frozen berries?

[jburkh]

I'm doing a smoked raspberry porter, but of course raspberries are out of season so I'd be using frozen. I know that freezing fresh berries prior to brewing helps them to break down during fermentation but is it bad technique to us pre-frozen berries from the grocery?

 

[the_bird]

Not at all. If you heat them up in a little bit of water (to around 160 or so, for maybe ten minutes), you'll be adding completely broken-down mush, allowing all the flavor to be easily extracted. I have a raspberry ale that I hate for wholly different reasons, but this technique worked great.

 

[Brew-boy]

I made a Raspberry stout using fresh picked berrys and I am still waiting for thw wang to go down. It's been in the bottle for over a month now.

 

[the_bird]

I am still waiting for thw wang to go down.

That sounds like one of those four-hour-erection side effects they warn about on Cialis commercials...

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Ya, seriously. I make it a point not to drink Beer with Wang. (Or, as they in German... WeinieBrau).

 

[jburkh]

alright then I'll go ahead with the frozen berries. Do you reccomend putting them in a grain bag or adding them directly to the secondary?

 

[Saxmk6]

I agree! just let them heat up and have at it. Sounds like an awesome beer.

 

[Rhoobarb]

My gf did a blueberry ale using frozen. Heated the berries in the microwave, cooled them a bit, then added them to her primary. I think in retrospect, adding them to the secondery would have added more berry flavor, but it turned out well. It was purple as all hell, but tasted good.

 

[TheJadedDog]

alright then I'll go ahead with the frozen berries. Do you reccomend putting them in a grain bag or adding them directly to the secondary?

Just throw them in a pot with a little water, heat to 160 for 10 minutes, and add to secondary.

 

[bummerkit]

Just throw them in a pot with a little water, heat to 160 for 10 minutes, and add to secondary.

does all the fruit settle out so you can rack the beer off? or do you need to filter before bottling?

 

[SteveM]

It will all float up to the top over time so they are easy to deal with by siphoning. I use a tertiary to allow it to clear and the fruit remnants go into the compost heap.

 

[casebrew]

I just syphon using a racking cane. When the fruit skins plug the cap on the inlet, you are done! Actually, I left the syphon go for a while- as long as the hose is full of beer, you are sucking good stuff out of the trub.

 

[Wolfsden]

any reason why you can't add the frozen berries to the hot wort to aid in cooling?

 

[the_bird]

any reason why you can't add the frozen berries to the hot wort to aid in cooling?

Pectin haze. If you get berries too hot, you can end up with cloudy beer.