Fruit Beer Razzy Wheat

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.

jkarp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
2,089
Reaction score
57
Location
Elizabeth, CO
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Safale WB-06
Batch Size (Gallons)
3.5
Original Gravity
1.048
Final Gravity
1.008
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
26
Color
4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
17 days @ 68
Tasting Notes
The rye addition adds a really nice crispness that complements the berries well.
Yeah, yeah, another raspberry wheat. I'm not a big fruit beer fan, but an occasional raspberry wheat is my one weakness. I've probably done a dozen variants of this recipe, but on a lark I added flaked rye instead of oats this time and HOLY MOLY - it really makes this recipe pop.

Pilsener (Belgian) - 3lbs
Malted Wheat (Belgian) - 3lbs
Flaked Rye - 1lb
Sterling (7.5%) - 0.5oz @ 60min
Sterling (7.5%) - 0.5oz @ 5min
Frozen raspberries - 1.5lbs

Water: Ca:75, Mg:5, Na:10, Cl:35, SO:70, CaCO:89

For the mash I started with a 10min protein rest at 120 deg, did a 2nd infusion to hit 145 deg and then gradually ramped the mash temp to 170 deg over the next 60 minutes.

Fermentation intentionally kept cool (68 deg) to minimize esters. After 7 days, I added 1.5 lbs of just thawed (previously frozen) whole raspberries to the primary. Bottled after 10 more days. Carbonated to 3.5 vol.

beer63.jpg
 
would you have an extract recipe or partial mash for this?

Well, the pils and wheat are easily found in DME form - 2 lbs of each. The challenge is going to be the rye. Can't steep it as it requires conversion. You'd have to do a mini-mash.
 
Does this look right for a 5 gal batch?

Pilsener (Belgian) - 4.25lbs
Malted Wheat (Belgian) - 4.25lbs
Flaked Rye - 1.5lb
Sterling (7.5%) - 1.0oz @ 60min
Sterling (7.5%) - 0.5oz @ 5min
Frozen raspberries - 2.1lbs
 
I have a friend that has requested this. I'm not fortunate to keg yet so if you had to make a recomendation on how long I need to condition in a bottle, how long would you say?
 
I'm of the opinion that wheat beers don't need aging at all, but I did have some bottles of the last batch that made it 3 months and other than turning crystal clear, they still tasted great.
 
How much raspberry flavor showed through?

I was considering doing this recipe, and throwing in a 1.5lbs of peaches? How do you think that would turn out?
 
I just tasted mine today 4 days after the fruit addition and on a 1 - 10 scale the fruit taste is about a 4. Tasted great though.

As for peaches, I wouldn't personally. I had a microbrew the other day that was peach based and it tasted like wine... Ewwwww...
 
Hi J - I'm going to brew something like this, 50/50 mix of wheat/pilsner malt, maybe sub a little munich for some pilsner. One thought I had was to lower the ibu's to less than 20 and just use a bittering addition (60 minutes), no flavor or aroma additions. Make this very light, dry, crisp (maybe a 149 degree mash) and try to let the raspberry flavor come through. What do you think?

Thanks for the recipe! Its really great to have tried and true recipes like this - thanks for sharing it!

Jim
 
Hi J - I'm going to brew something like this, 50/50 mix of wheat/pilsner malt, maybe sub a little munich for some pilsner. One thought I had was to lower the ibu's to less than 20 and just use a bittering addition (60 minutes), no flavor or aroma additions. Make this very light, dry, crisp (maybe a 149 degree mash) and try to let the raspberry flavor come through. What do you think?

You could definitely drop the late hop addition and cut the IBUs. I wouldn't go too low on the mash temp though as the raspberries already add a dry / astringent finish and you risk loosing the grain flavors.
 
You could definitely drop the late hop addition and cut the IBUs. I wouldn't go too low on the mash temp though as the raspberries already add a dry / astringent finish and you risk loosing the grain flavors.

Right, using the malt to balance the tartness of the raspberries. Thanks!
 
How about a single infusion around 152degrees? Keeping the hop additions normally posted? How do you think it would turn out?
 
I'd think good FB. In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to do a 152 single infusion on this brew.
 
So I went to my LHBS and told them I wanted to make a partial-mash raspberry wheat beer, and they helped me put together a recipe. I also asked about adding Rye, and they looked at me funny. So I went with their recommendation , and this is what I have:

1lb Munich
3lb German Pilsner
3lb White Wheat
5lb wheat DME

The hops I chose were:
1oz tettanang (60 min)
1oz Saaz (15 min)

add raspberry flavoring at kegging
Yeast: WL380 (hefe) or english ale WL004

Couple of question:

Does this sound like too much grain or DME? Should I cut back 1-2lbs of DME?

1oz of Saaz...should I do it all at 15 minutes or maybe 1/2oz 30 min and 1/2oz at 15 min?

Which yeast do I use? I was leaning toward the irish ale as it is cleaner, but am still looking for input.

Thanks!
 
I've always liked Safeale WB-06, or wyeast 1056. Safeale WB-06 is a winner in my book for fruity wheat's. Or maybe even wyeast 3068 weihenstephen?

What size batch are you looking to do? Too bad they looked at you funny for asking about rye. One of the beauties of homebrewers lies within our creative boundaries, which jkarp tapped into for this one. I just brewed his recipe today with a single infusion, and I'm super excited for the end product. I love the spicy, effervescence that rye imparts, and am looking forward to see if it really accentuates this brew.
 
digphish - consider WLP320 as well. It's a little less "in your face" than 380 and throws less sulfur. I don't think an english ale would work well, but I've never tried it in a wheat...
 
Thanks for the feedback. I went with the Irish Ale 004 because I didn't have anything else that might work. I know it probably wasn't the best choice, but it is clean and shouldn't add/detract from the flavor. The 380 would definitely have added flavor, which I was trying to avoid. I'll let you know how it works out.

Also, I used only 3lbs wheat DME, and 1/2oz Saaz at 15 min. OG was 1.069. I'll let you know how it turned out in a few weeks.
 
Jeff,

You have probably covered this before, but I couldn't find it. What do you do to the raspberries before adding to the fermenter, what's your process for adding fruit? Do you sanitize, boil, bag, etc.?

Thanks.

Ron
 
You have probably covered this before, but I couldn't find it. What do you do to the raspberries before adding to the fermenter, what's your process for adding fruit? Do you sanitize, boil, bag, etc.?

I used frozen berries so they're already clean and ready to eat. I just dropped 'em in at the end of fermentation.
 
I've adapted this to a blackberry wheat recipe. Haven't brewed yet, so I'm looking for input...

5# Pilsner Malt info
5# Wheat Malt info
1.5# Flaked Rye info

1.0 oz Sterling @ 50m

WB-06

Probably single infusion mash at 155 or so. I wouldn't mind a slightly higher finishing gravity.

4 LBS fresh then frozen blackberries, in secondary. Blackberries are less tart and flavorful than raspberries, so I wanted to up the poundage.

Any input? I hope to ferment at or below 68 degrees F, so I may need to employ the wet towel method!
 
So do the raspberries add anything to the overall ABV of the beer? I brewed this last month or so and just started drinking them. Fantastic!
 
So do the raspberries add anything to the overall ABV of the beer? I brewed this last month or so and just started drinking them. Fantastic!

Not significantly, no. Your priming sugar would add more ABV than the berries would.
 
I just bottled up 3.5 gallons of your Razzy Wheat tonight. It tasted great going into the bottles so I have high hopes for this one. I left about 1.5 gallons "plain" American Wheat and Rye that is the base of this beer which also tasted awesome. Again, I have high hopes for this one!
 
I'm looking for an AG Blueberry Wheat to brew for the wifey. I'm thinking of just using a standard wheat recipe, and adding 2-3 lbs of frozen (thawed) blueberries at secondary. Do you think I need to crush the berries, or just drop them in?

Any other suggestions? I like your Rye idea. If someone has a recipe for a 5 gallon batch, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!
 
I made a blueberry wheat once. Pretty, but you'd never know there were blueberries in it and I used 3 lbs fresh in a 3 gallon batch.
 
Whelp, my Razzy Wheat is not about four weeks old (I think...) with two weeks in the bottle and I love this beer! The American Wheat and Rye base beer is quite good all by it's self and the Raspberry is also very crisp and refreshing. I think that I am going to get another batch of this in the rotation very soon for some late summer refreshments. THanks for a great recipe!
 
Just kegged my first batch of this last night. I upped the malts for a 5.25 gallon batch and used a little over 3lbs of frozen raspberries in the primary after about a week. Then let it sit for 10 days. OG - 1.051, FG 1.012.

This ended up a lovely rose color, more pinkish red than I was expecting, it looks awesome. The smell and taste of the raspberries in the hydro sample I tried was a little more pronounced than I'd want in the finished beer, but I figure that will mellow a little in the keg. I'll report back in a few days after it's carbed.

Thanks for the recipe!
 
I had several of these over the weekend and it's fantastic. It smells exactly like raspberries, but not too much and the taste has a nice tart finish that keeps you coming back for more. This isn't going to last long!
 
I had made a version of this back in February, keeping the malt/hops the same but substituting frozen Costco mixed berries (raspberry, blueberry, and marionberry). I might have added too many berries / let it ferment too hot because when I tasted it after 3 weeks it was extremely tart - almost undrinkable. I let it sit in the keg for 5 months now and just hooked it up today - wow! Very enjoyable beer, and a beautiful color thanks for the recipe!
 
I plan on doing this for my next brew. I do 5 gallon BIAB. Would you recommend mashing at 152 deg F for 60 minutes and then mashing out at 170 deg F?

Thanks
 
You might want to mash a bit warmer to retain some residual sweetness. I can't remember off hand what I mashed at, but the berries will dry out the beer and add some tartness. I say 154-156 but am shooting from the hip.
 
I'm brewing this up right now. Beautiful day to brew since my team got upset yesterday. Just can't watch basketball right now. Hurts too bad!
 
I'm experiencing a strange fermentation on this one. Had a krausen the next morning, but today it has dropped and there are some interesting "things" floating on top. Not sure what's going on. I've never used WB-06 so maybe it's just normal.
 
Back
Top