raspberry ale

ok I decided to try a raspberry ale so I could let it bottle condition until spring. Maybe I'm a bit early but I wanted to try it. I got a kit for a light ale let it set in the primary for a week. Then I put 3 pounds of frozen raspberries in the secondary. It was there for a week and I noticed no activity in the airlock for the last few days. I transferred it into another carboy to get it away from the berries and much to my surprise it is VERY raspberry flavored. I mean it almost tastes like a wine cooler. SG was 1.044. FG is 1.010 does this sound right?

ya i did pretty much the same thing with a coopers wheat beer kit, added 3 lbs of rasberry/blackberry mix, pretty well no hop bitterness, a bit tangy from the fruit but good, I made it for my wife and she likes it lots so thats whats important.

Normally fruit flavors mellow over time, but I don't know if I would wait until spring. I am in process of making a Black Raspberry Ale that will go into the secondary this weekend. My plan is that it will peak around the holidays.

On the other hand, I have one from last April that is still excellent - down to my last four bottles.

Slightly off topic, but not entirely - has anyone done a Framboise? If I understand right, it's a Raspberry Lambic, and the recipes I've seen are a bit complex and take quite a bit of time to age.

Do NOT worry about the strong raspberry flavor. I still had one when I bottled mine and was really concerned, but it completely mellowed after several weeks and is now delicious. It'll get better.

Sounds like you are on the right track. For my Raspberry I started with a basic American Pale Ale recipie. Once the primary fermentation slowed down, I cooked three pounds of frozen raspberries in a sauce pan with just a little tap water. After about a half hour I had a nice, sauce-like base with raspberry "bits". Put that into the primary and let it ferment for four more days before transferring to the secondary.

The ale started off with a very strong raspberry flavor - very tart and with a pronounced acidity. However, after about a month of additional aging (about 8 weeks total) the flavor mellowed out considerable and everything started to balance out.

I bottled the raspberry ale today and the flavor was a bit weak. Not much flavor at all to be honest. Not much Raspberry and not much beer. Will this change after it is bottle conditioned?

Yes, give it at least a few weeks. Carbonation will make the flavor much more pronounced, and better.