Raspberry Belgian Ale

My first attempt at brewing in a couple of years. I usually use the Brewers Best kits but decided to "create" my own recipe from a few different sources. So here it is.

6# Briess Bavarian Wheat DME
3/4oz Styrian Goldings 45 minutes
1/4oz Styrian Goldings 5 minutes
WLP550 Belgian Ale Yeast


45 minute/ 2.5 gal boil

OG- 1.050
FG- ? broke the hydrometer just before getting.

10 days in primary, 7 days in secondary with just over 2/3 can of Oregon raspberry fruit puree.


Overall the beer is not bad. It only has a slight hint of raspberry flavor and aroma. Looking back and learning what I have in the past few weeks from this website I think the belgian yeast may be too strong because I get alot of the banana and clove flavors. Possibly covering up the raspberry? The overall process of brewing went fine, I ended up with beer! I would like to make my next batch clearer next time though. More careful siphoning etc... Also next time, and again after reading this website, I will not wash with regular soap. I forgot the starsan at the brew shop and didn't feel like going back....needless to say I am picking up a little soap flavor.

The beer has alcohol and a decent belgian taste, so I can't complain. Next time the whole can of puree and maybe 2oz or so of extract just to kick it up a notch.

Next batch a blonde ale.

what was the ferementation temp? flavors should lessen over time.

First off glad you're back to the hobby/pass-time of Kings! Pretty cool recipe to start with too. I've never had a Belgian with fruit(lambics not the same), and it sounds interesting. Read up all you can here there is so much great info from very experienced people. Use the search feature liberally as it's a brewer's gold-mine. Welcome

Hoosierbrewer said:

what was the ferementation temp? flavors should lessen over time.

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first day was 65ish and then I moved it to 71 for the remainder.

Going on five weeks in the bottle and it has gotten much better. Things have settled and the sharp tastes have mellowed. A little more raspberry coming through. Still would use fresh raspberries and an ounce or two of raspberry extract to really give it a nice raspberry zip.

I am not partial to the use of fruit extracts. They simplify the process but in my experience (I've made a number of batches, check my recipes) the flavor is not exactly right.

SteveM said:

I am not partial to the use of fruit extracts. They simplify the process but in my experience (I've made a number of batches, check my recipes) the flavor is not exactly right.

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yeah, even when I first opened the raspberry extract I was a little suspect. It reminded me of raspberries that are at the bottom of a pack that have been there for too long. The dark brown overly mushy type....just not fresh.