Raspberry wheat using puree

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I recently made the Raspberry Wheat kit from Austin HB. The beer turned out really good but I wanted to make it better the next time I brewed it.

The kit uses 2 oz of a Raspberry Extract and I wanted to replace it with Oregon Raspberry Puree. I am looking for some guidance on how much puree to use, It comes in 3lb 1oz cans.

I will be adding the puree to a secondary fermentor then racking the beer from the primary on it after fermentation is done.

Any ideas?
 
I did an apricaot black berry wheat this past summer and I used a little over 5lbs of fruit. It came out pretty good but a little tart. However I was gona try it again and get the oregon puree but use two cans.
 
I did a raspberry wheat and added one 49 oz can of the raspberry puree (Oregon) to the secondary. Turned out great.
 
My Apricot Blond, and now my Sour Peach beer both use a full can of the puree on or about day #3 of the ferment, and then add the extract at bottling. It's a really nice mix between beer and fruit.
 
I did a raspberry wheat with a can of raspberry puree in the primary. I don't know how it compared to yours, but it was a huge hit and my buddy who judged the fruit beers at the state fair said it would have blown all of the entered beers away.
 
Thanks for the replies, I think on my next batch I will add a full can in the secondary, and possible have some extract on hand to maybe add a little after It's kegged and I taste it. I have heard that the extract can really help with the aroma.
 
Definetly add the whole can and maybe an oz or two of extract at bottling to "brighten" up the taste. I did about 2/3 of a can with no extract and found the results a little lacking. However, I think I was also hamperred by some old puree.
 
Can't speak on raspberry, but the peach ale I did a while back had 5lbs. of fresh peaches in secondary. It would have been less after skins and pits were removed, but this "subtle" fruit was overpowering, IMO. No one that tried it thought it was too much, and they couldn't get enough of it. I've never used extract, and don't plan to. I don't think that you can over or under do it with fruit for the masses, and that is what I make a fruit beer for as I could take them or leave them. But, it keeps SWMBO happy.
 
I just dumped a 1 lb bag of frozen raspberries into the secondary while making a plain (no-fruit-intended) BB wheat beer kit. I thought it turned out pretty good. Good enough to try the same thing today with cherries to appease SWMBO. Not sure what the relative cost is on frozen vs. puree vs. extract.
 
It seems no one likes the 2 oz fruit additives. Can someone tell me why? I plan to go nuts with them and make a whole mess of Wheat beers.

My previous research says that adding real fruit costs a ton, is a mess, and does not produce a very impressive fruit taste.

I don't really know what a puree is. Is that something you buy at the grocery store and looks like a can of frozen orange juice concentrate? Is that cheaper that using real fruit?
 
Here is the puree everyone is talking about. You get it at homebrew stores. http://www.northernbrewer.com/beer-flavorings.html

It's basically just fruit all ground up, what I think is the closest thing to whole, fresh fruit.

Do a search for fruit beers on the forums and you will see the back and forth of fruit extract vs. purees. vs. whole fruit. Personal preference.
 
Go to the recipe section, under fruit beers and look for Steve M's Raspberry Ale. I have 3 lbs of fresh raspberries that I pasteurized sitting in the secondary right now. I say, fresher ingredients, better beer. I am worried about the freshness of the puree in the local HB store. In a prior batch, I used 60 ozs. of fresh raspberries and made by own purree in the blender. However, I added it at the end of the boil and after fermentation, the raspberry was too subtle. I switched to Steve's method on this batch.
 
Tweaker said:
It seems no one likes the 2 oz fruit additives. Can someone tell me why? I plan to go nuts with them and make a whole mess of Wheat beers.

My previous research says that adding real fruit costs a ton, is a mess, and does not produce a very impressive fruit taste.

I don't really know what a puree is. Is that something you buy at the grocery store and looks like a can of frozen orange juice concentrate? Is that cheaper that using real fruit?
Click to expand...

Puree is real fruit but its already been processed and it is sterile unlike fresh fruit. Raspberry extract smells wonderful but has a definite fake taste to it. I just want more real raspberry flavor with aroma.
 
I recently brewed a raspberry wheat here recently. I read the threads and I did mine a little different than everyone here. I used 5 bags of frozen raspberries, crushed them up and added them right to the wort when it was done boiling. I let them sit for 25 minutes and then strained them off. This was a good method because it chilled the wort fairly good. I was very pleased with the flavor that it imparted in the beer. I would highly reccomend trying this method.
 
Let us know what you end up doing and how it comes out. I used a method similar to maddogs a long time ago and just didn't get enough raspberry flavor for my taste. I think the yeast takes some of the flavor out during primary fermentation.

I have 5 gallons of raspberry ale that should be ready in about 3 weeks where I pasteurized 3 lbs. of fresh raspberries and added them to the secondary. Yeast will be less active then. FYI, I am kind of shooting for something along the lines of Leinenkugels Berry Weiss. I know you can get that up in Chi Town, I had some on tap up there once upon a time a few years ago. So anything with less flavor than the Leinie is not enough for me.
 
It will be at least a month before I brew it. I have a couple more in front of it right now, but I will let everyone know how it goes.
 


A puree is fruit that has been blended into a smooth liquid. The purpose of this is to break down the cells in the fruit to expose it to the beer so that it imparts its flavor.

Oregon Puree has been good to me.

I do not like the extract because it imparts a fake fruit taste. Like how people who love grapes don't necessarily love grape cough syrup: same concept. Just stick with what you like and let the rest fall by the wayside.

May the Yeast be With You!
 
Tonedef131 said:
I did a raspberry wheat with a can of raspberry puree in the primary. I don't know how it compared to yours, but it was a huge hit and my buddy who judged the fruit beers at the state fair said it would have blown all of the entered beers away.
Click to expand...

how much raspberry puree and what kind? what type of kit did u use? great city -fort wayne-we're visiting at the end of the month from canada -my wife's dad lives there
 
Tweaker said:
It seems no one likes the 2 oz fruit additives. Can someone tell me why? I plan to go nuts with them and make a whole mess of Wheat beers.

My previous research says that adding real fruit costs a ton, is a mess, and does not produce a very impressive fruit taste.

I don't really know what a puree is. Is that something you buy at the grocery store and looks like a can of frozen orange juice concentrate? Is that cheaper that using real fruit?
Click to expand...

For my apricot wheat I made my own. I got dehydrated apricots (three packs) and soaked them in a large bottle of apricot nectar over night, boiled, pureed in blender, put em in fermenter the second day, and added extract at bottling. Just a great beer after just two weeks in the bottle. Recipe located here if you want the details.
 
I used bags of frozen raspberries. 12 oz at 5 mins left of the boil. Then I pureed 48 oz of raspberries in secondary. I also added 1 lb of lactose to counteract the dryness and tartness of the raspberries fermenting. Result awesome beer that didn't last in the keg. (when I say didn't last in the keg I don't mean it went bad...It didn't last because it was drunk quickly)
 
f0xtr0t said:
I I also added 1 lb of lactose to counteract the dryness and tartness of the raspberries fermenting.

When did you add the lactose? Last ten minutes of the boil or at bottling? One thing that I worry about adding fruit is that it will dry to beer out to much and not leave a residual sweetness.

Jamil said in a podcast on fruit beers that he thinks puree is best to use. Extract has fake flavors adds a lot of aroma but not great on flavor. Fresh fruit is typically tart, difficult to sanitize, and in many cases has to be used in insanely large amounts to produce results. Puree is a balance of the three options and you can always add extract at bottling for aroma or a flavor boost.
Click to expand...
 
Hey all, I'm pretty new to the homebrew thing, but I stumbled across this thread when looking up hints on Raspberry Hefeweizen. I just brewed AHS' Bavarian Hefeweizen and transferred to the secondary last night with a can of Raspberry puree. Receipe called for primary fermentation of 5-7 days, but last night after about 8.5 days the krausen hadn't completely dropped and the airlock was still bubbling a little bit.

Anyways, threw the puree in my sanitized secondary last night, transferred the beer over, and threw an airlock on it and put it in my chiller at about 68-70 degrees. This morning the thing had definitely started back up again and I had a sticky mess all over my chiller and had to put the blowoff tube back on.

Does this sound normal or ok? And it sounds like a lot of folks are throwing in the extract at bottling also. How much extract is appropriate to just get a better aroma? This is my first hefeweizen, trying to make something the wife might like, so hopefully it turns out ok!

Thanks!
Jake
 
Sounds like you are getting a pretty big fermentation for puree. My experience with adding fruit is that it kicks up again but surely not enough to need a blow off tube.


I did a beer once with only the rasp puree on the advise of Jamil Z. and I did not like it. I have also done a fresh peach hefe with fruit and then added extract at bottling and it tasted much better.

I gaged how much to add by taking a 100 ml sample of the beer and a syringe of extract 10 ml. I then added .25-.5 mls at a time to the sample, stirring, and tasting a sip. Once it was were I wanted it I did some simple math to determine how many mls of extract needed to be added to the entire 19 liters. For example: if it starts to taste how you want at 1 ml of extract per 100ml beer. 1900ml/100 ml = 19ml of extract to the entire brew.
 
Well it has been in the secondary now for about 2 days and the fermentation has settled back down. I think my plan is to just leave it in secondary for at least a couple of weeks, then I'll try your trick with the 100 ml sample and taste-testing.

This was my first hefeweizen, but the fermentation was definitely more vigorous than any of the other brews I've done so far. Hopefully it comes out ok.

Thanks for the info!
 

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