Fruit Beer Sam's Raspberry Wheat

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evolcoms

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Messages
384
Reaction score
12
Location
Hemet
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
California V Ale WLP051
Yeast Starter
No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5 1/2
Original Gravity
1.055
Final Gravity
1.016
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
24.6
Color
5.2
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 - 14 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
No
Additional Fermentation
No
Tasting Notes
Very nice head with pour that diminishes to a lace that lasts. Very nice!
2 x 3.3 lbs. cans of Bavarian Wheat LME
1 lbs. Briess DME Weisen
8 oz. Caramel 10L
8 oz. Carapils
12 oz. Wheat malt
2oz. Hallertau Hops
California V Ale yeast (WLP051)
1 - 3 lbs. 1oz. can Red Raspberry Puree

Note : My OG was 1.055 and my FG was 1.015. ABV was around 5%

Fill kettle with 2.5 gallons of water. Turn on heat, and steep the grains until you reach 150 F (about 15 mins). Remove grains and discard. Bring to a boil then remove from heat add one can of the Bavarian Wheat LME. Bring back up to a boil once LME is fully desolved. Once you have a nice rolling boil, set your timer for 60 mins and add your first hop addition. With 5 mins left in the boil, your ready for your final hop addition. After 60 mins has passed add your last can of Bavarian Wheat LME and 1 lbs. Briess Weisen DME. Once extracts are fully desolved remove HOT wort from heat and cool with either a wort chiller and/or an ice bath. Bring temps down to 76 F and add the Raspeberry Puree. Shake or stir wort vigorously to aerate and mix puree with wort. Pitch yeast and ferment at 66-70 F for 10 - 14 days. Bottle condition for 2 weeks at 66 -70 F. It is now ready to be thrown in some bottles or a keg and Chilled. My wife and friends really enjoyed this recipe. Enjoy!:rockin:
 
This became one of my wifes fav's. I tried some after 2 weeks of chilling in the fridge and it was still a little tart,but after 4 weeks...it was good! Nice hint of Raspberry flavor/Aroma with a mild bitterness.
 
Looking for an extract recipe with watermelon. This looks good just substituting fruits.
 
Ive heard Watermelon is a hard fruit to incorporate into a beer. The taste and aroma are to slight to notice. The Raspberry was very nice. I would recommend bottle conditioning for about 6 weeks instead of the 4 i mentioned above. The taste of this beer was very nice once conditioned long enough.
 
There's a nice recipe for melon on the first page of fruit beer recipes. Has a lot of praise. Only knock seems to be head retention. I'll post back when I try it soon.
 
Awesome pics and descriptions! Looking forward to your updates.
 
did yours finish up dry? I'm worried the whole fruit didn't act as well as your puree did. Has a little off taste and it's super dry (at only 1.020 from an OG of 1.060). I put a little in a bottle with some sweetener and sugar to carb so I can see how it will taste when done. I'm going to rack it soon but I'm not sure where to go now with it
 
I actually didnt try it until it had bottle conditioned for 4 weeks.

Correction, I did try it after 2 weeks and it was still a little tart. I can honestly say it got better with age.
 
How dark does this beer turn out? I was thinking of doing this type with cherry and was curious.
 
Im confused by the ammount of puree you called out in the recipe "1 - 3 lbs. 1oz. can Red Raspberry Puree" How much did you use?
 
I am new to Homebrewing, and after making a "kit" brown ale- I wanted to make something different and came accross this. Since I am new I made a mistake, as I added too much water to my primary when I was topping it off afte the wort chilled. I had nearly 6 gallons that went into the primary which gave me an OG of 1.042. Just racked to the secondary and the gravity reading was 1.012 after 1 week. The only change I made was I added 2 lbs of fresh raspberries and 1 lb of 'mixed berries' hoping some of the strawberries and blueberries would cut some of the tartness I have read. Also added was 1/4 cup of blackberry schnapps after freezing the berries and pectic enzime 2 1/2 tspns. I do not have a FG as I just put it into the secondary, but it is slowly fermenting again after the addition to fruit and schnapps. Looking forward to trying the finished product.
 
Welcome tohomebrewing. Someof the tartness will dissipate as it conditions in bottles but one thing I do keep around is extract if I'm making a fruit beer ( especially withblackberries). It's handy in case the fruit purée you use is a little too tart or if the fruit you dropped in wasn't quite ripe. I found sometimes 1 oz of extract at bottling is enough to cut the tart without making the beer overly sweet.

Keep us posted on howit turns out.
 
Will do, that actually is a good idea thanks- I am going to brew a Chocolate Stout next and I will need to go to my LHBS to pick up supplies. I was worried about some of the extract tastes, but I think next week when I go to bottle, I will take a FG reading and taste before and after adding a few drops to the Hydro tube and retaste.

-edit- Any suggestions on bet ways to make sure I do not suck up any fruit when I auto siphon to the bottling bucket?I was thinking on having the end in the bottling bucket go into a strainer while trying not to splash.
 
Quick update- 6 days ago I added the three lbs of fruit and it started fermenting again after a 1 week in the primary (airlock activity ended) before going to the secondary (with fruit). I want to get the beer off the fruit as I have read that after 1 week issues of taste and mold can come up. Not sure if anyone wants to weigh in of how long is recommended, but should I go get off the fruit and into another fermenter?
 
If you used fresh fruit that can be an issue,. Just take a quick taste and that will tell you all you want to know. I usually use frozen fruit so the mold doesn't become an issue but you sacrifice some taste by doing that.
 
I used both fresh that I froze and then frozen "mixed berries' to give some additional sweetnes of the blueberries and straberries. I am not sure what I would be looking for is taste. there is also a 3/5 inch layer of fruit I would have to push through to get a to the beer. my concern is that is is still bubling away- still this morning- and I was planning on bottling it tomorrow- it would be then 1 week in primary- one week in glass carboy with 3 and change lbs of fruit.... I am stuck between not wanting off tastes from beer left on the fruit too long and possibly too dry of a taste and pulling the beer off early and having bottle bombs....
 
If you have a "thief" hydrometer, just take a sample. Otherwise, get a long piece of tubing, sterilize it, and dip it. You can plug theoutside end with your finger to create a vacuum.
 
Forgot to mention, I had cherries in secondary for 2 weeks and didn't get any off flavors
 
ok thak you. After one week in primary we are now going on 10 days in secondary with some decent activity in the airlock.
 
Am i just missing something, or is there no hop schedule...you say there are two hop additions, at 60 and 5...but dont actually state how much goes in each...is it 1oz at 60 and 1oz at 5?
 
Wow I guess I did totally forgot to do that. Its 1 oz. at 60 and 1 oz. at 5
 
I just brewed this last weekend. OG was 1.038, low imo. I just put in secondary and took another reading and it was 1.008. However, it was rather tasty and not at all tart. A little early to tell but still pleased nonetheless. Please feel free to chim in, love the hobby.
 
I just drink my first one of these, been bottle conditioning for about 2 months now it is was awesome. The raspberry really mellowed out and it was an all around great brew.
 
I have been searching for a few months for a good recipe and I like this one so much, I literally joined the forum just to ask you questions.

- Did you make your own puree? All the puree recipes I found online call for lemon juice, etc.

- What are your thoughts on using whole raspberries as opposed to the puree?

- If using whole fruit works, do you think fresh or frozen or doesn't matter?

Thanks for posting this recipe. It sounds delicious.
 
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