Trying to recreate Extract Framboise kit

My third kit of beer was a hopped malt extract kit called Framboos. Play on the name framboise. It was raspberry. It yielded 3 gallons. It called for a 10 day primary 14 day secondary and 8 week bottle period. Im drinking it right now and i have to say its pretty darn good.

But the guys at the brew shop said the company discontinued and they dont have anymore instock. So i was wondering how i could use already existing hopped malt extract kits to recreate this beer.

Its not that dark, maybe just a tad darker than a heffe. I didnt take a gravity but the alcohol % is on the high side, and it tastes kinda like a wine.

So does anyone have an idea how i could recreate this kind of beer?

heres my idea, and please alter and or interject any idea you guys can come up with.

Since its a high alcohol 3 gallon yield beer i could get a kit for say six gallons, like coopers wheat, but only make 3 gallons of it. Perhaps put in a pound or two of wheat DME or some liquid extract. Then puree up a few pounds of raspberries and then ferment for the same time and bottle for the same time.

so what do you guys think?

Thanks

I would just brew up a normal kit of similar style, and add some fresh or previously frozen raspberries to secondary. I normally rinse raspberries in vodka "just in case" since they have fur and lots of nooks and crannies.

Take some time to think about what you really want it to taste like, pick a kit to form the base of that, and maybe add some steeping grains to the recipe. chocolate malt comes to mind...

You should still be able to find this online. I did a quick Google search and found several different LHBSs that had this in stock. Other than that, it is just a kit containing hopped malt extract, raspberry juice, and yeast. I read that the kit also requires that you add in sugar as well.

rsmith179 said:

... I read that the kit also requires that you add in sugar as well.

Click to expand...

That would explain the winelike taste you noticed. Add malt extract instead of the sugar for a better beer.

yeah i did add granulated sugar, i was young at brewing and i didnt know better.

so i think i got things down, a wheat or a light ale will do with matching DME. ill give a poke around my LHBS.

as for adding the fruit i have a few extra questions

PintOfBitter you said to put the fruit in the secondary. If i added them to the primary or to the boil wouldnt i get an alcohol % increase as well as flavor? I could add fruit to both stages even? What are the pros and cons to either of these methods.

And should i toss the berries in whole or a puree in a food processor do the trick?

Don't add fruit during the boil as it will release tanins and you will basically be putting jelly into your beer. Adding it just after pitching the yeast would work, but a lot of the flavor would be lost while the yeast is fermenting everything else. What I do is I wait until initial fermentation is done, then add the raspberries. This causes the fermentation to start up again for a few days, then it dies down again. I then wait for about a week or so and rack to a secondary. Some prefer to add fruit in the secondary, but I don't like doing this because it just means i'll have to rack to a tertiary.

OK, I tried googling Framboose to see what exactly it is. It's definitely not a Framboise: a true lambic is quite advanced to make (it requires special yeast and bacteria cultures and at least a year to condition). Best I can see is that this is a basic raspberry ale recipe. One link I see says the kit includes a can of hopped malt extract (don't know if there was any wheat in there, but a fruit beer doesn't necessarily have to have wheat), raspberry juice, glycerine, and yeast.

Most people are going to dissuade you from using sugar in favor of malt. Sugar is not bad....and especially dextrose can be a necessary addition for a flavor profile. What may be generalized as bad for beer might actually be really good for a particular style. If you want to recreate the Framboose kit, then try emulating all the ingredients. If you put sugar in the first time, still use sugar. I think if you want to add to it, you might want to experiment with trying to get a tart flavor in there. But that's all I'm going to say and let you decide how best to do that

When it comes to fruit additions, don't worry about losing taste if you put fruit in a secondary. In actuality, I've found I get the most fruit flavor by conditioning with fruit rather then trying to boil or anything. But if you do want to emulate the Framboose kit, you can try getting raspberry concentrate.