Can't wait for this one, two weeks to go.
 
I got my lhbs to arrange my ingredients for me and one of the employees there said I should cook the raspberries down in some sugar. This makes them turn into a jelly or jam type substance. I haven't had the time to read every post in the thread, but has anyone done it like this yet? I changed my recipe some, I used wyeast lambic style yeast, and some New Zealand Montezuma hops because they were out of cascade. The montezuma has a citrus and fruity flavor though and goes great with Belgians. So if anything I am very happy that they were out of cascade. Could be a happy accident. Be careful with boilovers on this one. Lots of DME = a frothy boil! Can't wait for this one, two weeks to go.

that employee should be fired.

Don`t do that, unless you want pectin haze. Plus you`ll lose a lot of the aromatic compounds, which are volatile. just use raw fruit with campden tablets.
 
Those would work just fine. I'd put them in a blender or smash them up lightly myself. Add them after fermentation is complete. We just added 4 lbs of Raspberries to a Wit last night for a friends wedding beer...
 
that employee should be fired.

Don`t do that, unless you want pectin haze. Plus you`ll lose a lot of the aromatic compounds, which are volatile. just use raw fruit with campden tablets.

I didn't do the campden tablets yesterday when I boiled my wort. I'll have to go get some today from the lhbs. I def won't be cooking down the raspberries! Bad advice from the gal at the front desk.

And just to be sure, the campden tabs are 1 crushed for every 5 gallons right?
 
I didn't do the campden tablets yesterday when I boiled my wort. I'll have to go get some today from the lhbs. I def won't be cooking down the raspberries! Bad advice from the gal at the front desk.

And just to be sure, the campden tabs are 1 crushed for every 5 gallons right?

errr unless my memory fails me I used 1 per 4 lbs of fruit...you aren`t soaking the entire wort in campden for 24 hours, just the fruit and a small amount of water. Remember to wait 24 hours, and add to secondary, again, not to lose volatile aromatic compounds.

You could also risk it and not sterilize your fruit...but you`re risking infection.
 
So just to clarify, use campden tabs with some water and fruit, soak together for 24 hours then add to secondary correct?
 
So just to clarify, use campden tabs with some water and fruit, soak together for 24 hours then add to secondary correct?

yeah...because it is recommended to add the fruit to secondary and not primary, I'd schedule this so that you can add the fruit to your empty secondary fermenter, and rack the beer on top of the fruit. This will minimize splashing and thus oxidation.
 
I am going with something else. Went to a legendary lhbs called Just brew it. http://aardvarkbrewing.com/

I was picking up a mash tun because I'm now moving into the AG world. Anyway, I started talking with the guy about Fresh Raspberries, Raspberry Extract, and pre canned Raspberry puree. They 100% said go with Raspberry puree. Of the kind that is made for making raspberry wines. His reasoning, because they came from orchards that are growing raspberries in vineyards, they are made for making wine and beers.

So I picked up a can of this...

v2-jb3326.jpg


My reasoning? I trust this guy, local microbrew staff and owners were trained by him. He said also that the canned raspberries are already sanitized as well. As long as you cut the can open on the top of the inner rim to open you're fine. Plus you can sanitize the can as well. The can was pricey but I plan on dumping the entire thing into a carboy and see how she goes.

So here is my question. Since I used wyeasts lambic strain, how long of a secondary and bottle conditioning period am I looking at? I have a feeling It's gonna be like 4-6 months in secondary at least and maybe 3 months in the bottle. Is this true? Has anyone made this with Lambic yeast yet?
 
So here is my question. Since I used wyeasts lambic strain, how long of a secondary and bottle conditioning period am I looking at? I have a feeling It's gonna be like 4-6 months in secondary at least and maybe 3 months in the bottle. Is this true? Has anyone made this with Lambic yeast yet?

I have a Lambic going right now with the Wyeast lambic blend. I noticed some of the characteristic flavors in about two months but I am planning on going 6 months before adding fruit. I have mine in plastic bucket on the yeast cake. From what I've read having a little bit of O2 permeating through is important.
 
I am wondering about the roasted barley and how it contributes to the flavor. I read through most of the posts and didn't see any discussion about it. To me it sounds like an interesting and unusual choice to include for this type of beer.

Any thoughts about the barley?

I am planning to do something similar but maybe with black currant instead. The crystal seems like an obvious choice to include so I'll definitely have that in my recipe.
 
I am going with something else. Went to a legendary lhbs called Just brew it. http://aardvarkbrewing.com/

I was picking up a mash tun because I'm now moving into the AG world. Anyway, I started talking with the guy about Fresh Raspberries, Raspberry Extract, and pre canned Raspberry puree. They 100% said go with Raspberry puree. Of the kind that is made for making raspberry wines. His reasoning, because they came from orchards that are growing raspberries in vineyards, they are made for making wine and beers.

So I picked up a can of this...

v2-jb3326.jpg


My reasoning? I trust this guy, local microbrew staff and owners were trained by him. He said also that the canned raspberries are already sanitized as well. As long as you cut the can open on the top of the inner rim to open you're fine. Plus you can sanitize the can as well. The can was pricey but I plan on dumping the entire thing into a carboy and see how she goes.

So here is my question. Since I used wyeasts lambic strain, how long of a secondary and bottle conditioning period am I looking at? I have a feeling It's gonna be like 4-6 months in secondary at least and maybe 3 months in the bottle. Is this true? Has anyone made this with Lambic yeast yet?

6 months in primary, then another 6-18 months in secondary with fruit. Takes at least 6 months for the organisms other than yeast to grow in population. The rationale is to wait until these populations are large enough that they will be digesting the fruit you add, and not the yeast.

I'd be interested to see what the raspberry puree tastes like...That being said, doesn't mean you can't find raspberries suitable for wine/beer making which are fresh...I still believe that fresh raspberries would be better.

I wonder how they sterilize the raspberries? If it's pasteurized with heat, then you'd definitely be better off with fresh raspberries + campden. I've considered buying these containers in the past for hard to come by fruit, but the price never justified it. Given the amount of time that goes into a lambic, could be worth it. I wouldn't bother for a regular ale, unless you're BALLIN.



If rubus occidentalis grows near where you live, I HIGHLY recommend you pick some and try using these
 
Brewed JohnySax's recipe a few weeks ago. Sadly raspberries are out of season so I had to use oregon puree and frozen black berries. The puree has kicked the ferment up CRAZY!!! almost have to attach a blowoff tube. My OG was 1.070 and before I added the berrie mix it was 1.012. I dont mind the extra alcohol, but I took a taste test and I'm getting no berry flavor at all. I'm thinking I fermented a lil high on the temp (70-72). Started the brew on 17 February and I racked to secondary with berries on 1 March. Not incredibly worrying, just wish I was getting some berry taste, thinking of racking again on 32oz of blackberry so I wont get any more ferment. Any hints or should I just chill out?
 
Brewed JohnySax's recipe a few weeks ago. Sadly raspberries are out of season so I had to use oregon puree and frozen black berries. The puree has kicked the ferment up CRAZY!!! almost have to attach a blowoff tube. My OG was 1.070 and before I added the berrie mix it was 1.012. I dont mind the extra alcohol, but I took a taste test and I'm getting no berry flavor at all. I'm thinking I fermented a lil high on the temp (70-72). Started the brew on 17 February and I racked to secondary with berries on 1 March. Not incredibly worrying, just wish I was getting some berry taste, thinking of racking again on 32oz of blackberry so I wont get any more ferment. Any hints or should I just chill out?

hmm i just brewed a 2.0 version of mine with blackberries and i let it go a little long in secondary and i was disappointed with the lack of berry taste.... maybe its the blackberries? I used frozen like i did with the raspberries. oh well. I would just let it chill out for several weeks. the original recipe aged very well for me. If you still want the berry flavor I would recommend adding a flavoring not more berries. adding berries this late in the game is just asking for some rogue microbes to spoil the party. ha ha.
 
Thanks for the quick reply.. For flavoring are you talking about an extract? Never used the stuff before, not even sure if my LHBS has it.
 
Thanks for the quick reply.. For flavoring are you talking about an extract? Never used the stuff before, not even sure if my LHBS has it.

No problem. Yep. Extract. I've never used it either, but I think it would give you what you want.
 
I would say that most of what I have read contradicts JonnySax's suggestion of using flavor extract, which I've heard sucks. Why not just add more raspberries?

Also, I've used blackberries in my beers in the past, and they definitely produced less of a berry-like flavor. It was hard to describe, but it almost produced a velvety/chalky flavor.
 
I would say that most of what I have read contradicts JonnySax's suggestion of using flavor extract, which I've heard sucks. Why not just add more raspberries?

Also, I've used blackberries in my beers in the past, and they definitely produced less of a berry-like flavor. It was hard to describe, but it almost produced a velvety/chalky flavor.

I never said that the fake berry flavor would be good... Personally I think it's nasty. Ha ha. But when you are late in secondary and find there is not the right flavor profile, I don't know if it's a good idea to add fruit. The key time for adding fruit is right when the yeast are starting to run out of food in primary. Racking to secondary on fruit gives them a quick source of food and allows a quick transition to the simpler fruit sugars. Racking to a tertiary late in the secondary will be a much slower start and leaves the opportunity for those sugars to be noticed by unwelcome guests. I would hate for a beer to be ruined this late in the game. Personally I would just drink it as is. That's what I'm doing with my blackberry wheat. I agree with the chalky taste... Not a fan... Oh well. Back to my 1.0 recipe.
 
I never said that the fake berry flavor would be good... Personally I think it's nasty. Ha ha. But when you are late in secondary and find there is not the right flavor profile, I don't know if it's a good idea to add fruit. The key time for adding fruit is right when the yeast are starting to run out of food in primary. Racking to secondary on fruit gives them a quick source of food and allows a quick transition to the simpler fruit sugars. Racking to a tertiary late in the secondary will be a much slower start and leaves the opportunity for those sugars to be noticed by unwelcome guests. I would hate for a beer to be ruined this late in the game. Personally I would just drink it as is. That's what I'm doing with my blackberry wheat. I agree with the chalky taste... Not a fan... Oh well. Back to my 1.0 recipe.

From my experience with lambics, I kind of disagree about the yeast not being able to attack the fruit...With these styles of beer, you need to wait >6 months for the yeast to get to low enough populations in order for the other organisms to be able to take advantage of the sugars provided the the addition of fruit in secondary fermentation. I could be wrong, but my experience tells me that yeast population need not be a concern for his circumstances.


Could also re-pitch and add more fruit to be on the safe side, or do as you suggest and drink it as it is. Either way, I wouldn't add flavor extract, but each to his own.
 
Good point. Could also re-pitch and add more fruit, or do as you suggest and drink it as it is.

yep that works too. I would even get a starter going and once the fermentation started declining, rack to tertiary with fruit and pitch the starter.
 
yep that works too. I would even get a starter going and once the fermentation started declining, rack to tertiary with fruit and pitch the starter.

they go dormant. Just because fermentation is nearing an end doesn't mean your yeast population has been reduced. If you add more sugar they "wake up" and start to metabolize again. It would take months to lose enough yeast that you'd need to re-pitch, according to my understanding...I don't think re-pitching would be necessary. Again, I could be wrong, but I'm 99.99% certain you are mistaken about needing to be worried about yeast count for tertiary in this circumstance.

I would simply add more fruit, or bottle and drink. You could couple a fruit addition with more yeast to be safe, but I think you'd be wasting yeast.
 
they go dormant. Just because fermentation is nearing an end doesn't mean your yeast population has been reduced. If you add more sugar they "wake up". It would take months to lose enough yeast that you'd need to re-pitch, according to my understanding...I don't think re-pitching would be necessary. Again, I could be wrong, but I'm 99.9% certain that I'm right.

I would simply add more fruit, or bottle and drink. You could couple a fruit addition with more yeast to be safe, but I think you'd be wasting yeast.

Very true, but you may loose some when racking. Who is up for trying it? split a primary in half... one rack to secondary on berries, the other do secondary and then rack to tertiary on berries. see what produces better berry flavor ha ha
 
Very true, but you may loose some when racking. Who is up for trying it? split a primary in half... one rack to secondary on berries, the other do secondary and then rack to tertiary on berries. see what produces better berry flavor ha ha

I think this would be a waste of time. You could just add more berries to secondary the first time. I highly doubt segregating berry additions into secondary/tertiary would yield better results.

Even if it was well flocculated, I doubt yeast count would be an issue. But yes, you might consider sucking up some of the yeast cake when racking for good measure.
 
Pretty decent recipe for extract! I brewed this a month of two ago and it turned out pretty good. Doubleld the raspberries turn out eeally tart at first but turned out really good.
 
Question. This seems to be for a 1 gallon batch. Has anyone made this in a 5 gallon batch that can post the recipe for it? Or have a beersmith file for it?
 
Question. This seems to be for a 1 gallon batch. Has anyone made this in a 5 gallon batch that can post the recipe for it? Or have a beersmith file for it?

This is actually for a 5 gallon. You add 6 pounds 6 ounces of dme. And the grains are for steeping.
 

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