Raspberry wheat???? "NO sugar added" frozen raspberries VS "sugar added"

I can get frozen raspberries at the grocery store.... sugar added is cheaper than "No" sugar added.....
Will the added sugar have any negative effects???? On my batch of brew? ????

2ned-up said:

I can get frozen raspberries at the grocery store.... sugar added is cheaper than "No" sugar added.....
Will the added sugar have any negative effects???? On my batch of brew? ????

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Everything I have read says no sugar added for all of the frozen fruits. I don't have a "why" answer, just that the answer is always no sugar. I assume the why is the same reason you don't want to just add pounds of raw sugar to your fermented wort.

At my store the sugar added is cheaper per bag, but the bags are 14 ozs vs 16ozs for the no sugar.

unionrdr said:

Use the no sugar added fruit. You get more fruit,which is what you want. It has enough natural sugars in the fruit that'll ferment in secondary when you add them. But not as much as the added sugar version will. Remember you're trying to add flavor,not up the ABV.

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This. The sugar added versions have a lot of the volume made up of water and sugar so you're losing out on the fruit that will contribute flavor. All that extra sugar will make your beer drier than you probably want.

I just got done brewing and got an OG of 1.050 now to wait a week and rack to secondary with "NO SUGAR ADDED" frozen raspberries!!!! Can't wait to see the FG! Oh by the way this is the first batch my wife has brewed with me!!!!

The thing I'd check is that sometimes "No sugar added" means artificial sweetener added, which can greatly increase your sweetness if it's a type that doesn't ferment.

Some said I will need to add raspberry extract in addition to the 2.5 lbs frozen raspberries...... opinions please!

I would think raspberry would be pretty close to strawberry. With strawberry I use 8lbs of frozen berries for a 5 gallon batch. I would suggest going with at least 1 lb per gallon. I am not sure what the mix would be if you wanted to use both berries and extract.

2ned-up said:

Some said I will need to add raspberry extract in addition to the 2.5 lbs frozen raspberries...... opinions please!

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my first batch was a frambozen clone with raspberry extract. next time I'm going the frozen berry route, just a bit of an artificial note with extract. though truth be told its become better over time. I'd go with the aforementioned pound per gallon of fruit.

good luck.

Zalf said:

I would think raspberry would be pretty close to strawberry. With strawberry I use 8lbs of frozen berries for a 5 gallon batch. I would suggest going with at least 1 lb per gallon. I am not sure what the mix would be if you wanted to use both berries and extract.

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Raspberry is much more potent than strawberry in terms of flavor impact on the beer.

Thanks for everyones input!!! I'm gonna go the straight up fruit method... I know the beer itself is gonna be good! I just want a touch of raspberry in the finish...... im gonna hit up the grocery store today and rack over to 2ndary tomorrow!

Im also gonna check before fruit gravity and after to see the difference...... if there will be one.

Day one 2ndary!

Ok so OG was 1.050 after primary it came down to 1.021. It has been 2 weeks in 2ndary and it is still at 1.021! I racked to another carboy and tossed in some raisins.... and wait another week!