Critique my raspberry wheat please :)

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Ozone

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Hi all. Managed to stop by a farm today and picked up 5 pounds of fresh raspberries, pulled this recipe together and wanted to see if there was any advice before the plunge (which will be on Wednesday).

8oz Crystal malt (steeped 20mins @ 160)
3.3lb pale malt (60min)
3.3lb wheat malt (60min)
1oz 4aa nobel hops, probably Hallertau (55min)
1/2lb honey (20min)
1/2oz 3-4aa hops, probably Cascade (20min)
1tsp Irish moss (15min)
Cool to 160-170
Steep 1.5lb raspberries in wort for 20 min
Strain into primary
Wyeast 1010 American Hefe
Ferment 1 week
Steep 3.5lbs frozen raspberries in 180deg water for 20 min
Add raspberries to secondary
Rack beer to secondary over raspberries
Bottle when ready

My thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions
 
Ozone said:
Hi all. Managed to stop by a farm today and picked up 5 pounds of fresh raspberries, pulled this recipe together and wanted to see if there was any advice before the plunge (which will be on Wednesday).

8oz Crystal malt (steeped 20mins @ 160)
3.3lb pale malt (60min)
3.3lb wheat malt (60min)
1oz 4aa nobel hops, probably Hallertau (55min)
1/2lb honey (20min)
1/2oz 3-4aa hops, probably Cascade (20min)
1tsp Irish moss (15min)
Cool to 160-170
Steep 1.5lb raspberries in wort for 20 min
Strain into primary
Wyeast 1010 American Hefe
Ferment 1 week
Steep 3.5lbs frozen raspberries in 180deg water for 20 min
Add raspberries to secondary
Rack beer to secondary over raspberries
Bottle when ready

My thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions
Click to expand...

I am sorry I can't provide great feedback (not really experienced enough) but I was actually preping a Raspberry Blonde and heard you can "sanitize" your fruit not by steeping in 180 degree water but in Vodka and just add all 5 lbs of raspberries & vodka to the secondary and rack on top.

have you heard this as well? maybe something to think about.
 
ChiN8 said:
heard you can "sanitize" your fruit not by steeping in 180 degree water but in Vodka and just add all 5 lbs of raspberries & vodka to the secondary and rack on top. have you heard this as well? maybe something to think about.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the thought. This is my first time using raspberries and the suggestion seems valid, but I'm concerned about the amount of vodka needed to cover 3.5lbs of raspberries. Granted, it may send the alcohol content through the roof :drunk: but I don't think I'd want to risk adding off tones to the beer or have the vodka permeate the flavor. Saying that, perhaps someone with fruit beer experience might be able to share some thoughts on it.
 
Ozone said:
Thanks for the thought. This is my first time using raspberries and the suggestion seems valid, but I'm concerned about the amount of vodka needed to cover 3.5lbs of raspberries. Granted, it may send the alcohol content through the roof :drunk: but I don't think I'd want to risk adding off tones to the beer or have the vodka permeate the flavor. Saying that, perhaps someone with fruit beer experience might be able to share some thoughts on it.
Click to expand...

There is a thread on here about a gentleman wanting to increase his Abv% using Vodka and while I was reading it, the general consensus was that you would ned QUITE A BIT of Vodka to increase your Abv%.

If you think about it; you can find a vodka with like a 35% Abv. Your beer is probably around 5% and were talking about 5 gallon of beer here. So if you were to add a CRAZY amount of Vodka (absolutely unheard of amount) like 1/6 of your carboy; your still only looking at 35% abv Vodka being added of 17% of your beer... not enough to alter much.

Here is a thread with the vodka recommendation;
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/orange-vanilla-wheat-179541/
 
Ozone said:
Hi all. Managed to stop by a farm today and picked up 5 pounds of fresh raspberries, pulled this recipe together and wanted to see if there was any advice before the plunge (which will be on Wednesday).

8oz Crystal 40L malt (steeped 20mins @ 160)
3.3lb pale malt (60min)
3.3lb wheat malt (60min)
1.25oz for 25IBUs 4aa nobel hops, probably Hallertau (60min)
1/2oz 3-4aa hops, probably Cascade (20min)
1/2lb honey (0min)
Wyeast 1010 American Hefe
Ferment 1 week
Pasterize 5lbs raspberries and add to primary once fermentation has completed.
Bottle when ready

My thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions
Click to expand...

First lose the irish moss, this is a wheat beer, it is supposed to be cloudy.
Second do not add any raspberries to the boil or primary fermentation, you would want to add all 5lbs of raspberries to the fermenter after the primary fermentation is over, about a week after yoiu pitched the yeast.
Also you will want to crush or puree the berries to release all the juices and sugers into the wort. Allow the raspberries to ferment out, at least another week and then bottle or let it age in the primary for 3-4 weeks. Do not u8se a secondary.

As for the crystal malt I would suggest crystal 40 for a light caramel flavor that will allow the raspberries and american hefe yeast to come through.
Use 1.25oz Hallertau at 60 for 25 IBUs
Keep the 20min cascade at 0.50oz
add the honey at 0 min
 
You should freeze the raspberries first. This way the juice will expand the pulp and skin and release the juice easier when they get thawed out.

From what I've gathered, freezing should kill any nasties so you won't need to pastuerizing them. Then you can just add the berries to the secondary.

FREEZER TIP FOR ALL BERRIES: Rinse the berries off with plain water in a colander and drain. Spread the berries on a cookie tray (1 berry deep works best) then set the tray in the freezer. In a couple of hours they will be frozen and can be moved to a storage bag. If you don't you just end up with a large berry cube. ;)
 
Interesting thread (the fruit pasteurizing one). The reason I wanted to add 1.5# of berries to the end of the boil comes from Sam Calagione's book. As ThinkinDavid posted in that thread...

ThinkinDavid said:
Maybe you’re getting the answer you were looking for but let me offer this as something that might be helpful. It comes from Sam Calagione’s Extreme Brewing:
“If you intend to use fresh fruit, the time to add it is toward the end of the boil… By adding it late in the boil, you capture more of the flavor and aroma and you also sterilize the fruit. This is critical since fresh fruit invariably has some small amount of bacteria of wild yeast present on its surface. If you wish to add fresh fruit during fermentation, for sterilizing reasons steep it in 180 F-plus water for at least 30 mins. And let it come back down below 70 F before adding it to the carboy. The later the fruit is added during fermentation, the more flavor and aroma it will contribute. Adding fruit post fermentation is not recommended as you want the yeast to eat the sugars from the fruit while the beer is still in the carboy. Remember, if there are available sugars in [the] extract post fermentation they can cause over carbonation in the bottle” (67).
Click to expand...

I've trolled many a post here in regards to the addition of the berries later in fermentation, most agreeing it should occur in secondary. My thought was to utilize 1.5# at boil to perhaps add a deeper layer of raspberry flavor, then add the other 3.5# during late fermentation for a more superficial flavor. Thought this might increase complexity.

I also agree with Cheaton in the pasteurization post - freezing does not kill bacteria or yeast, it causes them to enter a dormant state (I know this from job experience). So, as per pasteurization (with thanks to all replies so far) I'm now considering thawing the 3.5# when needed, pureeing and either mixing with a small amount of vodka and letting sit for an hour or two (as per ChiN8's thoughts) or adding some water and heating the puree to 160 for 15 minutes or so.
 
Gregscsu is as close to my own advise as you can get, however if you really want to tast the raspberries, use a yeast that does not add to the flavor so much.

Myself, I have made a strawberry wheat very similar to how Gregscsu mentioned, but used a packet of US-05 in leiu of the hefe yeast. The strawberry flavor was more pronounced and made for a very interesting sweet and sour combination with a fruity nose. the hops hit the tounge first, but the strawberry came in at just the right time to make for a very refreshing finish.
 

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