Golden Raisin APA, Thoughts, Tweaks, Constructive Criticism

Ever since I've seen and tried Dogfish Head's Midas Touch, Ive been fascinated with brewing with raisins, and I think I may have worked up a recipe to incorporate a subtle, yet apparent raisin flavor in an American Pale Ale, here is my recipe:

6lbs Light LME
3lbs Pale 2 Row Barley
1lb Crystal Malt 20L
.25lbs Rye
.25 Oz Magnum 60 min
.5 Oz Ahtanum 45 min
.5 Oz Ahtanum 30 min
.5 Oz Cascade 15 min
.5 Oz Cascade Flame Out
WLP051 California Ale V Yeast
1.5 Lbs Golden Raisins

I'll steep the grains for 45 minutes at 160-165 in 3 gallons of water, sparge with about a quart of water at 168-170. Boil for 60 minutes with above hop schedule. Ferment to completion and rack to secondary where raisins will be added. I will shred them and steam for 10 minutes to sterilize. The beer will sit on the raisins for a week or so. I will then either cold crash or add a fining, then bottle.

Target stats:
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.2%
IBU: 46
SRM: 8

This is my first formulation from the ground up, any input would be well received!

I was thinking of doing a similar recipe but using black currants instead of raisins. I've recently fallen in love with black currants. Steaming is a good idea. I think I'll puree them though to get maximum flavor extraction.

The recipe looks good to me, let us know how it goes.

Ive never had/used black currants, I'm afraid that they would darken the color more than I would like. The main reason I chose to shred or dice the raisins is b/c that's what Dogfish Head does, would a pure sink to the bottom or would I have to worry about it missing and dispersing through the liquid?

Hm I didn't know that's how DFH processed their raisins, good tip. I would think the puree would sink. I was planning on putting it in a hop bag and dropping it in the secondary but admin I haven't thought it through too much yet.

I get black currants at Martin's which is similar to Whole Foods. They taste similar to raisins but are a little more candy like. Give them a taste if you can find them.

BillyBroas said:

I get black currants at Martin's which is similar to Whole Foods. They taste similar to raisins but are a little more candy like. Give them a taste if you can find them.

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I'll give them a shot, have to cut back pretty soon, school's getting crazy and funds are running short :-\ sucks having to give up on such an addictive hobby!

Anyone else have any thoughts on the grain bill/hops schedule/general process that I'm proposing?

how are you going to steam them? What about puree and soak in either alcohol or campden tablet/water mixture?

I know its supposed to be a pale ale, but i understand special B has raisin notes, you might try throwing some in to help out the raisins.

I've often thought about a prune ale, but i'm too scared to pull the trigger. Keep us posted on your batch!

I was thinking of chopping them up finely then lining a vegetable steamer with cheese cloth (to keep the small pieces from falling thru and making them easier to pick up and transfer without touching them) and steaming them as you would broccoli or something.
As for the special B, Ive heard that, but I wanna try and stay as true to a pale ale as possible, and I like taking risks and trying unconventional methods.
The prune ale sounds great, I've had old ales with plum notes that were fantastic, i.e. Independence's Jasperilla.
I'm starting a Maibock this weekend and right after that I'll get the pale ale lined up and ready to go.

So, I'm finally brewing it this weekend, I'll be making a trip to AHS right after classes let out, and I've decided to make a few tweaks.
First, I'm changing the hops schedule and variety. I'll be adding a quarter oz ever 15 minutes, Northern Brewer for the first three additions, and Glacier at 15 and flame out. I'll use the rest of the pellets for dry hopping (.25 oz of northern brewer and .5 oz of glacier).
The biggest changes how ever have to do with the addition of the raisins and grapes. I plan on adding about a half to 3/4 quart of white grape juice to the wort and allowing those sugars to ferment with the malted sugars, then during secondary, blending the raisins with a little more grape juice and water to make a slurry, then cooking that down a little to make it a little thicker before adding it to the secondary and putting the fermented beer on top.

Is anyone completely against these ideas? For them? Any Suggestions?

Curious how this turned out. I did an Amarillo honey/golden raisin pale ale that was excellent (30 oz. of golden raisins and 2lb of honey) but didn't age well beyond 6-8 months (became too wine-y as the hop presence faded).

I'm brewing a cascade pale tonight and will be adding grapes from my vines crushed up at flame-out. The amount depends upon how many viable grapes I have left.