Fruit Beer Requiem Raspberry

GHC007 said:

Both times I brewed it I left it in the primary for 14 days.

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Okay, I will probably go with that. Then how long did you leave it on the fruit in the secondary?

I made this and added the frozen raspberries to 2ndary. Within two weeks I had a nasty infection. http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae88/WakeMikey/Random/AGBrew4142.jpg

Make sure you do research on how to properly prepare the raspberries to avoid wasting $30 or so. Boy did it look good too.

craig_reed said:

Okay, I will probably go with that. Then how long did you leave it on the fruit in the secondary?

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I did 10 days both times. Its really personal preference on how fruity you want it to taste.

EDIT: Looks like the OP lets it sit on the fruits for only 7 days.

Sorry about your loss bud. I think thats the first person in this thread thats had infection problems and it seems most of us have just tossed them in. Were they frozen, organic raspberries? Did you throw them in frozen or thawed? Did you try to rack from beneath the infected fruit?

Crazy infection! I am going to use fresh raspberries from a farmers market, and will probably boil them on the stove for a few minutes to make sure is is pasteurized. Then let them cool, toss them in the secondary and rack on top!

What do you think?

i dont think you need to boil. If my memory serves me correct you just need to get it to 170F. there are also tablets (campdem or something like that) that stops bacterial growth. It is used alot in wine

ekjohns said:

i dont think you need to boil. If my memory serves me correct you just need to get it to 170F. there are also tablets (campdem or something like that) that stops bacterial growth. It is used alot in wine

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Ah, yeah that is right. I do believe it is 170 as well. I will just go with that and hope for the best. Doesn't seem to be many issues with bacterial growth at all. I think only one on this whole thread!

What about cold crashing this beer?

When is the best time to cold crash? I have not done it before, and wasn't sure if I do that while still in the primary, or transfer to a secondary, and then cold crash 3-4 days before bottling?

craig_reed said:

What about cold crashing this beer?

When is the best time to cold crash? I have not done it before, and wasn't sure if I do that while still in the primary, or transfer to a secondary, and then cold crash 3-4 days before bottling?

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Both times I brewed this the beer it was pretty clear without cold crashing. I did use Irish Moss (which im not sure if it showed up in the recipe I posted a few pages back) in the last 15 minutes of the boil. If you're going to cold crash, do it after you sit on the fruit in secondary. Let it clear for a couple of days and then bottle.

So I am racking this beer today going to go to my local farmers market to get the 40 oz of raspberries. My girlfriend's mom makes great homemade raspberry jam, and I was wondering if I could add some of this as well, it is full of sugar so wasn't sure how that would affect it.

Any thoughts on this would help. I was thinking a combo of fresh and her jam.

craig_reed said:

So I am racking this beer today going to go to my local farmers market to get the 40 oz of raspberries. My girlfriend's mom makes great homemade raspberry jam, and I was wondering if I could add some of this as well, it is full of sugar so wasn't sure how that would affect it.

Any thoughts on this would help. I was thinking a combo of fresh and her jam.

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I'm unsure of what the sugar content would be, but jam is made by boiling the fruit...this results in pectin being released, which will result in a more cloudy beer. It might affect fermentation as well I don't know.

Then again if you're deadset on the jam you could use a pectin enzyme to minimize the cloudiness...

I have a feeling that the jam will not contribute the same flavour and aroma as unprocessed berries would...not to say that it would necessarily be bad, but different.

I'm doing this recipe also and will be racking in a few hours onto my berries. I froze them and soaked in campden for 24 hours to kill bacteria and what not. I used 1 crushed campden tablet per 3-4 pounds of berries.

Delaney said:

I'm unsure of what the sugar content would be, but jam is made by boiling the fruit...this results in pectin being released, which will result in a more cloudy beer. It might affect fermentation as well I don't know.

Then again if you're deadset on the jam you could use a pectin enzyme to minimize the cloudiness...

I have a feeling that the jam will not contribute the same flavour and aroma as unprocessed berries would...not to say that it would necessarily be bad, but different.

I'm doing this recipe also and will be racking in a few hours onto my berries. I froze them and soaked in campden for 24 hours to kill bacteria and what not. I used 1 crushed campden tablet per 3-4 pounds of berries.

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Thanks for the response. I don't think I am going to go with the jam, too many unknowns for me.

I'm going to pick up my raspberries right now for the farmers market, and will just take them home, rinse them off well, and then heat to 170degrees in a pot.

Dump in and rack!

craig_reed said:

Thanks for the response. I don't think I am going to go with the jam, too many unknowns for me.

I'm going to pick up my raspberries right now for the farmers market, and will just take them home, rinse them off well, and then heat to 170degrees in a pot.

Dump in and rack!

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Right on...the pectin will still be an issue so you might want to get pectin enzyme, it's supposed to help reduce the cloudiness that will result from you heating them up.

The campden made my berries turn white...I'm a little bummed about that I like the red hues.

I think I am just going to dump them in and see what happens. After reading all the pages, I didn't hear anyone else talk about that, or have issues, so think I'll just go with it.

I added 49.5 oz of red raspberries...soaked in campden for 16 hours to sterilize.

Racked today on 48 oz of raspberries . FG of 1.011

I had issues. You have to sanitize them

Seems to be hit or miss. I didn't sanitize mine and my batch turned out fine.

tribble222 said:

Seems to be hit or miss. I didn't sanitize mine and my batch turned out fine.

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Ditto

tribble222 said:

Seems to be hit or miss. I didn't sanitize mine and my batch turned out fine.

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well if it's hit or miss that implies the wild yeast may/may prove detrimental...Why not sanitize and hit every time? It's not that painful to sterilize with campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) for 24 hours

I'm stoked about this beer and my girlfriend is excited about it too which is a bonus.

I figure I will let them sit in there for 14 days or so, and then bottle. Is that about the average time you guys are leaving them in for? I generally leave it for longer in the secondary, but not sure if this beer really needs it.

I was thinking of doing 10 days in secondary with berries, and to rack for another 4 days to get rid of sediment.

Delaney said:

I was thinking of doing 10 days in secondary with berries, and to rack for another 4 days to get rid of sediment.

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Going to have it in a 3rd fermenter then? Interesting... I think it is just too much cleaning and sanitizing for me lol

I'm going to rack onto the raspberries tonight. I have 40 oz of frozen berries. I was thinking of racking onto the frozen berries so any yeast/bac won't be able to grow on the berries before the alcohol and brewers yeast get them.

Is this a bad idea? Should I thaw first?

Also there will likely be star San foam in the carboy that the berries will hit. Any issue with that?

how is everyone soaking in campdem tablets? Im a assuming in some water with crushed pills but how many tablets per lb?

Berries have turned white, and almost into a mush like state -

Still has another 9 days to sit in the secondary before I rack to bottles.

hagbardceline said:

I'm going to rack onto the raspberries tonight. I have 40 oz of frozen berries. I was thinking of racking onto the frozen berries so any yeast/bac won't be able to grow on the berries before the alcohol and brewers yeast get them.

Is this a bad idea? Should I thaw first?

Also there will likely be star San foam in the carboy that the berries will hit. Any issue with that?

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This will not get rid of wild yeast/bacteria...it might slow them down a bit at best.
There are two options:
1-steep berries in 170F water to kill off yeast/bacteria. This will result in a cloudy beer due to pectin. Pectic enzyme can be used to counter this problem, but option 2 is preferable.

2-Thaw berries. Crush 1 campden tablet/3-4 lbs of berries, and mix with 1/4 cup of boiling water. Pour over the berries (which should be in a sanitized container), swirl it around, and let this soak for 24 hours. Your berries will be sterilized at this point and can be added to the wort.

Delaney said:

This will not get rid of wild yeast/bacteria...it might slow them down a bit at best.
There are two options:
1-steep berries in 170F water to kill off yeast/bacteria. This will result in a cloudy beer due to pectin. Pectic enzyme can be used to counter this problem, but option 2 is preferable.

2-Thaw berries. Crush 1 campden tablet/3-4 lbs of berries, and mix with 1/4 cup of boiling water. Pour over the berries (which should be in a sanitized container), swirl it around, and let this soak for 24 hours. Your berries will be sterilized at this point and can be added to the wort.

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Not disagreeing with you, just giving my two cents...Ive brewed this recipe twice (and 3 other raspberry beers) and never had a problem throwing frozen organic raspberries directly into secondary.

hagbardceline said:

I'm going to rack onto the raspberries tonight. I have 40 oz of frozen berries. I was thinking of racking onto the frozen berries so any yeast/bac won't be able to grow on the berries before the alcohol and brewers yeast get them.

Is this a bad idea? Should I thaw first?

Also there will likely be star San foam in the carboy that the berries will hit. Any issue with that?

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I thawed mine first before I put them in just because they were in a giant chunk and I couldn't fit it through the carboy mouth. Next time I'll probably use a plastic bucket and drop the whole frozen chunk in there to save the mess.

Also: don't fear the foam.

GHC007 said:

Not disagreeing with you, just giving my two cents...Ive brewed this recipe twice (and 3 other raspberry beers) and never had a problem throwing frozen organic raspberries directly into secondary.

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I'm basing my advice mostly upon that which I recieved here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/does-freezing-fruit-sterilize-259085/

Obviously a few people had problems with bacteria or wild yeast.

Because I picked my raspberries fresh, and because there were small amounts of insects/straw/other debris, I decided the risk of contamination was high. Considering the many hours of picking, I decided to soak in campden and not be one of those people.

Well, i decided to risk it. On Brew Strong Jamil says the alcohol content should be enough to over power the bac and yeast. Although proof in this tread shows that is not always the case, so we'll see what happens.

I was two points off on the FG i wanted which I'm happy enough with. Once the beer was racked on top of the berries there was a ton of activity in the airlock, mostly gases coming out I'm guessing.

So we'll see if I get burned by not sanitizing the berries. BTW what a pain in the ass getting those into the fermentor!

The taste of the beer before the berries, only 12 days after I pitched tasted amazing! I may make this again as a 14 day. One of the best brews I have tasted in a long while. It ended up pretty hoppy. The hops right now are a little stronger than normal:

1 oz Northern Brewer @ 9.4
1 oz Cascade @ 6.1 (at 25 and 7 min)

gave me an IBU of 55! which actually tastes really nice with this dark, malty beer.

hagbardceline said:

BTW what a pain in the ass getting those into the fermentor!

The taste of the beer before the berries, only 12 days after I pitched tasted amazing!

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Yes, I used a funnel and I had to smush them through the hole with a sanitized rod. I am very much not looking forward to getting them out!

I found the beer smelled reminiscent of raspberries before I even added them...

I'm really excited about this one...

I brewed the AG version using 1.5lb of organic raspberries... just popped one open a week after bottling and am amazed at how delicious it already is.

It will be hard to ignore these for another few weeks - thanks for the recipe, OP!

I just bottled. I primed with 3 oz. of dextrose...

I was imagining a brown ale carbonation level of 2 volumes...
For a carbonation volume of 3 i would need an extra 4 oz...should I un-cap and add the extra amount, then re-cap?

Arkador said:

I would bottle prime this with 7oz of corn sugar, you want at least 3-3.25 volumes of carbonation. The carbonation definatley affects the mouthfeel, aroma, and taste.

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I bottled today with only to a carbonation volume of 2.1...I thought this was more of a brown ale, hence why I carbed to this level.

If I add 1.15 grames of dextrose to 355 ml bottles and 2.15 grams to 650 ml bottles, my carbonation volume would be closer to 3.

Can I dissolve the sugar into a small amount of water, and add the correct amount of solution to each bottle with a syringe? Of course this involves opening the bottles, and re-capping after the addition.

5 days in. Been sitting at 62F. I'll transfer to a keg in two days (people have been doing 7 days on the berries right?).

Looking good!

hagbardceline said:

5 days in. Been sitting at 62F. I'll transfer to a keg in two days (people have been doing 7 days on the berries right?).

Looking good!

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I am doing 14 on the berries...

after 6 days the berries seemed like they were out of juice, so I racked off of them...the recipe calls for 5 days on berries.

I'm going to keep it going! Maybe I will rack off and bottle tonight, that would be 11 days in secondary on the berries.

craig_reed said:

I'm going to keep it going! Maybe I will rack off and bottle tonight, that would be 11 days in secondary on the berries.

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Do it....

FYI I also am making raspberry wine at the moment. I racked off after 6 days. The berries taste like yeast/alcohol but most of the good stuff seems to have been extracted.

Bottled today... After racking only yielded about 4.5 gallons. FG at 1.012